Rory McIlroy was relishing the chance to win a third Dubai Desert Classic title after moving within two shots of the lead heading into the final round at Emirates Golf Club.
The Northern Irishman carded a 69 on day three to get to 10 under at the event he won in 2009 and 2015, two shots behind South African Justin Harding who maintained his halfway advantage with a 71.
McIlroy's Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood was at nine under, a shot clear of three more members of the European team humbled 19-9 at Whistling Straits in defending champion Paul Casey, Tyrrell Hatton and Bernd Wiesberger.
But all eyes will be on McIlroy in round four as the four-time Major winner looks to convert his improved ball-striking into another win at the scene of his very first DP World Tour triumph.
The 32-year-old said he had “hit the ball as good as I’ve done in a long time” after round two and that certainly looked to be true on the back nine as he struck three stunning second shots into par fives that set up an eagle and two birdies.
He made two further birdies on the front nine to go with three bogeys and was excited to have another chance to complete his Desert Classic hat-trick after narrowly losing out to Li Haotong in 2018.
“I’m excited,” he said. “Had a really good chance in 2018 and let it slip through my fingers there when Haotong won. Good to give myself another opportunity.
“It would be nice to get another win, especially here in Dubai. But it’s obviously nice to get a win anywhere early in the season. So I’ve just got to go out there tomorrow and try to play a good round of golf and hopefully it’s good enough.
“Some good things in there and a couple of bad things as well and I feel like it all evened out by the end and it was nice to birdie the last and shoot something in the 60s and play myself into the final group tomorrow.”
Harding looked set to fall away as he turned in 36 with eight pars and a bogey on the front nine, with Hatton and Lee Westwood surging to the top of the leaderboard.
But the English duo stumbled over the line in rounds of 73 and 71 respectively, allowing Harding to capitalise with birdies on the 12th and 13th.
“At the end of the day, I’ve just got to go out and keep doing what I’m doing and make a couple of birdies and shoot 70, 69, something like that,” he said. “Make them shoot five or six under par and credit to them.
“I’m quite happy with it and go again tomorrow.”
Another South African in Erik van Rooyen was alongside Fleetwood at nine under, with England's Richard Bland in the group at eight under, one ahead of Westwood and Ireland's Pádraig Harrington, who matched McIlroy's 69 to get to seven under.
Harrington got off to a flying start with back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes, but he also made back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth to turn in level-par 35. But three birdies on his back nine moved the former Ryder Cup captain into a share of 11th position.
Completing a great day for the Irish, Shane Lowry carded the low round of the day, his four-under 68 moving him to three under. The Offaly man carded seven birdies in his round with a double-bogey on the ninth and a bogey also on his card.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
204 Justin Harding (Rsa) 65 68 71
206 Rory McIlroy (N Irl) 71 66 69
207 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 67 71 69, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 67 71
208 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 69 66 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 68 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 68 69, Richard Bland (Eng) 69 68 71, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 69 68 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 66 70 72
209 Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 69 71, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 70 70 69
210 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 68 69 73, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 67 74 69, Marcus Armitage (Eng) 70 68 72, Jordan Smith (Eng) 72 69 69, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 73 68 69
211 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 74 69, Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 73 69
212 Collin Morikawa (USA) 68 73 71, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 72 71, Romain Langasque (Fra) 70 70 72
213 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 73 70, Shane Lowry (Irl) 71 74 68, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 68 72 73, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 67 73 73, Josh Hill (Eng) 70 74 69, Sam Horsfield (Eng) 69 69 75, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 74 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 72 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 72 71, Scott Jamieson (Sco) 69 71 73
214 Rafael Cabrera (Esp) 72 73 69, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 73 71 70, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 71 74 69, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 72 73 69, Ashun Wu (Chn) 75 70 69, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 70 74 70, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 72 73 69
215 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 69 76, Andy Sullivan (Eng) 72 73 70, Richie Ramsay (Sco) 74 69 72, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 69 75 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 72 70
216 Haotong Li (Chn) 73 70 73, Grant Forrest (Sco) 70 74 72, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 73 71 72, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 71 73 72, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 75 69 72, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 68 72 76, Matthew Jordan (Eng) 70 73 73, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 70 70 76, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 73 74
217 Johannes Veerman (USA) 71 74 72, John Catlin (USA) 72 69 76, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 71 74 72, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 77 66 74, Ross Fisher (Eng) 71 72 74
218 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 72 73, Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 73 71 74, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 67 75 76, Victor Perez (Fra) 73 72 73, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 65 72 81, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 75 70 73, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 72 77, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 68 76 74, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 71 72 75
219 Daniel Gavins (Eng) 70 75 74, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 71 72 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 69 76
220 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 72 76, David Drysdale (Sco) 74 70 76
221 Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 70 73 78, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 70 74 77, Laurie Canter (Eng) 75 69 77, David Law (Sco) 70 74 77, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 73 81
222 Alexander Levy (Fra) 74 71 77, David Horsey (Eng) 72 73 77
223 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 71 73 79
226 Robert Rock (Eng) 72 73 81
