Reed in 3-way tie for lead in Dubai after 3 rounds

Dubai - Reed, who shot 1-under 71, was tied with Englishmen Laurie Canter (68) and Matt Fitzpatrick (69) at 11 under par overall

The DP World Tour Championship and the prestigious Race to Dubai is headed for the wire with a trio of golfers as well as others in with a shot to grab both, going into the fourth and final round in Dubai on Sunday.

Patrick Reed, who could become the first American to lift the Harry Vardon Trophy, awarded to the Race to Dubai winner, was tied for the lead with Englishmen Matthew Fitzpatrick, the 2016 tournament winner and Laurie Canter after the third round at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

At the Earth Course on Saturday, Reed flirted with danger but yet managed to make a post a one-under for the day for an overall 11-under par.

Joining him at the top was playing partner Fitzpatrick, who carded a three-under par, while Fitzpatrick’s compatriot Canter shot a four-under.

Behind them and a stroke adrift were four of them that included Englishman Lee Westwood, eyeing a third Race to Dubai title across three decades.

Two shots back was Finland’s Sami Valimaki, while three behind was England’s Danny Willett.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, third in the Race to Dubai had a wretched day as he shot a two-over to be at four-under par and tied 18th.

American Collin Morikawa was left a lot of catching up to do after signing off with a three-under par. Adding that to his two-under on Friday and a par first round, the 23-year-old, placed third in the Race to Dubai, was five-under and tied 15th.

Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, had three birdies and two bogeys in his round. The Texan played par over the first six holes before finally knocking in a birdie on the par-5 seventh. The start to the back nine was to turn into a horrid one for Reed as he bogeyed the par-4 12th and followed that up with another bogey on the par-5 14th,

He pulled it back though with a birdie on the par-4 15th before wrapping it up with another birdie on the par-5 18th.

And Reed admitted it was a rough day. “It was sloppy. I didn’t really hit the ball as well as I needed to. I made some putts, but didn’t make the putts also I needed to,” Reed said after his round.

“It was one of those days I had to lean a lot on my short game, and the good thing is I was able to do that and put myself into position to still have a share of the lead going into tomorrow (Sunday),” he added.

And Reed, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and thrice on the European Tour, was not getting drawn into thinking about the Race to Dubai crown.

“I’m trying not to really think about that honestly. If it happens, it would be unbelievable. It was always a goal of mine obviously to win golf tournaments but to win this one and also to win The Race to Dubai and be the first American would be amazing,” he said.

“We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We still have 18 holes left and you can’t really sit back there and think as much about that as just stay in the present and try to play some good golf tomorrow (Sunday),” added Reed.

Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, felt that he managed to come up with a solid round.

“It was just a bit of a standard round of golf. I kept myself in it. On the whole, it was just a solid round of golf, plenty of greens. Not too many chances but limiting the mistakes and that was what was important to sort of keep in touch with the top,” said Fitzpatrick.

Reed will head out with Canter for the final round at five minutes past noon, while Fitzpatrick is partnered with Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, and go out at 11.55 a.m.

james@khaleejtimes.com