Cabrera-Bello and Stenson surge clear

Previous Dubai winners Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Henrik Stenson will fight it out for the DP World Tour Championship after both players reached 14 under par going into the final round.<br /><br />Spain’s Cabrera-Bello picked up his most recent European Tour victory at the Dubai Desert Classic two years ago, and a joint-best-of-the-day 65 saw him catch defending champion Stenson.<br /><br />The Swede carded a flawless 68 as the pair pulled three clear of England’s Justin Rose.<br /><br /><em><strong></strong></em>While Stenson remained on course to achieve a personal milestone -  he has never successfully defended a title in his career – Rory McIlroy’s challenge was dealt a setback with a nightmare two-hole spell.<br /><br />The World Number One had caught Stenson at the top of the leaderboard when he carded his fourth birdie of the day on the tenth, only to run up back-to-back double bogeys on the 12th and 13th at Jumeirah Golf Estates.<br /><br />The four-time Major winner repaired some of the damage with birdies on the 14th and 18th to card a 70 and finish alongside Victor Dubuisson, Tyrrell Hatton and Thorbjørn Olesen on 10 under, one shot behind former US Open Champion Rose.<br /><br />Stenson felt he had "hit the wall" during the second round at the end of a long season, but admitted the prospect of winning the first prize of £830,000 and securing a bonus of £510,000 for finishing second in The Race to Dubai behind McIlroy was providing extra motivation.<br /><br />"I felt a little stronger today but I wasn't exactly jumping out of bed this morning," Stenson said. "But what do you expect at 38 years old? I'm a little low on energy but when the mind wants something you can pull through.<br /><br />"It would be great to win. It's a great championship and it would mean a lot to defend a title and get the win. It's been a good year but when you assess it you always look at the trophies and there hasn't been one yet."<br /><br />Stenson carded four birdies in a flawless 68 but also missed two putts from inside three feet and added: "I was striking the ball better than yesterday but was not quite as hot on the greens and left a couple of shots out there.<br /><br />"All in all it was a good day and we're still at the races so I am pretty pleased."

Like Stenson, Cabrera-Bello did not have a single bogey, and the two-time European Tour winner was delighted with a round matched only by Scotland’s Marc Warren on Saturday.<br /><br />“Obviously it's been a very special round for me today,” he said. “I'm really, really pleased with the score, and obviously with the good finish.<br /><br />“The short game and putting has been unbelievable, probably the best day of my life for short game.<br /><br />“I think that that's what helped me hang in there on the front nine and I did play better on the back nine. I was playing more aggressive going for it, hitting good shots, and giving myself a lot of chances and I did make some of them.”

Rose carded a 68 alongside Cabrera-Bello and offered some high praise of his playing partner, comparing his short game to the late Seve Ballesteros.<br /><br />"I watched an incredible round of golf today," Rose said. "Rafa was unbelievable. He really struggled with his game the first few holes, up-and-down, up-and-down, up-and-down, and then got some flow going. He had 15 one-putts today. His short game was Seve-like. It was awesome.<br /><br />"He was chipping it to a foot and it was awesome. Chipping around this golf course is difficult, very grainy, very tough, very sandy underneath the ball. It was a masterclass."

McIlroy was left to rue his mini meltdown on the back nine, where he drove into a fairway bunker on the 12th and compounded the error by three putting, before duffing two chips from right of the green on the 13th.<br /><br />"The 12th and 13th ruined the scorecard a bit," said the 25 year old, who had already secured his second Race to Dubai title in three years after four wins this season.<br /><br />"It makes life a little more difficult for me tomorrow. I need to be aggressive, I need to go at pins, hit it close and make some putts.<br /><br />"I felt a little better out there today than yesterday so knew if I stayed patient the birdies would come. I got on a nice run with three birdies in a row from the fifth and another one at ten, but unfortunately the back nine was not quite as good as the front.<br /><br />"It was annoying to follow one double bogey with another. I was a little frustrated but it was nice to get a couple back and at least keep myself in touch."