Hero Dubai Desert Classic: Shubhankar Sharma improved to 30th place with one more round to go at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, even as Cameron Young will take a two-shot lead into the final round after carding a gutsy 71 on day three at Emirates Golf Club.Young started the third day with a three-shot advantage but found himself one back as he turned in 37, just as the three-time champion Rory McIlroy set the target at 12 under after a stunning 63.
Young, the World Number 25, found another gear on the back nine, however, carding three birdies to get to 14 under in the first Rolex Series event of the season.
The 26-year-old could have been further ahead, such was the quality of his iron play after the turn, but he will now go out with McIlroy in round four, with Pole Adrian Meronk alongside the Northern Irishman after a 70.
India’s Shubhankar Sharma shot 2-under 70 despite missing a lot of birdie putts. Yet he moved up from overnight T-52 to T-30. He started with a bogey, but rallied well and finished the day with four birdies against two bogeys.
Sharma said, “I missed a few birdie putts and have not scored on the Par-5s. There is one more day to go.”
After a shaky start on day one, Young finished birdie-birdie eagle to share the lead and looked in complete control as he carded a second-round 64.
His front nine woes continued on day three but he is 14 under for the week after the turn and will now go in search of a first DP World Tour win in wire-to-wire fashion after finishing second at the 2022 Open Championship and 2023 WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play.
World Number Two McIlroy arrived in Dubai level with Ernie Els for most wins at this event but entered the weekend ten shots back after starting his week 71-70.
The 34-year-old McIlroy, who shot 71-70 on the first two days, knew he needed to do something special to defend his title and he produced just that with a brilliant bogey-free 63.
A remarkable eagle putt from off the green on the par-five last moved him to 12 under, giving him the chance to win a third Rolex Series title, fourth Dallah Trophy, and sixth event in Dubai.
Dane Rasmus Højgaard and China’s Li Haotong were then three shots further back at nine under, one ahead of Chilean Joaquin Niemann.
Cameron Young: I feel like I really played okay. The front nine, especially, is kind of one of those days when a few things don’t quite go your way. I didn’t putt quite as well as I have the last few days, and with a little bit more wind, it wasn’t that easy. I think all in all, it was a good battle. And not obviously trying to be winning by ten after today, but two is better than none.
“I think it will be fun (playing with Rory McIlroy). They are both very good players, and it’s a good golf course. So I’ve played well this week and I’m looking forward to tomorrow and seeing what I can do.”
Young, who has never won after his two Korn Ferry Tour wins in 2021, added, “It’s probably been since those Korn Ferry Tour wins that I’ve won anything at all. It would be a nice feeling. It’s one of those times that you feel kind of at peace with what you’ve done, and it’s something I would love to do tomorrow. But I’ve put myself in another great place to have a chance, and I’m happy with that. So if I go out and go through the process that we’ve kind of set up for tomorrow and see what happens, see what happens. ”
McIlroy said of the eagle on the 18th, “I was walking up with the putter in my hand, and as I got closer to the ball, I saw that there was a lot of fringe to go through. And I said to Harry, like I sort of want to chip it but the lie wasn’t great. I could just see the club bouncing.”
“I was like, I’ll just sort of, I guess, ride my luck with the putter, and it came out perfectly. And as soon as it got on the green, it actually wasn’t as fast as I thought it was going to be once it got on the green. And it was tracking perfectly. Obviously a huge bonus for something like that to go in. But you know, for the rest of the day, I played some very, very good golf. Definitely better than I played the last couple of days and nice to get myself right back in the tournament.”
Talking of his great success at the event, where he has never finished out of Top-10 in his last 11 visits and won three times, he said, “I think for me, the key to this golf course is always the front nine because it is the tougher nine, and if you can play that nine well, you give yourself a ton of momentum going into the more scorable back nine.
“It would be amazing. First player to get my name on it four times, yeah, it would be awesome. I’ve had so much success in Dubai, whether it be at this tournament or over at Jumeirah Golf Estates and Race to Dubai’s. It’s been a really, really good place to me. I love coming back here. I really enjoy my time here. Yeah, it would be amazing if I was able to get another win.”