Shaun Norris carded his second-successive five-under-par 67 on Sunday in the third round of the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic to move to 11-under-par and a share of fourth ahead of the final round.
The tournament will finish on Monday after play was disrupted by heavy rains during the first two days. Norris was four shots behind the lead which was held by Rory McIlroy, who, despite a closing bogey, had a seven-under third round to go into a three-stroke lead over the English duo of Callum Shinkwin and Joburg Open winner Dan Bradbury.
Norris made three birdies on the front nine, dropping a shot on the ninth, and then four birdies on the way home, with a bogey coming on the 16th. He shared fourth with, amongst others, last week’s winner on the DP World Tour, Victor Perez of France. Perez had a six-under 66 in the third round. Also on 11-under were the LIV Golf trio of Patrick Reed, Ian Poulter and Richard Bland, as well as Spain’s Angel Hidalgo and Adri Arnaus.
Next best of the South Africans who made the cut was Justin Harding, who had a four-under-par 68 in the third round to move to 10-under and a share of 11th – four shots off the pace. Louis de Jager had a two-under 70 and was on nine-under in a share of 19th.
Oliver Bekker and Jacques Kruyswijk were on eight-under in 25th after rounds of 69 and 70 respectively. Justin Walters and Hennie du Plessis slipped down the leaderboard to a share of 74th on two-under through 54 holes after Walters had a level-par 72 and Du Plessis one-over 73.
