McIlroy promises close battle for title

Abu Dhabi : Martin Kaymer is 25, Ian Poulter is 34 and joining them in today's final group is 20-year-old Rory McIlroy who is promising a good battle and an interesting final day.

Kaymer takes a one stroke lead with Poulter And McIlroy tied for second and the Northern Ireland youngster when reminded of an exciting three-ball going out in the end, said, "Yeah, can't wait. Whenever you can go out in the final group on the final day of a tournament, you know you've played well. So Yeah, it will be great.

"It's a great way to start the new year, getting right into contention in your first tournament, so hopefully I can make the most of it."

Tough conditions

Commenting on his round of 67 playing alongside Poulter, McIlroy said, "Today was great. I thought the scoring was very good considering the conditions. It was quite windy out there; it was really getting gusty towards the end. Really pleased with 67 out there."

When asked whether playing with Poulter spurred each other, McIlroy said, "We both got off to very fast starts, which helped. We just managed to keep it going."

The youngest of the final group trio, looking ahead at today's final round said, "I didn't make too many mistakes, put myself in great position going into tomorrow. Obviously finishing 14-under, myself and Ian, and Martin is one ahead of us. So it should be a good battle tomorrow and it looks as if we are all playing very well so it should be an interesting day."

McIlroy feels a round of 67 should give one of the three a good chance and he was confident he could shoot that score. "There's no reason I couldn't. At the start of the week, I didn't think anything in the 20s would win, but everyone played well. I would say it's a very good target I suppose, 20-under would be.

Fast start

"It just depends. It's still quite bunched. If someone behind us could get off to a fast start and really get it going," he cautioned but added, "If one of us shoots 67 tomorrow, we have a very good chance."