Paul Waring saw his comfortable overnight lead cut to a single shot heading into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, while Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Tom McKibbin all made up ground.
Lowry’s round of 66 pushes him to the fore of the Irish trio, while Rory McIlroy suffered a final-hole double bogey that cost him a place in the final group on Sunday.
McKibbin, like his fellow clubman, was left to rue a costly finish as he bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes after four birdies and an eagle on the front nine had him charging up the leaderboard. Another birdie on the 11th got him to -7 for the day and to -13 overall, before three-putting both of the final two holes.
He now has five rounds – the final one in Abu Dhabi and four at next week’s DP World Tour Championship – to wrap up his season with one of 10 PGA Tour cards on offer for the leading 10 players not already exempt in the Race to Dubai.
Englishman Waring started the day five clear but a one-over 73 left the door ajar for the chasing pack. Waring’s 18-under-par total leaves him one clear of Niklas Nørgaard, with Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjørn Olesen and Sebastian Söderberg tied for third on 15 under.
Waring found a bunker with his opening tee shot and had to scramble par from eight feet at the first, but looked to have settled down as he birdied the par-five second and hit his tee shot to eight feet at the short fourth.
However, he ran his birdie attempt five feet past and missed the return, before missing birdie putts at the next nine holes. Finding sand off the tee at the 14th proved costly as he failed to save par from 15 feet.
Waring had produced the shot of his life with a fairway wood to inside four feet at the last on Friday, but 24 hours later ended up in a greenside bunker and had to settle for a 15th par of the day.
“You’ve got to have an average day, haven’t you,” he said afterwards. “A little bit disappointed. I felt like could I have really moved forward today and put myself out of sight.
“But four rounds of golf, you’re always going to have an iffy run of holes, iffy round of golf, whatever you want to call it. If beginning of the week you’d given me a one-shot lead going into tomorrow I’d snatch your hand off. I’m trying to remain positive that I’m still in the lead, and looking forward to getting out there tomorrow.
“Just wasn’t at my best today. Putter felt a little bit jittery in total honesty. I thought the greens were a foot and a half quicker. They were just breaking a bit more than what I was reading the first few days, a bit dryer, a bit firmer, and I just struggled on them a little bit today.”
Nørgaard dropped his first shot of the week at the ninth in his round of 69, and admitted that he now feels at home in events of this stature as he chases his second DP World Tour title and first on the Rolex Series.
It was a mixed bag for Fleetwood, who recorded four birdies and three bogeys in his round of 71, as he aims to take a third Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title following his victories in 2017 and 2018.
Meanwhile Thomas Detry recorded the low round of the day, opening with six birdies in a row and adding four more after the turn in his round of 62, one short of Waring’s course record on Friday.
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