Alejandro del Rey started the day two shots behind the lead and went on to sign for a bogey-free 66 to reach 16-under and lead the Ras Al Khaimah Championship by two shots.
“I’m very happy. I think I didn’t play probably as well as the last couple of days but I got away with a couple of shots that I missed and then my short game was amazing today. So very pleased,” said the Spaniard.
“I think in my mind I put a number in my head and that’s where I wanted to get. It’s true that we [Del Rey and playing partner Marcus Armitage] are competing against each other but I think it’s mainly tomorrow when it’s down to one another. So today was more about doing my work and just sticking to it.
“I got a bit lucky today. I felt like the other days I left some shots around the golf course. Today, a couple of good bounces on the 12th, 18th and tenth probably. At the end of the day, yeah I got lucky but I took advantage very well of that. I left everything out there.”
“You’ve just got to trust yourself and go out there and do your best. I think I know how to close out tournaments so I’ll try to do that tomorrow.”
Del Rey has yet to win on the DP World Tour but won the Big Green Egg German Challenge on the European Challenge Tour in 2022.
England’s Marcus Armitage made three birdies and a bogey to card a 70 and move down into second place at 14-under.
“It was a bit different today but it’s golf, isn’t it. One day you feel like you’ve perfected it, the next day you feel like you’ve just started it again. My short game was fantastic today so that was a great positive from today and we go into tomorrow with a chance,” said Armitage.
“I can’t control what Alejandro does. He played fantastic today. Hit some incredible golf shots and I can’t control him, so I can only do what I can do. Hats off to him because he got the upper hand today.”
Australia’s Jason Scrivener signed for a bogey-free 65 to take a share of third place at 9-under alongside South African Shaun Norris who carded a 69 and France’s David Ravetto who closed with a 70.
Related: Grade “A” Architecture – St. Andrews Beach Golf Club
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DEL REY, Alejandro | -16 | 68 | 66 | 66 |
| 2 | ARMITAGE, Marcus | -14 | 63 | 69 | 70 |
| 3 | SCRIVENER, Jason | -9 | 72 | 70 | 65 |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | -9 | 70 | 68 | 69 |
| | RAVETTO, David | -9 | 69 | 68 | 70 |
| 6 | WILSON, Andrew | -8 | 72 | 71 | 65 |
| | DEAN, Joe | -8 | 69 | 69 | 70 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | -8 | 67 | 71 | 70 |
| | PUIG, David | -8 | 69 | 71 | 68 |
| | BROWN, Daniel | -8 | 70 | 64 | 74 |
| 11 | NAIDOO, Dylan | -7 | 73 | 70 | 66 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | -7 | 73 | 69 | 67 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | -7 | 70 | 71 | 68 |
| | REED, Patrick | -7 | 69 | 72 | 68 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | -7 | 72 | 70 | 67 |
| | BJÖRK, Alexander | -7 | 67 | 70 | 72 |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | -7 | 71 | 68 | 70 |
| | LACROIX, Frederic | -7 | 71 | 66 | 72 |
| 19 | VAN DRIEL, Darius | -6 | 72 | 70 | 68 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | -6 | 71 | 72 | 67 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | -6 | 69 | 74 | 67 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | -6 | 71 | 71 | 68 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | -6 | 72 | 69 | 69 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | -6 | 72 | 68 | 70 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | -6 | 72 | 68 | 70 |
| SCHAPER, Jayden | -6 | 73 | 67 | 70 | |
| | SADDIER, Adrien | -6 | 71 | 69 | 70 |
| | KIEFFER, Maximilian | -6 | 69 | 70 | 71 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | -6 | 67 | 71 | 72 |
| 30 | PAVAN, Andrea | -5 | 74 | 68 | 69 |
| | OLESEN, Thorbjørn | -5 | 70 | 70 | 71 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | -5 | 71 | 67 | 73 |
| | WU, Brandon | -5 | 73 | 66 | 72 |
| | BROWN, Hamish | -5 | 72 | 65 | 74 |
| | LI, Haotong | -5 | 72 | 65 | 74 |
| 36 | VAILLANT, Tom | -4 | 72 | 71 | 69 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | -4 | 72 | 71 | 69 |
| | AYORA, Angel | -4 | 75 | 67 | 70 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | -4 | 71 | 71 | 70 |
| | LUITEN, Joost | -4 | 72 | 68 | 72 |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | -4 | 73 | 68 | 71 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | -4 | 76 | 65 | 71 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | -4 | 70 | 69 | 73 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | -4 | 72 | 68 | 72 |
| 45 | LORENZO-VERA, Mike | -3 | 73 | 70 | 70 |
| | FOX, Ryan | -3 | 72 | 71 | 70 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | -3 | 73 | 69 | 71 |
| | SYME, Connor | -3 | 71 | 70 | 72 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | -3 | 73 | 68 | 72 |
| | FORREST, Grant | -3 | 69 | 71 | 73 |
| HALVORSEN, Andreas | -3 | 73 | 68 | 72 | |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | -3 | 73 | 67 | 73 |
| | STONE, Brandon | -3 | 72 | 68 | 73 |
| | KINHULT, Marcus | -3 | 69 | 70 | 74 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | -3 | 72 | 64 | 77 |
| 56 | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | -2 | 73 | 70 | 71 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | -2 | 74 | 69 | 71 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | -2 | 71 | 71 | 72 |
| | DE JAGER, Louis | -2 | 68 | 73 | 73 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | -2 | 77 | 65 | 72 |
| | FRITTELLI, Dylan | -2 | 71 | 69 | 74 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | -2 | 69 | 71 | 74 |
| 63 | DING, Wenyi | -1 | 71 | 72 | 72 |
| | GRENVILLE-WOOD, Joshua | -1 | 72 | 71 | 72 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | -1 | 71 | 72 | 72 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | -1 | 76 | 67 | 72 |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | -1 | 72 | 70 | 73 |
| 68 | WHITNELL, Dale | Par | 73 | 70 | 73 |
| | HARRINGTON, Padraig | Par | 68 | 75 | 73 |
| | GAVINS, Daniel | Par | 74 | 69 | 73 |
| 71 | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | +1 | 71 | 72 | 74 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | +1 | 71 | 71 | 75 |
| 73 | KARLSSON, Robert | +2 | 74 | 69 | 75 |
| CUT | |||||
| 74 | WIESBERGER, Bernd | Par | 68 | 76 | - |
| | MIGLIOZZI, Guido | Par | 73 | 71 | - |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | Par | 74 | 70 | - |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | Par | 71 | 73 | - |
| | STERNE, Richard | Par | 71 | 73 | - |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | Par | 77 | 67 | - |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | Par | 72 | 72 | - |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | Par | 73 | 71 | - |
| | FITZPATRICK, Alex | Par | 74 | 70 | - |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | Par | 74 | 70 | - |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | Par | 77 | 67 | - |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | Par | 75 | 69 | - |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | Par | 73 | 71 | - |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | Par | 71 | 73 | - |
| 88 | KO, Jeong weon | +1 | 75 | 70 | - |
| | MCKIBBIN, Tom | +1 | 76 | 69 | - |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | +1 | 70 | 75 | - |
| | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | +1 | 77 | 68 | - |
| | SHINKWIN, Callum | +1 | 73 | 72 | - |
| | DUMONT DE CHASSART, Adrien | +1 | 69 | 76 | - |
| | TARREN, Callum | +1 | 73 | 72 | - |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | +1 | 76 | 69 | - |
| | COETZEE, George | +1 | 73 | 72 | - |
| | PIETERS, Thomas | +1 | 76 | 69 | - |
| 98 | GUMBERG, Jordan | +2 | 71 | 75 | - |
| | HILL, Calum | +2 | 73 | 73 | - |
| | FICHARDT, Darren | +2 | 71 | 75 | - |
| HEBERT, Benjamin | +2 | 72 | 74 | - | |
| | LEVY, Alexander | +2 | 72 | 74 | - |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | +2 | 70 | 76 | - |
| | PULKKANEN, Tapio | +2 | 77 | 69 | - |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | +2 | 75 | 71 | - |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | +2 | 77 | 69 | - |
| | GREEN, Gavin | +2 | 74 | 72 | - |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | +2 | 72 | 74 | - |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | +2 | 75 | 71 | - |
| 110 | HIDALGO, Angel | +3 | 73 | 74 | - |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | +3 | 72 | 75 | - |
| | CROCKER, Sean | +3 | 76 | 71 | - |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | +3 | 73 | 74 | - |
| 114 | JIN, Zihao | +4 | 74 | 74 | - |
| | DANTORP, Jens | +4 | 71 | 77 | - |
| | FISHER, Ross | +4 | 76 | 72 | - |
| | PAUL, Yannik | +4 | 78 | 70 | - |
| | WALKER, Jimmy | +4 | 78 | 70 | - |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | +4 | 75 | 73 | - |
| | PARRY, John | +4 | 77 | 71 | - |
| | NEERGAARD-PETERSEN, Rasmus | +4 | 77 | 71 | - |
| | SIEM, Marcel | +4 | 78 | 70 | - |
| 123 | PURCELL, Conor | +5 | 72 | 77 | - |
| | SKAIK, Ahmad (AM) | +5 | 72 | 77 | - |
| 125 | LAGERGREN, Joakim | +6 | 74 | 76 | - |
| | COUVRA, Martin | +6 | 73 | 77 | - |
| | KIM, MK | +6 | 74 | 76 | - |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | +6 | 80 | 70 | - |
| | SMYLIE, Elvis | +6 | 75 | 75 | - |
| 130 | HILLIER, Daniel | +7 | 78 | 73 | - |
| 131 | PINEAU, Pierre | +8 | 77 | 75 | - |
| 132 | SELVARAJ, Jonathan (AM) | +10 | 75 | 79 | - |
| | ÅKESSON, Björn | +10 | 79 | 75 | - |
| 134 | BALDWIN, Matthew | +11 | 78 | 77 | - |
| 135 | TRAINER, Martin | +13 | 82 | 75 | - |
| 136 | MULLANE, Sam (AM) | +17 | 78 | 83 | - |
| W/D | WARING, Paul | +1 | 73 | - | - |
| RETD | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | +6 | - | - | - |
Simon Bale
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