Martin Kaymer is on the brink of a fourth HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship after an impressive third round. The German carries a six-shot advantage going into the final 18 holes, after a round of 65 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
Kaymer, winner of this tournament in 2008, 2010 and 2011, started brightly with birdies on the first two holes, before trimming another shot on the fifth.
The US Open champion maintained the momentum with birdies on the seventh, eighth, 11th and 13th to move to 20 under par.
Kaymer told Sky Sports: “Hopefully it’s going to be enough — I’ve really enjoyed the course. I’ve had a very solid three days, with only two bogeys in the first round.
“I’m a little bit surprised the way I played but the first round showed me I made the right choice taking it a little bit easy over the winter.”
Rory McIlroy’s challenge wilted with a round of 71, which leaves the world number one sharing fifth place — eight shots behind Kaymer. The Northern Irishman got his third round moving with a birdie on the sixth and made another shot on the 12th — but the momentum was immediately halted as he bogeyed the next hole.
The world number one admitted he was left feeling deflated after failing to take advantage of several promising situations with his putter.
He said: “I feel like punching myself. I’m very disappointed, I just didn’t putt well — yesterday or today. I hit the ball just as well as I did yesterday and gave myself so many chances but I didn’t convert any. I was very wasteful today. It looks like I’m playing for second place tomorrow.
“You’re always trying to improve and get better and I’m going to have to do something a bit better on the greens to shoot a good number and finish the tournament off well.”
Kaymer’s nearest challenger is Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, whose third round 70 contained three birdies and just one bogey, on the 17th hole. Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who carded seven birdies and one bogey for a round of 66, is a shot further back alongside France’s Alexander Levy, who managed a 67 — the highlight of which was an eagle on the 18th.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and France’s Gary Stal are alongside McIlroy on 12 under, with France’s Victor Dubuisson (64), Wales’ Jamie Donaldson (65) and another South African, Dawie van der Walt (65), benefiting from good third rounds to join America’s Peter Uihlein (70) a shot further back.
Damien McGrane is five under after a 71.
Collated scores
196 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 64 67 65
202 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 65 67 70
203 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 65 66, Alexander Levy (Fra) 66 70 67
204 Rory McIlroy 67 66 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 68 65, Gary Stal (Fra) 68 69 67
205 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 69 72 64, Peter Uihlein (USA) 67 68 70, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 70 65, Jamie Donaldson 73 67 65
206 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67 67, Eddie Pepperell 70 68 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 66 74 66, Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 68 69 69
207 Steve Webster 73 67 67, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 67 75 65, Branden Grace (Rsa) 66 74 67, James Morrison 68 67 72, Tyrrell Hatton 66 71 70, Anthony Wall 70 71 66, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 67 71 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 70 68 Richard Green (Aus) 68 68 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 68 67
208 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 70 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 69 70, Paul Lawrie 68 73 67, Oliver Wilson 71 71 66
209 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 69 71, Ross Fisher 71 69 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 66 75 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 70 71 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 73 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 68 73 68, Oliver Fisher 69 70 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 71 69 Seve Benson 69 73 67, Andy Sullivan 71 71 67, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 70 70 69
210 Scott Hend (Aus) 70 70 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 75 68, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 69 71 70, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 70 71
211 Andrew Johnston 73 68 70, Craig Lee 73 68 70, Damien McGrane 71 69 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 71 72, Jordi Garcia pinto (Spa) 70 71 70, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 72 67 72, Justin Rose 73 69 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 72 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 70 70
212 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 73 71, Robert Rock 69 73 70, Danny Willett 70 71 71, Renato Paratore (Ita) 70 69 73, Simon Khan 73 67 72, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 72 68 72, Bradley Dredge 72 70 70
213 Matthew Nixon 68 71 74, Johan Carlsson (Swe) 70 72 71
214 Richard Bland 69 73 72, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 72 69 73, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 74 68 72, Oliver Farr 73 69 72
215 David Drysdale 70 71 74, Rickie Fowler (USA) 67 75 73
217 Tian lang Guan (Chn) 70 69 78
218 Jason Palmer 71 71 76
219 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 72 70 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 73 77
