McIlroy a shot off lead after 65
Rory McIlroy fired a 7-under-par 65 Saturday in the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to sit one shot behind leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters.
McIlroy is at 16-under 200 overall in the European Tour event, with the former world No. 1 making his first start since October.
Fisher also shot a 65 and overnight leader Pieters added a 67 to reach 17-under 199 on a low-scoring day in the absence of any wind at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National Course.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson (68) was five shots behind the leaders, tied for 12th with four players after six birdies and two bogeys.
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood (67) was tied fourth at 201 with Matthew Fitzpatrick, whose 9-under 63 is the lowest round of the tournament.
McIlroy finally dropped a shot in the tournament on the par-3 15th when he could not get out of the greenside bunker in one attempt. He made up for this with a chip-in birdie on the 17th and added another birdie on the par-5 18th.
McIlroy did not finish outside the top five in seven of his previous eight starts in Abu Dhabi.
“I’ve had a lot of close calls here, I think about six top threes or something like that,” he said.
Fisher has been in good form since the second half of 2017, and has risen to 31st in the rankings. However, his last win came at the 2014 Tshwane Open.
On Saturday, he had three birdies in the first four holes before dropping a shot on the fifth, and then played solid golf and made key par saves in his 65.
“I think a good momentum putt was probably the birdie on the eighth,” Fisher said. “We traded birdies, good shots, and just thoroughly enjoyed the guys’ company and look forward to doing it again tomorrow.”
PGA Tour: Austin Cook hit a hybrid into the fairway bunker on the par-4 18th on a breezy at La Quinta Country Club in Riverside County, then chunked a wedge and raced a chip 20 feet past the hole.
Kip Henley, the longtime PGA Tour caddie who guided Cook to a breakthrough victory at Sea Island in November, stepped in to give the 26-year-old golfer a quick pep talk.
“Kip said, ‘Let’s finish this like we did on the first day at the Nicklaus Course.’ We made a big par putt on 18 there and he said, ‘Let’s just do the same thing. Let’s get this line right and if you get the line right it’s going in.’ ”
It did , giving Cook an 8-under 64 and a onestroke lead in the CareerBuilder Challenge going into the final round on the Stadium Course at PGA West. Andrew Landry and Martin Piller were tied for second, and Jon Rahm and Scott Piercy were a another stroke back.
Singapore Open: Masters champion Sergio Garcia made four early birdies to take the thirdround lead as organizers rushed to finish the tournament on time after three days of weather delays.
Returning to the Sentosa Golf Club just after dawn Sunday to complete his third round after play was suspended Saturday because of lightning strikes, Garcia finished off his last four holes in 4-under for a 66 and a 54-hole total of 11-under 202.
That gave Garcia the outright lead by a shot from joint halfway leader Chapchai Nirat, who bogeyed the 18th for a 68, and his fellow Thai pro golfer Danthai Boonma, who signed for a 65.
Champions Tour: Jerry Kelly made an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole, Colin Montgomerie missed a 6-footer for par and Kelly turned a oneshot deficit into a victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, the tour’s season opener at Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Kelly closed with a 6-under 66 for a three-day total of 18-under 198. Montgomerie shot 69. David Toms shot 67 and finished two shots back, and Miguel Angel Jimenez was another stroke behind after a 66. Bernhard Langer closed with a 70 to finish at 10 under.