Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy fired five birdies and one bogey to close with a 4-under 68 and move into a share of the lead ahead of the final day at the DP World Tour Championship.

McIlroy is the current Race to Dubai leader and is aiming to win it for a fourth successive time and seventh in total, one behind Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight.

“[Winning] would be an amazing way to end the season,” said McIlroy. “I knew coming out here for these two weeks, Abu Dhabi last week and this week, I needed to play well.

“Marco [Penge] wasn’t that far behind. Obviously Tyrrell [Hatton] wasn’t that far behind. I knew I needed to come out here and play well.

“I played well when I needed to last week, especially at the weekend. I’ve put myself in a position to try to get another win here.

“So yeah, I’m really pleased. I certainly could have coasted into these couple of weeks and enjoyed myself but the Race to Dubai is important to me, and it’s important to me to try to get a little bit closer to Monty.

“As I said, I’ve put myself in a great position to go and do that tomorrow.”

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen also made one bogey for a 68 and a share of the lead.

“I’m so excited. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I haven’t played with him yet as a professional or ever, and to do it here in the final group on a Sunday is going to be pretty special,” said the Dane.

“I’ve had a big goal this year to see if I could win out here, and obviously if I were to do it tomorrow and get it over the line, that would be incredible.

“But still 18 holes out here is a lot of golf to be played. If you start missing fairways, it can become quite difficult. The plan tomorrow is try to hit a lot of fairways and give myself a lot of chances.”

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick eagled the par-4 5th and made one bogey for a 66 and a share of third place at 12-under alongside fellow countrymen Tyrrell Hatton (two bogeys, 67), Tommy Fleetwood (bogey-free) and Laurie Canter (bogey-free, eagle at the par-5 2nd).

Also tied in third place ret Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard who stayed bogey-free for a 65 and Spain’s Angel Ayora who eagled the par-5 14th and made two bogeys for a 67.

Overnight leader Nicolai Højgaard of Denmark signed for a 73 and moved down into T9 having made three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey at the par-3 6th.

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