DUBAI, March 6: Playing partners Paul McGinley and Mark O'Meara could not be separated after a tense battle for the lead in the fog-delayed Dubai Desert Classic third round on Saturday.
Irishman McGinley chipped in for birdie at the last for a three-under-par 69, drawing level with American O'Meara, who returned a 68 after forging one shot clear with three consecutive birdies from the 14th.
The pair finished at 14-under 202, with Britain's Brian Davis a further three strokes back in third after a 69.
Paul Casey (70), Simon Dyson (70) and Bradley Dredge (71) tied for fourth at nine-under 207.
Twice major champion O'Meara is chasing his first tour title since 1998 while McGinley, who holed the winning putt for Europe at the 2002 Ryder Cup, is bidding for his first European crown in two and half years.
World number one Tiger Woods kept his hopes alive, bouncing back from an out-of-sorts first nine to return a three-under-par 69 in soaring temperatures at Emirates Golf Club.
The eight-times major winner struggled with his approach play into the quickening greens but a mix of four birdies and one bogey left him tied for fifth at eight-under 208, and six off the lead.
"I figured the leaders wouldn't run away with it today with the greens firming up as they are," said the 28-year-old.
"I'm putting well. I just need to give myself a look at the hole. The hard part is getting them close enough with the greens as firm as they are."
However, the expected third-round charge by Ernie Els, champion in 1994 and 2002, never materialised. He faded to an even-par 72 after making a fast start.
The big-hitting South African holed a 30-foot birdie putt from just off the first green after missing the fairway off the tee and picked up another shot at the par-five third to get to eight under.
However, he then fluctuated wildly, mixing bogeys at eight, 13, 16 and 18 with birdies at 14 and 17 to fall back into a tie for 14th at six under.
McGinley, who had produced 14 birdies in 24 holes the previous day, including eight in a row, initially struggled to make a move in the final group of the day.
He and O'Meara parred the first six holes before collecting back-to-back birdies on seven and eight and they reached the turn at two-under 33.
Further pars followed on 10 and 11 before the Irishman forged two strokes clear, O'Meara bogeying the par-four 12th after finding palm trees off the tee.
The American rallied, however, in dramatic style.
He holed a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-four 14th to trim McGinley's lead to one, drew level when he struck his tee shot to six feet on 15 and then forged ahead with another birdie at the 425-yard 16th.
O'Meara could only par the last two holes before McGinley signed off with his remarkable chip-in at the last.
Third round scores:
202 Paul McGinley (Ireland) 68 65 69, Mark O'Meara (U.S.) 70 64 68
205 Brian Davis 70 66 69 207 Paul Casey 69 68 70, Bradley Dredge 64 71 72, Simon Dyson 68 69 70
209 Jean Van de Velde (France) 73 68 68, Lee Westwood 70 71 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 69 67 73, Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 69 69 71
210 Marcus Fraser (Australia) 69 70 71, Andrew Marshall 72 71 67, Damien McGrane (Ireand) 72 70 68, Colin Montgomerie 70 69 71, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 69 71 70, Marcel Siem (Germany) 70 70 70, Ernie Els (South Africa) 70 68 72
211 Richard Green (Australia) 68 71 72, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 69 72 70, Gregory Havret (France) 70 71 70, Steve Webster 70 73 68
212 Anders Hansen (Denmark) 72 70 70, Gary Orr 69 75 68 213 John Bickerton 71 71 71, Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 74 69 70, Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 72 71 70, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 68 72 73, Martin LeMesurier 70 73 70, Martin Maritz (South Africa) 70 72 71, Wade Ormsby (Australia) 70 73 70, Ian Poulter 73 70 70, Brett Rumford (Australia) 74 69 70, Zhang Lian-Wei (China) 71 70 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 72 72 69
Goosen snatches lead
MIAMI: South Africa's Retief Goosen grabbed a one-shot lead on Friday with a four-under-par 68 after the second round of the Doral Championship.
Phil Mickelson, Australian Craig Parry and Asian Tour journeyman Todd Hamilton held a three-way tie for second place on eight-under.
While Goosen finished the day on nine-under-par 135, Mickelson and Hamilton bogeyed their final holes to fall out of the lead.
Despite setting the pace, Goosen was critical of his day's work.
Germany's Alex Cejka, Australian Craig Perks and Mark Calcavecchia were at seven-under 137 and two shots off Goosen's lead.
Champion Scott Hoch shot a two-over-par 74 to move to even-par for the championship and a tie for 52nd place while first-round leader Chris Smith slipped down the field in a tie for 25th.
With his 68 on Friday, Goosen ran his streak of rounds at par or below to 27 straight, including his last eight of the 2003 season.
The highest ranked player in a field, Goosen was hoping to live up to his billing.
Mickelson, one spot below Goosen in the world rankings, would have been on top of the leaderboard if not for a few missed putts and the par-four 18th.
Mickelson bogeyed the 467-yard hole for the second consecutive day. It has played into a strong wind both days.
Tournament officials moved the tees closer Friday and put the pin on the front edge of the green and the finishing hole yielded just 12 birdies. But that was twice as many as it allowed in the opening round.
The Blue Monster's signature hole was lengthened by 24 yards last year and the tee box were relocated to bring the water more into play.
The difficult 18th helped establish the highest cut on tour this season - surpassing the even-par cut at the Phoenix Open - at one-over 145 with 79 players advancing to weekend play.
Leading second round scores:
135 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 67 68
136 Phil Mickelson 67 69, Craig Parry (Australia) 71 65, Todd Hamilton 68 68
137 Alex Cejka (Germany) 69 68, Craig Perks (New Zealand) 68 69, Mark Calcavecchia 68 69
138 Dennis Paulson 68 70, Joe Durant 66 72, Chris DiMarco 68 70, Danny Ellis 69 69
139 Neal Lancaster 71 68, Justin Leonard 70 69, Stewart Cink 70 69, K.J. Choi (South Korea) 70 79, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 70 69, Scott Verplank 67 72, Skip Kendall 69 70, Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 70 69
140 Stephen Ames (Trinidad and Tobago) 71 69, Gene Sauers 70 70, Jay Haas 73 67, David Toms 72 68, Fred Funk 71 69
Other international scores:
141 Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 71 70
142 Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 72 70
143 Peter Lonard (Australia) 74 69, Jose Coceres (Argentina) 71 72, Bernhard Langer (Germany) 75 68, Sven Struver (Germany) 73 70, Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 71 72
144 Tim Clark (South Africa) 68 76, John Senden (Australia) 71 73 145 Rod Pampling (Australia) 74 71, Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 71 74, Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 73 72, Arjun Atwal (India) 77 68
146 David Frost (South Africa) 71 75, Mark Hensby (Australia) 69 77
147 Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 73 74
148 Scott Hend (Australia) 76 72, Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 71 77 149 Per-Ulrick Johansson (Sweden) 73 76, Glen Hnatiuk (Canada) 73 76 150 Steve Allan (Australia) 72 78, Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 75 75
151 Steve Elkington (Australia) 73 78
152 Tatsuaki Nakamura (Japan) 76 76 153 Richard Johnson (Sweden) 78 75.-Agencies
