Tom McKibbin’s attempts for a DP Tour win early in his rookie season suffered a slight setback on Saturday as he slipped off the top of the leaderboard at the Singapore Classic.
The 20-year-old Co Down golfer was one shot clear overnight and started his third round in stunning fashion with three straight birdies, a further birdie on the fifth moving him to 15 under for the tournament.
He then made three bogeys in four holes, with a fifth birdie on the front nine coming on the eighth, as he turned in two-under 33.
His back nine was a little less of a rollercoaster, with just a single birdie on the 14th and bogeys on the 12th and 16th, as he signed for a one-under 71 to move to 12 under ahead of the final round.
That leaves McKibbin two shots off joint leaders Jeunghun Wang of South Korea and Spain’s Alejandro Del Rey, who both carded six-under 66s in the third round, while Richard Mansell is alone in third place after a best of the day 65.
McKibbin is tied for fourth with England’s Nathan Kimsey, Finland’s Sami Valimaki and Germany’s Marcel Schneider.
At the Phoenix Open, McKibbin’s fellow Holywood Golf Club member Rory McIlroy will resume his second round in the coming hours looking to further push his way up the leaderboard over his remaining five holes.
McIlroy enjoyed a brilliant opening nine to his second round, carding three straight birdies from the second and adding a fourth on the sixth hole to turn in four-under 31 to move to two under for the tournament.
The world number one picked up one further birdie on the 12th to get to three under, finishing off his play for the day with a par of the par-five 13th before play was ended due to darkness.
Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm can both take McIlroy’s number one ranking with a victory this week and they sit in the top two spots on the leaderboard. World number two Scheffler leads on 10 under after a brilliant 64, while Spanish world number three Rahm, who carded a 66, is in a tie for second alongside Canada’s Adam Hadwin, who still has eight holes of his second round to play.
Séamus Power looks set to make the cut after a second straight one-under 71 left him on level par, but Shane Lowry will need something special over the final six holes of his second round after a four-over front nine left him on four over for the tournament, presently three shots off the cut mark of one over.
