Dubai, November 21 (BNA) Rory McIlroy will advance by one stroke on the final day of the DP World Tour Championships after the four-time winner won five points under 67 in Round Three on Saturday.
The Northern Irish entered the third day, but the first mixed seven birds with two ghosts to reclaim top spot at 14 under, a shot ahead of England’s Sam Horsfield in second, Reuters reported.
McIlroy finished day two with a double bogey and started day three in the same vein, with bogey on the first hole after a faulty tee shot, but he corrected the ship with back-to-back sparrows on the second and third.
He made further gains in sixth and ninth places to turn 33, and added two more planes on days eleventh and thirteenth before the 17th-placed Ghost briefly regressed to second.
But the 32-year-old kept his nerve in 18th place, to a double stun in the second round, sinking a nine-foot-long shot for his last flyer on an eventful run to gain a slim advantage in the European Tour’s end event. .
“I’m right where I want to be,” McIlroy said. “I want to compete in golf on Sunday and feel like I’m back in the way I should.”
“I got off to a really great start in the defensive line nine. I gave myself a good shot at 14 and 16 and didn’t convert those. Then a bogey on 17, which was ultimately a good bogey.
“I thought it was important to make a birdie at the end to get to the final set as well. I knew the goal was to get to the final set and I wanted to do that, so it was a great way to finish.”
Horsfield, who started in a triple-tie for the first time, hit a three-bird and an eagle, matched by two Ghost, to sit behind McIlroy and one ahead of Scotland’s Robert McIntyre and Sweden’s Alexander Björk, who tied for third with 12.-under.
Horsefield’s leader after day two, Ireland’s Shane Lowry and American John Catlin, finished fifth in a group of five under 11 players, including race leader to Dubai Colin Morikawa.