Rory McIlroy ties the lead heading into the final round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai after a four-under par 68 on Saturday.
McIlroy, seeking his fourth successive Race to Dubai crown, is joined at the head of an exceptionally clustered leaderboard by Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen who recovered from an opening bogey to post a round of 68, with three birdies in the tricky homeward stretch.
The pair are one stroke clear of star-studded grouping on 12-under par, including the English trio of Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, the latter of whom is the only player with a chance of unseating McIlroy at the top of the Race to Dubai leaderboard.
One stroke further back is a trio on 11-under par, including Bethpage heroes Justin Rose and Ludvig Aberg and the overnight leader Nicolai Hojgaard who lost ground on Saturday with a two-over par 73.
Shane Lowry is part of the quintet on 10-under after a frustrating one-under par 71, where he's joined by Bob MacIntyre, Thriston Lawrence, Li Haotong and Jacob Skov Olesen.
In total, there are 16 players within three strokes of the lead, nine of whom were part of the European Ryder Cup team in New York.
Starting three back from the lead, McIlroy was off to a quick start after knocking his approach in close at the opening hole. However, he failed to build on that momentum on the front nine and a poor tee shot cost him a bogey at the par-3 fourth. He got up and down from the greenside bunker for a birdie at the par-5 seventh.
He remained in the chasing pack at 10-under until a closing burst of three birdies in the five final holes, commencing with back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th before a two-putt birdie at the treacherous par-5 18th to reach 13-under par, tied with the 26-year old Dane.
McIlroy said on Sky Sports: "I got off to a good start, I hit two great shots into the first, two great shots into the second. I missed a two-and-a-half, three-footer on two, three-putted that, and I feel after that I sort of let that affect me a little bit, especially on the greens, for the next few holes.
Every shot of Rory McIlroy's birdie at the final hole to co-lead 🤩#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/cpUe4t4MTf
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"But I stayed really patient, gave myself plenty of opportunities, didn't hole that much but I knew there was a few chances coming in and it was nice to take advantage of those. Overall, a bit of battling day, the conditions were tricky enough, but happy to shoot the score that I did."
With Marco Penge back on four-under par and essentially out of the equation, McIlroy only has to finish in the top eight to ensure he claims a seventh Race to Dubai (Order of Merit) crown, which would leave him only one off Colin Montgomerie's record.
Hatton, who registered seven birdies in the course of an impressive round of 67, can still nab the crown should he win tomorrow, alongside McIlroy tumbling outside the top-eight, which remains a possibilty given the concertinaed nature of the leaderboard.
McIlroy appears unlikely to lose too much sleep, saying: "I'm in a better position than him. I’m focused on myself. If I go out and play the golf that I know I’m capable of, especially around this golf course, I know that I’ll be OK.
"It would be an amazing way to end the season. I’ve put myself in position to try to get another win here. I certainly could have coasted into these couple of weeks and enjoyed myself but the Race to Dubai is important to me and it’s important to me to try to get a little bit closer to Monty."
Lowry, still chasing his first win of the year, is three strokes back after a one-under par round on Saturday. Unlike on the previous two days, Lowry failed to get up a head of steam on the front nine, a birdie at the par-5 second being cancelled out by a dropped stroke at the third after finding the fairway bunker.
It could have been worse for the 2019 Open Champion but for an enormous stroke of luck at the final hole, when his approach ricocheted off the rocks by the stream in front of the 18th green and bounced into the chipping area.
With an awkward pitch shot, he was unable to get up and down for a closing birdie but tapped in for par to sit at 10-under par heading into Sunday but with 11 players between himself and the lead.
Tom McKibbin, the third Irish player in the field, is on six-under par after a third successive round of 70.
