Dubai: Tied for second and three strokes off the lead, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel haven’t given up hope ahead of the final round of the European Tour season-ending DP World Tour Championship here on Sunday.
Schwartzel shot a five-under-par 67 on day three to climb from tied for sixth in the pack overnight, while fellow South African Oosthuizen moved up from tied for fourth with a bogeyless 68.
The pair will likely need another strong round on Sunday if they are to keep track of runaway leaders — the world’s numbers one and two Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald, who are on 17 under par. Schwartzel said: “It’s like I said at the beginning of the week, if you keep shooting 68s and 67s, you’ll be close come Sunday.
“It’s basically going to come down to tomorrow. So hopefully I don’t give those shots back and get off to another good start, that’s what’s needed.”
He added: “I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, but I’m going to have shoot at least another five or six under par to have a chance.
“But I’m far away from saying it’s my day. I haven’t played good golf for seven, eight months. So it’s just nice to be somewhere up there and with a chance.”
Oosthuizen said: “I gave myself opportunities for birdies and I just need to make a few tomorrow. There’s nothing more that you can do. I think if I shoot a six under tomorrow, I’m giving it the best I can.
“The scoring is out there. I think it’s a course where you can give yourself loads of birdie opportunities, but the greens are running really quick and you’ve got to see the grain on them and you’ve got to make the putts.
“I wasn’t spectacular, I didn’t finish very well. But other than that I’m still in a good position for tomorrow.”
