Ryder Cup partners Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson will go head-to-head in the final group of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers with McDowell holding a one shot lead over the Frenchman.
Major Champion McDowell carded four birdies on the back nine at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in a third round of 66 to move to 12 under par, while Dubuisson posted a bogey-free round of 65 for an 11 under par total.
The duo formed a formidable partnership as part of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in 2014, winning both of their foursome matches together.
They will be reunited for the final round on Sunday with both players looking to win on the European Tour for the first time in more than five years, Dubussion’s last victory coming at the 2015 Turkish Airlines Open and McDowell’s the year before that at the Open de France.
Malaysia’s Gavin Green is three shots back on nine under par following a round of 70 with defending champion Dustin Johnson one of three players on seven under par alongside Italy’s Renato Paratore (70) and France’s Victor Perez (73).
World Number One Brooks Koepka and five time Major Champion Phil Mickelson will start six shots back on six under par after rounds of 65 and 68 respectively.
Player quotes
Graeme McDowell
“I always tell my kids we live in a nice house because daddy can putt, that’s about the heart of it, really. But the putter’s been a little ice cold the last sort of two rounds, but I got it heated back up on the back nine today and I’m going to have to putt well to have a chance tomorrow. Conditions were very tough today, so I’m very pleased with that back nine because I really felt like the back nine’s played very difficult this week and to sneak a few birdies out there coming in was very pleasing.
“I shared a car up to the course this morning with Victor and I was chatting with him and I always look out for him. I had great experiences with him in 2014 at Gleneagles. He’s such a great guy, he hasn’t had the best form the last few years and I’m really, really happy to see him at the top of the leaderboard and looking forward to being with him tomorrow. It’s going to be tough to try and play tough against him, but we’re both competitors and we’ll go out there and try and do our job.”
Victor Dubuisson
“I didn’t play really well in Abu Dhabi, I made the cut but my golf was not very good. Same as last year, I mean last year my golf was not very good, my long game was struggling, it’s kind of my short game who gave me the opportunity to keep my card, but otherwise my golf was really bad. We had a long chat with my coach after Abu Dhabi, because it was the first time he came to the whole tournament so he saw me play the whole four days and he said, It’s not possible, your swing is good. Last year your swing was very good, it’s not possible that you hit the ball like this. So I decided to take my old set of clubs that I was using two years ago from TaylorMade, and I found in my, how do you say, I found my game into the wind again, so I’m quite happy now.
“It will be a great day (playing with Graeme). We haven’t played together since the Ryder Cup, so, yeah, I’m very happy to play with him tomorrow.”
Third round scores
198 G McDowell (Nir) 64 68 66,
199 V Dubuisson (Fra) 69 65 65,
201 G Green (Mas) 64 67 70,
203 V Perez (Fra) 65 65 73, R Paratore (Ita) 68 65 70, D Johnson (USA) 67 68 68,
204 B Koepka (USA) 70 69 65, T Detry (Bel) 73 66 65, P Mickelson (USA) 66 70 68,
205 R Fisher (Eng) 66 68 71, H Stenson (Swe) 65 70 70, J Smith (Eng) 71 67 67, I Poulter (Eng) 72 68 65, G Forrest (Sco) 73 66 66, A Wu (Chn) 71 66 68,
206 A Ancer (Mex) 69 70 67, T Pieters (Bel) 70 67 69, S Lowry (Irl) 69 67 70, A Arnaus (Esp) 65 74 67, M Pavon (Fra) 68 71 67,
207 M Schwab (Aut) 69 72 66, S Garcia (Esp) 69 68 70, B Hebert (Fra) 71 69 67, D Burmester (RSA) 71 68 68, F Laporta (Ita) 67 68 72, J Vegas (Ven) 65 71 71,
208 D Howell (Eng) 68 69 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 70 71 67, A Rai (Eng) 66 71 71, S Crocker (USA) 68 68 72, A Björk (Swe) 68 69 71, R McEvoy (Eng) 69 68 71, J Harding (RSA) 68 73 67, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71 68, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 68 73 67, A Meronk (Pol) 68 70 70,
209 R Ramsay (Sco) 70 70 69, J Winther (Den) 69 68 72, A Levy (Fra) 69 70 70, C Syme (Sco) 69 71 69, M Wallace (Eng) 70 68 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 69 71, F Zanotti (Par) 68 72 69, A Rozner (Fra) 72 68 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 67 69 73, A Chesters (Eng) 73 67 69,
210 J Luiten (Ned) 67 72 71, R Fox (Nzl) 66 75 69, S Soderberg (Swe) 65 73 72, S Heisele (Ger) 70 69 71, A Sullivan (Eng) 66 71 73, S Brown (Eng) 71 70 69, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 66 76, J Morrison (Eng) 69 68 73, M Kaymer (Ger) 73 64 73, L Herbert (Aus) 67 71 72, N Elvira (Esp) 72 66 72,
211 S Gallacher (Sco) 70 71 70, L Gagli (Ita) 73 66 72, J Walters (RSA) 71 65 75, K Samooja (Fin) 72 68 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 73 67 71, E Els (RSA) 72 69 70, J Senior (Eng) 71 69 71, M Antcliff (Aus) 70 69 72, H Li (Chn) 70 71 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 68 74,
212 H Porteous (RSA) 72 67 73, M Kawamura (Jpn) 73 68 71, E Molinari (Ita) 71 69 72, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 69 70 73, G Bhullar (Ind) 74 67 71,
213 N Bertasio (Ita) 72 69 72, M Kinhult (Swe) 67 68 78,
215 S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 67 70 78,
219 J Guerrier (Fra) 75 65 79,
