Paul Casey put himself in pole position to boost his Ryder Cup ambitions as a birdie-eagle finish handed him a one-shot lead heading into the final 18 holes of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The Englishman admitted this week that making a fifth appearance for Europe later this year is at the forefront of his mind, and he carded a bogey-free 64 on day three to get to 15 under par and sit a shot ahead of another Ryder Cup hopeful in Scot Robert MacIntyre.
Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry both lie eight shots off the lead at seven under in a tie for 10th after rounds of 69 and 67 respectively.
Harrington opened with back-to-back birdies at the first and second before adding another at the eighth to make his way up the leaderboard. A bogey at the ninth dented his front nine but the three-time Major winner responded immediately with a birdie at the 10th.
However, a disappointing bogey six at the 13th followed by a birdie at the 15th saw him sign for a round of three under par.
Lowry, meanwhile, carded his best round of the week after stalling with a 72 on the second day. The 2019 British Open champion got off to a good start with a birdie at the second before reeling off seven consecutive pars to finish his front nine. However, on the back nine the Offalyman turned on the style with birdies at the 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th for a round of 67.
With no world qualification points available in events played opposite the European Tour’s Rolex Series tournaments, Casey has not accrued any points since the race restarted on January 1st despite last week’s top 10 at The American Express on the PGA Tour.
But the 43-year-old showed why he could be of value to captain Harrington come September, as he looks to match the three-time major champion’s winning haul of 15 events on the European Tour.
He made five birdies in his first 10 holes and then broke a run of six pars with a chip-in at the 17th.
A remarkable second to 10 feet at the par five 18th set up a closing eagle, and Casey is taking inspiration from 47-year-old reigning Race to Dubai champion Lee Westwood as he looks to stay at the very top beyond his 40th birthday.
“We always say, if you stay the same level you’re going to go backwards in this game and every year it gets better and better and better, every year the young guys come up longer and stronger and they putt it better,” he told europeantour.com.
“There’s no question that I’m lucky that my physical attributes have allowed me to maybe give me another five years.
“Westy is inspiration. I saw him this morning. He was looking fit. I’ve still got to chase those guys.”
At 19 years Casey’s junior, MacIntyre is looking to make a Ryder Cup debut after claiming a first victory on a top-flight tour at last season’s Cyprus Showdown.
He birdied the second and then chipped in for eagle at the third but missed the green at the fourth and three-putted the fifth after a poor tee-shot to surrender all his progress.
Back-to-back birdies followed and MacIntyre made further gains at the 10th, 13th and 17th to sign for a 67.
“I’m not going to hang about,” he said. “I’m going to put it all on the line whether it’s good or bad.
“But tomorrow, hopefully it’s going to be good and I’ve just got to enjoy it again. It’s another experience that I want to get. It’s something that not many people get the chance at my age to do and I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”
South African Brandon Stone was at 13 under, three shots clear of Sergio Garcia – who won this event in 2017 before going on to win his first major at the Masters – and England’s Laurie Canter.
Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dhabi GC, Abu Dhabi, UAE (Par 72, British unless stated)
201 Paul Casey 67 70 64
202 Robert MacIntyre 67 68 67
203 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 70 67 66
206 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 73 67, Laurie Canter 70 68 68
207 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 68 71
208 Justin Rose 71 69 68, Justin Harding (Rsa) 66 70 72, Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 67 74
209 Tommy Fleetwood 68 68 73, Shane Lowry (Irl) 70 72 67, Lee Westwood 69 68 72, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 67 72, Alexander Levy (Fra) 70 68 71, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 69 69, Scott Jamieson 70 71 68
210 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 73 68 69, Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 73 71 66, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 73 67, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 68 72, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 70 71 69
211 Tyrrell Hatton 76 64 71, Matthew Fitzpatrick 70 71 70, David Lipsky (USA) 72 71 68, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 71 67 73, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn) 70 69 72, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 68 69 74, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 70 69
212 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 74 66 72, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 65 72 75, Ashun Wu (Chn) 71 71 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 73 71, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 71 73 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 70 69 73
213 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 70 75, Joost Luiten (Ned) 74 69 70, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 67 74 72, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 72 72 69, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 73 69 71, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 64 74 75, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 68 71 74
214 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 74 70 70, Matt Wallace 71 71 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 73 71, Steven Brown 72 70 72, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 75 69 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 71 67 76, Grant Forrest 74 69 71
215 Andy Sullivan 70 72 73, Danny Willett 74 69 72, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 71 71 73, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 75 68 72, Jeff Winther (Den) 69 75 71, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 72 72 71
216 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 72 74, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 72 72, Ross Fisher 68 74 74, Ashley Chesters 72 72 72
217 Sami Valimaki (Fin) 71 73 73, Renato Paratore (Ita) 74 70 73, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 70 73 74, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 71 72 74 , Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 76 67 74, Sean Crocker (USA) 71 73 73
218 Chris Wood 71 73 74, George Coetzee (Rsa) 72 72 74
219 Jordan Smith 71 73 75, Richie Ramsay 71 72 76
220 Collin Morikawa (USA) 71 73 76, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 70 76
227 Gavin Green (Mal) 73 71 83
