Steve Webster drew level with overnight leader Rafa Cabrera-Bello on day three of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after a 70 in testing conditions saw the Englishman join the Spaniard on 12 under par heading into the final round.
After a relatively calm week on the weather front, the notorious gusts of wind that so often make the Doha Golf Club an even more testing examination came to the fore to have a huge effect on scoring conditions in round three.
Cabrera-Bello posted a one over par 73 to fall back to 12 under alongside Webster, one clear of Thomas Aiken, Thorbjørn Olesen and Adrien Saddier.
Aiken’s 70 was a decent effort in the tough conditions, while Olesen produced a fine four under 68. But the round of the day belonged to the young Frenchman Saddier, who rather freakishly bested the rest of what is a world class field by four shots.
Saddier, a 21 year old qualifying school graduate, made the most of his early start by rushing to the turn in just 30 strokes before adding a further two birdies to his card to leap an incredible 42 places up the leaderboard and into a tie for third place on just the fifth European Tour start of his career.
Despite surrendering a three-stroke lead on day three, Cabrera-Bello remains the favourite to take the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters title on Saturday afternoon, and the Spaniard is relishing the chance to add another of The European Tour’s ‘desert swing’ titles to the Dubai Desert Classic crown he lifted in 2012.
“It’s definitely been tougher today. The wind has picked up and it’s made everything a bit more difficult,” said the Spaniard.
“I’m a little bit disappointed for not having to keep a couple shots ahead of the pack. I did see I was three shots ahead at one point but I knew there was still lots of golf to play, and anything could happen.
“We know that anything can happen so it doesn’t really matter if you’re leading or two or three back at this stage – as long as you are at the top of the leaderboard after round four is all that really matters and hopefully tomorrow I can play as well as I did in the first two rounds and that will be enough.”
Complete Round Three Scores:
204 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp); S Webster (Eng);
205 T Olesen (Den); A Saddier (Fra); T Aiken (RSA);
206 M Ilonen (Fin); P Lawrie (Sco); F Zanotti (Par); G Coetzee (RSA); J Carlsson (Swe);
207 S Garcia (Esp); K Broberg (Swe); D Van Der Walt (RSA); B Grace (RSA);
208 P Uihlein (USA); S Benson (Eng); D Fichardt (RSA); M Baldwin (Eng); S Dyson (Eng);
209 C Del Moral (Esp); A Cañizares (Esp); R Wattel (Fra); F Calmels (Fra);
210 G Bhullar (Ind); A Quiros (Esp); S Manley (Wal); G Stal (Fra); R Bland (Eng); M Carlsson (Swe); B Koepka (USA); S Kapur (Ind); D Foos (am) (Ger);
211 S Hansen (Den); P Hanson (Swe); J Quesne (Fra); T Hatton (Eng); T Lewis (Eng); C Lee (Sco);
212 S Thornton (Irl); R Rock (Eng); S Gallacher (Sco); A Wall (Eng); M Hoey (Nir);
213 M Siem (Ger); H Otto (RSA); J Olazábal (Esp); T Jaidee (Tha); D Willett (Eng); J Daly (USA); H Stenson (Swe); R Fisher (Eng); M Kaymer (Ger);
214 R Santos (Por); E Els (RSA); R Karlsson (Swe); C Wood (Eng);
215 N Elvira (Esp); C Doak (Sco); R Derksen (Ned); P McGinley (Irl); J Singh (Ind); L Donald (Eng); R Dinwiddie (Eng); S Kjeldsen (Den);
216 W Ormsby (Aus); M Foster (Eng); J Morrison (Eng); M Fraser (Aus);
217 T Fleetwood (Eng); V Riu (Fra); J Lima (Por);
218 M Crespi (Ita);
219 E Grillo (Arg); J Dufner (USA); E Pepperell (Eng);
