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By Andrew Mullen Special to PA SportsTicker
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Ticker) - Three-time Dubai Desert Classic
winner Ernie Els knocked Tiger Woods off the top of the leaderboard and
holds the lead after Saturday's third round.
The South African carded a 7-under-par-65, opening a one-shot lead over
defending champion Henrik Stenson. Els is at 11-under 205 overall.
Els is chasing his first stroke play victory since last year's South
African Airways Open and has finished inside the top three in each of
his last six visits to Dubai, a run which includes victories in 2002
and 2005, and three runners-up finishes.
Stenson, who last year birdied the final green to edge out Els by a
single stroke, carded his second 68 of the week to sit alone in second
place with Order of Merit leader Lee Westwood (68) and Northern
Ireland's Graeme McDowell (69) three shots back.
Tiger Woods (71) would have joined the duo but rounded off a
frustrating third round with a bogey at the last after hitting his
second shot into greenside lake and joins Sergio Garcia (70), Abu Dhabi
champion Martin Kaymer (69), Shiv Kapur (69), Peter Hedblom (70) and
Ireland's Damien McGrane (72) at 7-under.
"I'm swinging it better now than I have been all week, I hit the ball
really nicely. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens," said Els,
who only missed one green during his third round.
Els played a solid front nine in two under par before storming around
the turn with an eagle three at the 549-yard 10th after playing a
5-wood to within four feet, which was quickly followed by two birdies
in three holes.
The 38-year-old rounded off the scoring with a solitary birdie at his
penultimate hole, which was also birdied by Stenson to set up a seventh
pairing in the last two years containing the duo.
"It was a good round that I needed," Els added.
"I was disappointed with my second round. I thought I would probably
need two 64s to have half a chance so a 65 today, I will probably need
another low one. I can't see Henrik, Tiger and the other guys not
shooting low so I have just got to keep it going. It will be like a
pressure cooker tomorrow, so I will need to get through that then start
going through my round."
Els defended an eight-stroke final-round lead in 1994 and a
three-stroke cushion eight years later before coming from a shot back
to claim his last Dubai title, while he also lost to Woods in a playoff
in 2006.
The Dubai-based Stenson has finished runner-up in his last two outings
in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, where Adam Scott won after a bogey-free final
round 61.
Stenson stormed out of the blocks and carded a hat trick of birdies,
which included a chip in from 20 yards at the first, and after dropping
his only shot of the day at the fifth, added two further birdies on the
way home.
"I was two behind Ernie last year and now I am one, I don't know if
that's a good omen," Stenson said. "It's always hard to defend a title
and I think this one will be especially hard. "Ernie shot seven-under
and he will be looking to walk away with it so I've just got to keep up
with him and put some pressure on him. Even though Ernie is on 11 and
I'm on 10, it's very bunched up behind us. If any of them get going
like Adam did last week we will have to go higher in the last match."
Woods, looking to claim a sixth victory in seven outings, held a
one-shot stroke lead entering the third round but was disappointed
after not being able to repeat the fireworks which saw the 13-time
major winner blast an ominous opening round 65 following his eight
stroke victory at the Buick Invitational last week.
"I didn't hit the ball close enough on the greens," said Woods, who was
outscored by playing partner McGrane, who sits 318 places lower in the
world rankings. "I have to go out and play a good round of golf
tomorrow and play better than I have the last two days and start making
some putts. I need to hit the ball better and make putts - that's not
complicated."
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