Abu Dhabi Championship – third round leaderboard
-18 P Waring (Eng); -17 N Norgaard (Den); -15 S Lowry (Ire), T Fleetwood (Eng), T Olesen (Den), S Soderberg (Swe); -14 R Macintyre (Sco), T Detry (Bel), N Hoegaard (Den), U Coussaud (Fra), T Hatton (Eng), F Laporta (Ita)
Selected others: -13 R McIlroy (NI), A Sullivan (Eng), M Jordan (Eng); -12 R Mansell (Eng), A Fitzpatrick (Eng), M Wallace (Eng), J Niemann (Chi); -11 T McKibbin (NI)
England’s Paul Waring had his five-shot overnight lead cut to one going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship.
Waring, who shot a course-record 61 in the second round, carded a one-over-par 73 in the third round at Yas Links.
Waring is 18 under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Danish playing partner Niklas Norgaard after his 69.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Ireland’s Shane Lowry are in a four-way tie for third place, three shots behind Waring, while Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy looked set to join them on 15 under before a double-bogey at the last.
Waring, who started his third round with a birdie on the second but followed up with bogeys on the fourth and 14th, told Sky Sports: “I could have really moved forward today and put myself out of sight, but in four rounds of golf you are always going to have an iffy round.
“If at the beginning of the week you had given me a one-shot lead going into the final day, I would have snapped your hand off.”
Two-time Abu Dhabi winner Fleetwood put himself in contention with a 71 despite struggling with his putter.
Sweden’s Sebastian Soberberg and Denmark’s Thorbjoern Olesen are also on 15 under, while Lowry followed up an eagle at the par-five second with five birdies in a round of 66.
Belgian Thomas Detry carded a 10-under bogey-free round of 62 to join a group of six players on 14 under which also includes Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, who started the day nine shots off the lead, cut that gap to three before falling back with a seven at the last. His 69 left him 13 under.
He will win the Race to Dubai for a sixth time if he finishes in the top two in Abu Dhabi, before the European Tour season finale in Dubai next week.
“I sort of dug myself a bit of a hole to get out of, but I can still go into tomorrow feeling like I have half a chance,” said McIlroy.
“I bogeyed the first today and doubled the last, but in between that I played some really good golf. I just need to keep the big mistakes and big numbers off my card.”
