Paul McGinley made a bold move up the leaderboard on the third day of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, but like the rest of the field, it appears he is making up the numbers behind runaway leader Martin Kaymer.
The German is one round away from landing his maiden European Tour title after maintaining a six-stroke lead in the desert. The tour's Rookie of the Year carded a bogey-free four-under-par 68 to move to 17-under overall.
England's Anthony Wall heads the chasing pack at 11-under after a flawless 65, the joint-second best round of the day alongside compatriot Lee Westwood, who is fourth on nine-under. Sweden's Henrik Stenson holds third on 10-under after his 69
McGinley finds himself tied sixth on seven-under after today's 66 moved him up 20 places.
"I didn't really play any better or worse than I had done the other days but it was nice to put a score on the board," said the Dubliner. "Obviously my putting was better but I hit irons a bit closer to the pins to which helped me gain a bit of momentum."
An Irish trio of Open champion Padraig Harrington (69), Rory McIlroy (69) and Peter Lawrie (70) find themselves inside the top 30 on three-under, while Damien McGrane slipped back to one-under after today's 73.
The biggest disappointment was Darren Clarke, who slipped way off the pace with his 74 which left the Dungannon man rooted at the lower end of the field on two-over.
As for the 23-year-old Kaymer, he stormed out of the blocks once more after carding previous rounds of 66 and 65.
"I will just continue to stick to my game plan on Sunday and see what happens. I didn't have a single bogey which was good, I have only had two all week which is great," said Kaymer, who has recently been receiving coaching from Stenson's caddie Fanny Suneson.
"I felt a little nervous when I started but I had a really good start and made two birdies on the opening two holes and that settled me down and gave me a lot of confidence for the next 16 holes."
Luke Donald moved to five under after a bogey-free 67 and he sits a shot clear of Colin Montgomerie (68), who is hoping to break back into the world's top 50 with a top 10 finish this week. To do so would secure his place at the Masters in April.
Collated Third round scores & totals in the European tour Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi GC, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
199 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 65 68
205 Anthony Wall 71 69 65
206 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 70 69
207 Lee Westwood 69 73 65
208 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 70 69
209 Steve Webster 70 68 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 72 71 66, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 70 70, Mark Foster 70 70 69, Paul McGinley 72 71 66
210 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 72 70, Richard Finch 71 70 69, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 72 68, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 69 68
211 James Kingston (Rsa) 71 68 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 72 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 69 68, Luke Donald 71 73 67
212 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 70 72, Colin Montgomerie 72 72 68, Nick Dougherty 72 71 69, John Bickerton 71 70 71, Simon Dyson 73 71 68, Oliver Fisher 72 71 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 72 69, Paul Broadhurst 72 72 68, Phillip Archer 71 68 73, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 71
213 Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 70 69, Rory McIlroy 73 71 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 74 71, Ian Poulter 70 70 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 70 72, Peter Lawrie 73 70 70, Padraig Harrington 72 72 69, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 74 68
214 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 75 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fij) 70 74 70, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 72 73 69, Paul Lawrie 70 73 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 72 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 70 68 76, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 71 70
215 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 71 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 74 71 70, Damien McGrane 70 72 73, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 75 70 70, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 71 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 70 72, Sam Little 75 69 71, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 73 72 70
216 Soren Hansen (Den) 71 71 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 69 73, Richard Green (Aus) 75 68 73, Rhys Davies 73 71 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 72 73, Simon Wakefield 72 71 73
217 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 73 71 73, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 73 73, David Lynn 74 70 73
218 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 73 74, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 72 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 73 73, Darren Clarke 72 72 74
219 Phillip Price 73 71 75, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 75 68 76, Matt Weibring (USA) 74 70 75
220 Benn Barham 74 71 75
