{"id":375497,"date":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375497\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:38:08","slug":"rory-mcilroy-stays-in-dubai-international-contention-as-shane-lowry-leads-charge-heading-into-final-round-golf-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/375497\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy stays in Dubai International contention as Shane Lowry leads charge heading into final round | Golf News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy gave himself an outside chance of winning the Dubai Invitational following a three-under-par 68 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

McIlroy will head into the final round at Dubai Creek Resort three shots behind leader Nacho Elvira after the Spaniard also carded a 68.<\/p>\n

Elvira is two shots clear of the field with Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Englishman Marcus Armitage and South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli in a three-way tie for second place.<\/p>\n

McIlroy carded five bogeys to sign for an underwhelming three-over 74 on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman started his penultimate round with a birdie at the par-four opener only to stumble to a bogey six at the fourth but he fought back with three birdies on the back nine to keep himself in title contention.<\/p>\n

McIlroy holds an impressive record in his opening tournament of the year, winning once, finishing runner-up on six occasions, and 15 top-five finishes.<\/p>\n

Speaking after Saturday’s round, he said: “I would say the key to that is the opportunity to work on some things when you have a little bit of time off over the Christmas period, and then the enthusiasm to start a new year and start fresh.<\/p>\n

“I have always loved coming out here to the Middle East and to Dubai and playing in these tournaments, even as an amateur. I have been coming here for over 20 years and it’s a place I’m comfortable in.”<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Image:
\n McIlroy has kept himself in title contention at the Dubai Invitational<\/p>\n

Lowry, bidding for his first DP World Tour title since winning the 2022 BMW PGA Championship, started the day at the top of the leaderboard alongside Elvira.<\/p>\n

Lowry dropped two shots with bogeys at the third and sixth, but he was able to respond with three birdies across the last 12 holes in a one-under 70 to keep his hopes alive.<\/p>\n

A dropped shot at the seventh dented Armitage’s bid but he landed four birdies on the back nine to ensure he is only two behind.<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Shane Lowry is in a three-way tie for second behind leader Nacho Elvira<\/p>\n

Frittelli impressed with five birdies in a bogey-free round to put himself in the mix. But it is Elvira – who carded four birdies and a sole bogey – holding the advantage heading into the final 18 holes.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, England’s Matt Wallace (69) is five shots off the pace, while compatriot Tommy Fleetwood – despite an impressive third round of 66 – is eight behind after he surrendered his chance of retaining his title with a 78 on Friday.<\/p>\n

“Golf is hard and every now and again it is very humbling towards you and yesterday was one of those days,” said Fleetwood.<\/p>\n

“I scored the absolute worst I could and everything I could do wrong I did do wrong. That was really disappointing. So I’m just happy to have played well today.”<\/p>\n

Watch the Dubai Invitational live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Sunday from 7.30am on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour <\/a>and more on NOW<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy gave himself an outside chance of winning the Dubai Invitational following a three-under-par 68 on Saturday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-375497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}