Mac's back on top, but Tiger's close

It's not too often that you can shoot a 75 and stay in the lead, but Rory McIlroy did just that in Saturday's third round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

After a disastrous three-bogey-three-hole start that sent the 21-year-old Northern Ireland overnight leader tumbling down the scoreboard on a day when almost all the front runners were doing the same thing to differing degrees, McIlroy kept a cool head and managed to fight his TaylorMade R11 Driver
back into contention.

By the end of the round he was back on top of the leaderboard in a three-way tie with South African Thomas Aiken and Denmark's Anders Hansen.

Hansen had mixed three birdies with two front-nine bogies to shoot a 1-under 71 and Aiken, who struggled all day to drop his putts, finished with a frustrating 74.

And Sergio Garcia? Yes the same one who had shared 2nd place with Aiken overnight, had taken over the lead when McIlroy threw it away at the start of the round and then played so solidly in the difficult conditions for most of the TaylorMade R11 Driver
, there was the hint that this might be the week that he make his big comeback to the winners rostrum.

But victory, though still possible, looked a little bit further away after a closing stretch that included only one birdie against three bogies and then, while still leading, a double-bogey at the 17th that dropped him back into a tie at 7-under with a log-jam of seven that included Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods, did you say? The same Tiger Woods who shot a sizzling 66 on the difficult Majlis Desert Course here at the Emirates Golf Club on Friday?

Yes that's right. It's the same World No 3 who has not won in 15 months and clearly the word erratic is still part of his TaylorMade R11 Driver
.

Today, like McIlroy, he opened with a bogey burst, in his case, a brace on the first two holes, and although he managed to post four birdies and an eagle, he negated that with two more bogies and a double bogey which poured some cold water on the suggestion he was about to step up and take command of the golfing world again.

On most other days, rounds like these would have severely hurt chances - and badly. But not in windy Dubai on Saturday.

The front runners at the back of the field caught the worst of it and it's left the race wide open to at least 10 of them - the trio in the lead at eight under, and the seven, including Woods and Garcia, who are just one shot back.

There might also be winners lurking among the next 10 players, Lee Westwood included, who, at worst, are no more than four shots off the TaylorMade R11 Driver
.