Paul Casey put on a fast finish Saturday at the Emirates Golf Club and his birdie-eagle flurry earned him the 54-hole lead at the Dubai Desert Classic.
The 43-year-old Casey holed a nice putt at the short par 17th to get to 14-under par then hit a sensational approach with a mid-iron into the par five 18th and drained a 12-footer for eagle and an eight-under par 64, low round of the week.
As good as Casey played, he’s only a shot in front of one of the European Tour’s rising young stars — Robert MacIntyre of Scotland. McIntyre holed a birdie putt from the fringe on 17 but a poor drive at the 18th forced him to layup and he failed to make a closing birdie that would have tied him with Casey. Still, he signed for 67 and is alone at 14-under par. South African Brandon Stone’s 66 left him in solo third at 13-under heading into Sunday’s finale.
Sergio Garcia and Englishman Laurie Canter were the only other players to reach double-digits under par, they’re in at 10-under.
Overnight leader Thomas Detry had two double-bogeys on his card and fell out of contention as his 74 dropped him back to eight-under par. Tommy Fleetwood failed to mount a charge, instead he stumbled over the back nine with four bogeys and finished with a 73 and was in at seven-under par along with countryman Lee Westwood, who shot 72.
