Abu Dhabi: Rory McIlroy is preparing for “a sprint to the finish” on Sunday as he bids to win his first Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which suffered its second successive day of weather delays on Saturday to play havoc with the scheduling.

The world No. 3 is in a five-way tie for the lead at Abu Dhabi Golf Club along with Rickie Fowler, Ian Poulter, Branden Grace and Joost Luiten, but will have to play nine more holes of his third round early on Sunday morning before facing a final 18.

This is due to a fog delay of two hours and 45 minutes on Friday - meaning that round two spilled into Saturday, only for the early resumption to be delayed by two hours and 50 minutes as more mist descended on the National Course.

“It’s a really bunched leaderboard,” said McIlroy, a four-time runner-up in the UAE capital. “There are a lot of people around the lead, so it will be a bit of a sprint to the finish tomorrow I think.

“I have 27 holes left to play and hopefully I can play a good back nine tomorrow morning and set myself up for an exciting last 18.”

Does the stop-start nature of this year’s capital showpiece ruin his momentum? “A little bit, yeah. It’s nice whenever we play a normal tournament and you get into your routines, and for me that would be gym time and all that sort of stuff. That’s disrupted a little bit.

“I’m sort of having to do these makeshift warm-up sessions. It is what it is. It’s short turnarounds but it is the same for everyone.”

McIlroy had been one-over par for 13 holes on Friday and looked set for more frustration after missing early birdie chances in his second round on Saturday, but then almost holed his approach to the last two holes to leave tap-ins for a birdie and an eagle.

This left McIlroy on eight-under-par 70, two behind clubhouse leader Andy Sullivan, who finished second to the Ulsterman after a last-round duel in the DP World Tour Championship last November. But while McIlroy is two-under after his first nine holes in the third round, Sullivan is one over to leave him on nine under after a triple-bogey seven following a lost ball in the bushes.

McIlroy hopes his friend will recover on Sunday, commenting: “I get on really, really well with Andy. He’s great fun and we have a great laugh out there.”

Of his own round, he added: “It was a solid enough nine. I did what I needed to do.

“I’m in a decent position going into tomorrow.”

Leaderboard

(Latest in third round)

-10 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 10 69 68

Ian Poulter (Britain) 13 70 69

Rickie Fowler (U.S.) 11 70 68

Rory McIlroy (Britain) 9 66 70

Branden Grace (South Africa) 16 66 74

-9 Andy Sullivan (Britain) 9 67 67

Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 10 65 72

Robert Rock (Britain) 10 70 67

Thomas Pieters (Belgium) 15 69 73

Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 9 70 67

-8 Matthew Baldwin (Britain) 13 69 70

An Byeong-Hun (Korea) 10 69 68

Peter Hanson (Sweden) 10 69 69

Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 18 71 70 67

-7 Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.) 9 64 72

Shiv Kapur (India) 13 74 69

Trevor Fisher (South Africa) 13 69 70

Jordan Spieth (U.S.) 18 68 73 68

Martin Kaymer (Germany) 12 69 69

Michael Lorenzo-Vera (France) 16 70 72

David Horsey (Britain) 13 71 68