Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Rory McIlroy matches low round of the day as Shane Lowry closes on leader Scott Jamieson
Shane Lowry and Thomas Pieters finished on 10 under, a shot behind leader Scott Jamieson; England's Ian Poulter remains in contention on seven under; watch the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship live on Sky Sports Golf from 5am on Sunday
Last Updated: 22/01/22 2:53pm
Shane Lowry will begin the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship just one shot behind leader Scott Jamieson after surging into contention with a five-under-par 67 on Saturday.
The 2019 Open champion carded a bogeyless round to tie the lowest score of the day, while his playing partner Thomas Pieters matched that effort to join him on 10 under for the tournament.
They trail Scotland's Jamieson, who struck a birdie at the par-five 18th to complete a four-under 68 and ensure he remained on his own at the top of the leaderboard on 11 under.
Rory McIlroy, who along with Collin Morikawa, had to wait for Saturday morning's completion of the second round to confirm he had made the cut, matched the low round of the day to move to two under for the tournament.
An eagle at the par-five seventh helped McIlroy record his first under-par round of the week, and move up to a tie for 28th in the overall standings. Morikawa, meanwhile, could only shoot one under on Saturday and is two over for the tournament.
Three shots behind Jamieson on eight under are Viktor Hovland and Shubhankar Sharma, while English duo Ian Poulter and James Morrison are a shot further back alongside Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Lowry makes his move
After the field struggled in extremely windy conditions at Yas Links on Friday, day three offered the chance to repair some of the damage done scorecards.
Lowry, the 2019 champion in Abu Dhabi, struck two birdies on the front nine, rolling in a 27-foot putt at the par-four fifth. Fine approaches at the 12th and 15th set up close-range opportunities, before a 13-footer at the 16th took him to five-under for the round.
Jamieson, who is looking to win his second DP World Tour title after claiming the Nelson Mandela Invitational in 2012, made five birdies and one bogey in another solid display.
His only blemish came at the 14th as an errant drive resulted in a dropped shot, but birdies at 15 and the par-five 18th kept alive his hopes of ending his nine-year winning drought.
Jamieson: Winning would be a game changer
Scott Jamieson (-11): "You know, all I can do is play whatever shots in front of me, and going to just try and stay, all those clichés, stay in the moment and just try and hit the best shot I can.
"It would be massive, a game changer to win a tournament of this stature. There's definitely been some great champions here, but there's an awful long way to go."
Shane Lowry (-10): "It felt good. Felt comfortable. It's a nice golf course. It's tricky, a bit of wind blowing, I quite like it. I like the way it fits my eye.
"So yeah, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Whoever I'm paired with tomorrow it will be a good day but there's one thing in my mind, to be standing here tomorrow with the trophy again.
"It's great for the first tournament of the year to be in contention. There's been plenty of times my first tournament of the year I've missed cuts and stuff like that and it gets you off to really bad starts."
Watch the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Sunday with Featured Groups from 5am on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 7am.
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