Saturday, 23 Jan 2021. 13:33
ABOU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The final day of the Abu Dhabi Championship, counting for the European Tour, promises to be scorching on Sunday, with Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood regrouped in two strokes after three very high level rounds.
The former Northern Irish world number 1, already a four-Major winner at 31, surrendered a 67 card on Saturday, like Fleetwood, to take a lead over Hatton and two over Fleetwood, prominent members like him of the European Ryder Cup team.
McIlroy, currently 6th in the world, has never won this richly endowed Abu Dhabi tournament, but has finished it four times second and three times third, in 10 appearances. He was forced to pull out all the stops to get past Hatton, thanks to an eagle on the 10th hole, returning an approach, then two birdies in a row on the 15th and 16th.
In the wake of a very successful end of the year 2020, five French players are in the top-25 of this big tournament before the last round, in particular Alexander Lévy who managed a hole in one on Saturday, on the 15th.
