Abu Dhabi golf: Jamieson keeps title hopes alive

The Scotsman goes into Sunday's final round with one-shot lead

Scott Jamieson, whose last win came in 2012 in a rain-shortened, two-round tournament in Durban, was in sight of his biggest career win when he took a one-shot lead going into the final day of the $8 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

However, the Scotsman (68, 11-under 205) was being chased by a group of quality players, with Ireland’s 2019 champion Shane Lowry and the resurgent Thomas Pieters just one shot behind after flawless bogey-free rounds of 67 each.

Also in the mix was Indian star Shubhankar Sharma, who put together a fantastic round of five-under par 67 despite making an early double bogey on the sixth hole. The 25-year-old from Chandigarh is tied for the fourth place at eight-under par 208 alongside world number seven Viktor Hovland (70) of Norway.

Earlier in the day, the cut was applied at three-over par at the conclusion of the second round. World number two Collin Morikawa and World number eight Rory McIlroy were through to the weekend right on the cutline.

Morikawa improved to tied 54th with a 71, but McIlroy (67) matched the low round of the day and jumped to tied 28th place at 2-under par total.

Jamieson, ranked 336th in the world, struggled for some time before finding his form towards the end of the year. Some strong performance saw him save his card on the DP World Tour.

In Abu Dhabi, he has been a picture of consistency. Even when the tournament was played in Abu Dhabi Golf Club, he has had top-20 finish in his last three starts.

Asked what he needed to do to get his second win on Tour, Jamieson said: “It’s a great question. If I knew, I may be would have won by now. All I can do is play whatever shot is in front of me, and going to just try and stay, all those clichés, stay in the moment and just try and hit the best shot I can.

“A win tomorrow would be massive, a game-changer to win a tournament of this stature. There’s definitely been some great champions here, but that’s an awful long way to go.”

Sharma was delighted with his effort so far.

“I felt I was playing well, even though I did not do anything special during the off-season. I just went back home, which was nice after being on the Tour for nearly six straight months and in all Covid-related bubble. I think my mind is fresh and I have some new perspectives of my game lately,” he said.

“So, I am ok with making mistakes. I know I can live with making mistakes. That wasn’t the case before and I’d beat myself down for longer time. One bad hole would have a lingering effect. But today, when I made the double bogey, I was surprisingly not angry. And I was able to make up for the mistake with an eagle on the very next hole.”