Hatton held the lead at the end of the third day thanks to a 4-under 68 to move to nine under overall, one stroke ahead of Frenchman Victor Perez. Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg is in third on 6-under, while Adam Scott, Francesco Laporta, Eugenio Chacarra and McIlroy share fourth place on 5-under.  

South Africa’s Jayden Schaper shares joint eighth with Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and England’s Dan Bradbury. World number 2 McIlroy started the day on top of the leaderboard with Hatton in joint first.  

The Northern Irishman had an eagle on the par-5 seventh before four bogeys in an even-par 72, and dropped back into a four-way tie for fourth place, including current Race to Dubai leader Chacarra. 

Eugenio Chacarra’s birdies on Day 3.

However, a birdie on the 18th kept McIlroy’s bid to top the Race to Dubai Rankings on track. The 26-year-old Chacarra leads McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings by nearly 534 points. On the table this week are 2,000 points for the winner, 1,335 for second place, 752 for third place and fewer and fewer for the minor places.

After the third day’s play, Hatton was honest about his chances going into the fourth round. “I know tomorrow’s going to be a tough day; I’ve got enough experience down these last few holes to know that anything can happen. I’ll just go out tomorrow and try my best,” he said.

McIlroy is chasing a record-tying eighth Race to Dubai title for his career alongside Colin Montgomerie, who won the award when it was called the Order of Merit.

Projected Race to Dubai Rankings. Photo: Facebook/DP World Tour

In addition, the first 25 players in the Final Race to Dubai standings for 2026 will earn an exemption into the 155th Open at St Andrews in 2027.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg