Stenson & Cabrera-Bello Share Lead in Dubai


Second-round leader Henrik Stenson carded his second 4-under 68 of the week - along with a 66 - at Jumeirah Golf Estates to head into the final round atop the leaderboard at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The 38-year-old Swede enters Sunday at 14-under 202, the same number as Rafa Cabrera-Bello. After opening with a potentially damaging 73, the 30-year-old Spaniard has reeled off rounds of 64 and 66 to catch Stenson.

The two have enjoyed success before in United Arab Emirates city as Stenson is the tournament's defending champion and Cabrera-Bello the winner two years ago at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Both players displayed spotless scorecards Saturday as Stenson posted four birdies while Cabrera-Bello had seven, with the neither of the two dropping a shot.

The duo are there strokes ahead of England's Justin Rose (68) and four in front of France's Victor Dubuisson (67), England's Tyrell Hatton (68), Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen (69) and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who recorded his second straight 70.

Stenson said after Friday's round that he felt after the 12th hole "like I was running out of steam." But following the third round he noted, "I felt a little stronger today but I wasn't exactly jumping out of bed this morning. But what do you expect at 38 years old? I'm a little low on energy but when the mind wants something you can pull through.

"It would be great to win. It's a great championship and it would mean a lot to defend a title and get the win. It's been a good year, but when you assess it you always look at the trophies and there hasn't been one yet."

Cabrera-Bello was pleased with his position heading into Sunday. "All in all it was a good day and we're still at the races so I am pretty pleased. Obviously it's been a very special round for me today. I'm really, really pleased with the score, and obviously with the good finish.

"The short game and putting has been unbelievable, probably the best day of my life for short game," added the two-time European Tour winner. "I think that that's what helped me hang in there on the front nine and I did play better on the back nine. I was playing more aggressive going for it, hitting good shots, and giving myself a lot of chances and I did make some of them."

Rose was in the same group with the Las Palmas native and came away very impressed. "I watched an incredible round of golf today," the 2013 U.S. Open champion said. "Rafa was unbelievable. He really struggled with his game the first few holes, up-and-down, up-and-down, up-and-down, and then got some flow going. He had 15 one-putts today. His short game was Seve-like. It was awesome.

"He was chipping it to a foot and it was awesome. Chipping around this golf course is difficult, very grainy, very tough, very sandy underneath the ball. It was a master class."

McIlroy, who has claimed Player of the Year honors from both the PGA of America and PGA Tour and earlier in the week won the European Tour's Race to Dubai emblematic of the top European Tour player, had six birdies and two double-bogeys Friday.

The doubles came on consecutive back-nine holes, the par-4 12th and par-3 13th. But he managed two birdies in the final five holes for a 70.

"The 12th and 13th ruined the scorecard a bit," said the 25-year-old, who's playing in his first tournament in six weeks. The reason for the hiatus was a lawsuit he brought against his former agent earlier in the year. The case, expected to involve millions of dollars, will be heard in a Dublin court early next year.

"It makes life a little more difficult for me tomorrow," he added about his mini-disaster.

"I need to be aggressive, I need to go at pins, hit it close and make some putts. I felt a little better out there today than yesterday so knew if I stayed patient the birdies would come. I got on a nice run with three birdies in a row from the fifth and another one at ten, but unfortunately the back nine was not quite as good as the front.

"It was annoying to follow one double-bogey with another. I was a little frustrated, but it was nice to get a couple back and at least keep myself in touch."

Tied for eight at 207 are Marc Warren (65), Joost Luiten (68), Robert Karlsson (68), Branden Grace (68) and Danny Willett (71).

Brooks Koepka, who won last week in Turkey but has suffered from food poisoning this week, opened with a 78 that put him in last place. But since then the 24-year-old Floridian has rallied with scores of 68 and 70 and is tied for 52nd place at even-par 216.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014092/leaderboard/index.html.