Waring leads as error stalls McIlroy's Abu Dhabi charge

Rory McIlroy's Abu Dhabi Championship charge faltered when he found water off his drive and made double bogey on the last hole, leaving him five shots off the lead held by Paul Waring heading into the final round.

Nine strokes behind after 36 holes, world No.3 McIlroy had closed to just three shots back in the third round when he pulled his tee shot on the par-5 18th, the ball bouncing off the rocks lining the fairway and ricocheting into the water.

After a drop, McIlroy then hit an approach — his fourth shot — into the greenside bunker and could only make a seven, for a three-under 69 and 13 under overall.

"The leaders weren't getting away and I was making a little bit of a charge," said McIlroy, who made six birdies after opening his round with a bogey.

"And one mistake — that drive on 18. Untimely mistake."

It was all the more frustrating for McIlroy because the 229th-ranked Waring — the leader by five shots after the second round — was one of only two players in the top 29 to shoot over par on Saturday.

With a one-over 73, Waring saw his lead trimmed to one stroke and was 18 under for the tournament.

Niklas Norgaard was alone in second place after shooting 69, with Tommy Fleetwood (71), Thorbjorn Olesen (71), Sebastien Soderberg (68) and Shane Lowry (66) tied for third place.

Australia's challenge continued to be led by Min Woo Lee, whose third-round 68 leaves him eight under in joint-18th place.

McIlroy was in a tie for 13th place as he seeks a win that can clinch him the Race to Dubai title for a sixth time, tying him with the late Seve Ballesteros and putting him just two off the record eight of Colin Montgomerie.

"I dug myself a bit of hole to get out of," McIlroy said, adding he still goes "into tomorrow feeling like I have half a chance."

Englishman Waring, who carded a course-record 61 on Friday, hopes he has got his "bad golf out of the way" after seeing his lead cut.

"You've got to have an average day, haven't you?" he joked after his round.

"I'm a little bit disappointed, I felt like I could have put myself out of sight but four rounds of golf, you're always going to have a bit of an iffy run of holes, an iffy round of golf.

"I was absolutely fine for the first few holes. Four I've hit a lovely tee-shot and three-putted and that just put me on the back foot a little bit. I didn't recover in total honesty.

"I went into a bit of a defensive mode; you're playing to win golf tournaments and you have to manage your emotions and what's going on around you.

"It's a game of golf tomorrow in the sunshine. I'm looking forward to the challenge of it. I feel like my bad golf is out of the way now."