Robert MacIntyre will edge closer to a maiden Masters invitation in heading to today’s (SAT) final round of the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship at Jumeirah Estates in Dubai.
Scotland’s top-ranked player should have been knocking loudly on the door of a third Tour win in three events after his lighting start on day three but settled for a 66 to find himself sharing seventh place at 16-under and five shots from the front.
England’s Andy Sullivan continues to lead the field after adding a 68 to move two clear at 21-under par.
Compatriots Matt Wallace and Ross Fisher traded places on day three with Wallace signing for a 67 and jump to 19-under-under while Fisher, a 68 to drop a spot to third and now tied with Italian Renato Paratore (65) at 18-under par.
MacIntyre kick-started his round sensationally racing to seven-under par in as many holes thanks to birdieing his opening five holes and brilliantly capping his round in draining a 20-footer for an eagle ‘3’ at the seventh hole.
Robert MacIntyre on route to a 66 on day three of the Golf In Dubai Championship (Photo – European Tour/Getty)
The Oban lefty had found the rough off the tee right at the seventh and then drilled a 256-yard 5-wood onto the green to hole the pin-high putt that moved him to 16-under in total.
He said: “My ball was sitting alright in the rough. It was the perfect 5-wood and it normally goes 250 on the button. It was slightly downwind and I hit it perfectly and it left me a nice putt.”
The Scots effort soon had some speaking of the young Scot breaking 60 but sadly, it would prove to be the high-water mark of MacIntyre’s ‘moving day’ challenge.
MacIntyre gave two shots back when he missed the green right at the par-3 11th and then three-putted from 15-feet for the only double-bogey on day three among the leading 20 players.
He regained a shot to birdie the par-5 13th for a third day running but birdies simply dried-up for the young Scot on the Sergio Garcia designed layout.
MacIntyre came to the last staring at a four-footer to move to 17-under but his putt missed the cup by at least three inches for a par.
The current World No. 61 put a positive spin on his round but the reality is, MacIntyre let slip the chance of a second Tour win in three events.
And while he is likely to move to the high 50s on the World Rankings, it will hinge on next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the adjoining Earth Course if MacIntyre is headed to Augusta National next April.
He said: “I am happy with six-under par and I would have taken that going out, and with the start I had I should have scored a lot better but that’s the way things happen and I’ve got another day to fix it.
“It happened the other day so it’s nothing new. It’s just part of the game and it happens all the time.
“You want it not to happen but it’s just part-and-parcel of the game and I was just enjoying it as much as I could, and to finish the way I did wasn’t what I wanted to see.
“I’m going to be out there tomorrow thinking I do have a shot at winning. The golf course suits my game. I’m playing great. I’m putting good and just need to tidy that up a little bit, and we will see where we end up.”
Marc Warren produced the reverse to MacIntyre parring all front nine holes and grabbing five inward half birdies in 68 to move and sharing 12th place at 14-under par with Peebles Craig Howie.
Howie birdied three of his opening seven holes, bogeyed the next three and ended with a pair of birdies over his closing three holes in a 70.
Double Dubai Desert Classic winner Stephen Gallacher eagled the last in a score of 66 to be sharing 21st place on 12-under with Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest (70).
