Paul Waring saw his comfortable overnight lead cut to a single shot heading into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Englishman 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 Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, 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.
FASTER GREENS
Waring, whose last victory came at the Nordea Masters in 2018, said: “I’m a little bit disappointed, as I felt like could I have really moved forward today and put myself out of sight, but you’re always going to an iffy run of holes over four rounds, and hopefully I’ve got mine out of the way today.
“If you’d given me a one-shot lead going into the final round at the beginning of the week I’d have snatched your hand off, so I’m trying to remain positive. I’m still in the lead, and I’m looking forward to getting out there tomorrow.”
Looking at where he came unstuck today, he added: “I thought the greens were 18 inches quicker today and 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.”
“I feel like my bad golf is out of the way now and I can sort of try and free wheel as much as I can tomorrow and see where we all lie at the end of the day .
BEST OF THE REST
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.
Lowry got off to a fast start with an eagle on the second and was was six under at the turn before recording seven consecutive pars and finishing bogey, birdie to sign for a 66.
Rory McIlroy’s hopes of victory took a big dive when he double-bogeyed the par-five last to record a three-under 69 and sit in the pack on -13.
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.