Abu Dhabi: Rory McIlroy was handed a two-stroke penalty on Saturday and will have to start three shots behind leader Craig Lee going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

The Northern Irishman, who started the day at seven-under par, would have been one shot behind Lee had the incident not happened.

The 24-year-old had carded a four-under 68 at the end of the third round and would also have been one shot ahead of Open champion Phil Mickelson, who impressed with 63.

India’s Ganganjeet Bullar, with a bogey-free round of 66 is also tied with Mickelson, while McIlroy is joined by Pablo Larrazabal in joint third place.

“I hit my second shot on the second hole just into the left rough but it was the spectator crosswalk, so I took the drop. I didn’t notice that my foot was on the line. Had I seen that, I would have re-dropped it and everything would have been fine,” said McIlroy adding, “I guess I was just so much into the shot that I didn’t even realise. So, yeah, it was unfortunate and that’s the rule of this game.”

European Tour Chief Referee John Paramor had to say, “Rory’s ball came to rest in a marked gallery crosswalk to the left of the second fairway from which relief is available under the rules, as if it’s a piece of ground under repair.

“His left foot was standing on or just over the line demarking the area of ground under repair which is treated as part of the ground under repair. Therefore he has not taken full relief and he is in breach of the rule 25/1, the penalty for which is two strokes.”

Meanwhile, tournament Lee, who is from Scotland, said he was extremely pleased with his effort, saying: “I’m delighted, actually. It was obviously a strong pack behind me, you can tell from the leaderboard there. There are a lot of good players starting to make the charge, so it is great to be in the lead.”

But Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who had a share of the lead in the first two rounds, fell apart in the third. He failed to make a single birdie until the 17th and then a double bogey pushed him to a tied sixth.

India’s Jeev Milkha Singh is two-over, meanwhile, and he was quick to reveal that he didn’t drive well enough. “I was struggling with my drive all day. I didn’t make it to many fairways and that made it a lot difficult. I have to work hard and make some ground tomorrow.”