Dubai Desert Classic: Tyrrell Hatton one off lead despite smashing tee marker
2025-01-18
Category: sports

Dubai Desert Classic third-round leaderboard-13 D Hillier (NZ); -12 T Hatton (Eng); -10 E Ferguson (Sco); -9 R Fox (NZ), L Canter (Eng); -8 T McKibbin (NI), D Frittelli (SA), C Hill (Sco), S Norris (SA).Selected others: -6 R MacIntyre (Sco), R McIlroy (NI); -4 T Clements (Eng), M Wallace (Eng); -3 R Mansell (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng); -2 R Ramsay (Sco), M Armitage (Eng), J Smith (Eng).Full leaderboard
England's Tyrrell Hatton was spoken to by officials after his third round at the Dubai Desert Classic for smashing a tee marker in frustration on the seventh hole.The three-time Ryder Cup player went on to bogey the eighth and ninth but recovered his composure on the back nine to card a four-under-par 68 for a 12-under total - one off the lead held by New Zealand's Daniel Hillier.Hatton said it had been a frustrating day at Emirates Golf Club."Yes, I probably shouldn't have done it," he told BBC Sport. "Does it make me a bad person? No. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. It happened. I can't go back and change it so just move on."I am happy with how I played the back nine with and I could easily have been a few shots better with the putts that I missed. But I am in a good position going into the final round."Tomorrow is another round of golf and I should have enough experience to just go out and play. I am in a great position to give myself a chance of winning the tournament."Hopefully I can be more patient when I need to be."
Hillier, whose only DP World Tour title is the 2023 British Masters, finished his third round with back-to-back birdies.He started strongly with three birdies in his first five holes to go four shots clear, but three consecutive bogeys from the 13th gave the rest of the field a chance to catch up.But he holed from six feet at the 17th before picking up another birdie at the final hole for a two-under 70.Scotland's Ewen Ferguson, who led at halfway, shot a two-over-par 74 to sit on 10 under, one ahead of England's Laurie Canter and Ryan Fox of New Zealand.Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin is one of a group of four players tied for sixth on eight under after carding a second successive 69 while his compatriot Rory McIlroy posted the same score to lie equal 12th on six under.