Drysdale out to make it 498th time lucky...

DAVID DRYSDALE surged into contention to claim his first European Tour title at the 498th attempt with a brilliant third round in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

The Scot fired seven birdies in a bogey-free 64 at Education City Golf Club to reach 13 under par and trail Spain’s Jorge Campillo by a single shot.

Denmark’s Jeff Winther is alongside Drysdale following a 65, with fellow Dane Benjamin Poke on 12 under and Swede Alexander Bjork and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal another stroke adrift.

Drysdale, who has finished runner-up three times during 19 campaigns on the European Tour, had missed the cut in his last two starts and has a best finish of 36th from six events this season.

‘It’s not been fantastic lately and it’s been a case of getting the head down, trying to grind out things to try and see some improvement,’ admitted the 44-year-old.

‘But I had a good couple of days with my coach, Jamie Gough (brother of former Rangers and Scotland defender Richard), on Tuesday and Wednesday and I felt really good on Thursday shooting that four under.

‘I played very solid from tee to green. It’s not been quite as good since then and today was good for maybe 12 of the 18 holes. But, overall, it is going in the right direction.’

Scott Jamieson is four shots further back after a 69, while Robert MacIntyre and Stephen Gallacher both shot 68s to lie nine off the lead in Doha.

Meanwhile, as expected, Tiger Woods misses next week’s Players Championship at Sawgrass because of a back injury.

Woods has not played since the Genesis Open three weeks ago where he came 68th and missed this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, citing stiffness.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton leads the way at Bay Hill after carding a third-round 73 in Florida. He is on six under, two ahead of Rory McIlroy (73) and Marc Leishman (72) going into today’s final round.