DUBAI, March 8: Ernie Els suffered a few hiccups but managed to stay in the hunt for his fifth title of the year on Saturday, carding a three-under-par 69 in the Dubai Desert Classic’s third round.
Despite stumbling with bogeys at the fourth, ninth and at the last, the big-hitting South African resurrected his score with four birdies in seven holes after the turn to finish at 13-under 203.
That left the defending champion tied for the lead with playing partner Alastair Forsyth of Scotland and England’s David Lynn, who also returned 69s on a day of tugging winds and quickening greens at the Emirates Golf Club.
Welshman Ian Woosnam, who reeled off three consecutive birdies round the turn, returned a 70 to share fourth place with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (67) and South Korea’s Kevin Na (68) at 11-under 205.
Another Welshman, Ryder Cup player Phillip Price, fired a 68 to lie a further shot back in a tie for seventh with Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen, a 67, and 2001 winner Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, who also shot a 68.
Els and Forsyth had been level with Lynn and Finland’s Mikko Ilonen at the top of the leaderboard overnight, and most spectators swarming across the edge of the palm tree-lined fairways expected the in-form South African to break clear early on.
But it was the 26-year-old Forsyth, winner of last year’s Malaysian Open, who made the first significant move by eagling the 530-yard third to get to 12 under.
That put him one clear of twice U.S. Open champion Els, who birdied the same hole.
Both players dropped shots at the par-three fourth, where they were foiled by a treacherous pin position, but Els sank a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-four fifth to regain a share of the lead with the Scot.
Leading third round scores (British unless stated):
203 Ernie Els (South Africa) 66 68 69, Alastair Forsyth 65 69 69, David Lynn 68 66 69
205 Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 70 68 67, Kevin Na (South Korea) 68 69 68, Ian Woosnam 69 66 70
206 Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 67 72 67, Phillip Price 71 67 68, Thomas Bjoern (Denmark) 69 66 71
207 Mark Foster 73 66 68, Miko Ilonen (Finland) 67 67 73
208 Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 72 69 67, Gary Orr 71 69 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 68 69 71
209 Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 72 69 68, Simon Yates 69 72 68, Richard Bland 72 67 70, Nick Dougherty 67 69 73, Ian Garbutt 73 63 73
210 Brian Davis 68 72 70, Henrik Nystrom (Sweden) 70 70 70, John Bickerton 69 71 70, Stephen Gallacher 69 70 71, Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 69 69 72, Jamie Donaldson 67 71 72, Greg Owen 67 69 74
211 Bradley Dredge 73 69 69, Paul Lawrie 70 72 69, Jyoti Randhawa (India) 70 72 69, Darren Clarke 70 69 72
212 Lee Westwood 70 73 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden) 73 69 70, Charlie Wi (South Korea) 70 72 70, Steve Webster 71 71 70, Marten Olander (Sweden) 70 71 71, David Park 71 69 72, Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 71 68 73—Reuters