Sunday 24 January 2016 14:42, UK
Rory McIlroy is in a five-way share of the lead following a third day full of drama at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
After fog caused a lengthy delay to the resumption of play for the second morning running, McIlroy produced a sensational finish to his second round before ending the day tied with Rickie Fowler, Branden Grace, Ian Poulter and Joost Luiten on 10 under par.
Halfway leader Andy Sullivan was two clear of the pack as he approached his final hole of the day - the ninth - with darkness descending, but he lost his ball after an errant drive and ran up a triple-bogey seven to slip one behind the leading quintet.
The ninth hole then witnessed a bizarre sequence of events as Jordan Spieth, determined to get his round finished and earn himself a lie-in on Sunday morning, managed to tee off moments before play was suspended for the day.
Spieth's group then effectively created a "six-ball" as they played out the hole with the group ahead, and the world No 1 closed with a solid par to return a bogey-free 68 which lifted him firmly back into contention on seven under.
McIlroy, who had five holes of his second round to complete on day three, was the talk of the early morning play when he almost holed his 100-yard approach to the 17th before shaving the hole again with a sublime 268-yard five-wood at the par-five last.
His resulting birdie-eagle finish lifted him to eight under at the halfway stage, and he found himself tied at the top when he birdied the second hole of his third round and playing-partner Sullivan made just his third bogey of the tournament at the next.
Both players converted excellent tee-shots to the short fourth, although McIlroy then three-putted the next before Sullivan managed another two at the 200-yard seventh.
McIlroy's deft up-and-down at the long eighth matched Sullivan's birdie, but the Englishman came to grief on the next tee when he blocked his drive way right and was unable to find his ball or determine if it had found the hazard, forcing him to head back to the tee box.
McIlroy did well to save par from the right rough and remain at 10 under, while Sullivan compounded his earlier error with another poor drive and he will look to repair the damage when the final group resume on the 10th early on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Grace stormed 24 places up the leaderboard when he birdied four of the first seven holes and picked up further shots at the 11th and 14th, and the South African parred 15 and 16 before the suspension of play.
Poulter is also blemish free for his third round and mounted a riveting charge with four birdies in five holes around the turn, although the Ryder Cup star missed a great chance to clinch the outright lead with his last shot of the day on the 13th green as his six-foot putt for another gain slid by on the right.
Fowler had just begun the back-nine with birdies at 10 and 11 to reach four under for the round before the players were called in, while Luiten rattled in his third birdie in four holes at the 10th and has eight to play on Sunday.
Big-hitting Belgian Thomas Pieters was the biggest mover as he carded eight birdies against one dropped shot and is just one off the lead with three to play, while Luiten's playing-partners Henrik Stenson and Robert Rock are also nine under and highly prominent in a heavily-congested leaderboard.
