Sunday 22 November 2015 16:43, UK
Rory McIlroy boosted his chance of ending the season as European No 1 with a round-of-the-day 65 to close the gap on leader Andy Sullivan at the DP World Tour Championship.
The world No 3, who came in to this week leading the Race to Dubai standings by just 1,613 points, posted eight birdies during an impressive round to move within one stroke of Sullivan.
Resuming four shots off the pace, McIlroy got off to the perfect start by opening with back-to-back birdies, before adding another gain from ten feet at the fourth to get within one of the Englishman.
After chipping to two feet to set up a gain at the par-five seventh, McIlroy kicked off his back nine with a fifth birdie of the round to keep the pressure on the midway leader.
A rare bogey at the 12th after finding the fairway bunker off the tee briefly saw the world No 3 two adrift, although McIlroy responded by sinking back-to-back birdies to move alongside Sullivan.
McIlroy found the shortened par-four 15th green off the tee with a three-wood, with a two-putt birdie from 20 feet briefly lifting him top of the leaderboard.
A two-putt par at the next allowed Sullivan to move alongside him with a gain at the 15th, before the two-time European Tour winner moved above McIlroy with a birdie-two at the penultimate hole.
Sullivan showed signs of frustration after a wayward approach into the last, but holed a tricky 12-foot par-save and maintain his advantage heading in to the final round.
"I feel like it could have been a lot better," McIlroy said. "If it had of been the final day, I'd be kicking myself with some of the chances I missed.
"I'm playing lovely, so that bodes well for tomorrow. if I can just keep this up and apply a bit of pressure early on, then hopefully I can keep it going. But it's exactly where I want to be, in contention going into Sunday."
A final-hole birdie from last week's BMW Masters runner-up Patrick Reed leaves him in outright third on 13 under, with Emiliano Grillo finishing with four consecutive gains to join Byeong Hun An a further stroke back.
Danny Willett, who lies second in the Race to Dubai standings, finished strongly to close a third-round 66 to sit with Matt Fitzpatrick and Thongchai Jaidee in a tie-for-sixth.
Further down the leaderboard, Lee Slattery played a four-hole stretch along the back nine in six under, with back-to-back eagles helping him to a third-round 68 to get him back under par for the week.
"I had a couple of putts lip out early on the back nine, then I just made that eagle and it seemed to turn things around," Slattery told reporters. "To eagle the next straight after it is very rare to do. It was an incredible finish."
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