CLEVELAND, Ohio — Sergio Garcia was the clubhouse leader by three shots as of suspension of the third round at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in United Arab Emirates. Darkness halted play.
- OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC TEE TIMES
The conclusion of the third round of this European Tour event happens late tonight Eastern Time. Dubai, Arab Emirates is 9 hours ahead of ET.
Garcia completed his three rounds at 16-under. Henrik Stenson was in second. Ian Poulter and Prom Meesawat were tied for third, five back.
Everyone on the first page of the leaderboard had completed three rounds by end of play Saturday.
Other than Sergio’s surge, the biggest news from the Desert Classic has been Tiger Woods’ withdrawal because of back spasms. Woods shot 5-over 77 in the first round but failed to start the second.
Woods, ranked in the high-600s in the world, was coming off a missed cut at the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open last week in California. The Farmers was his first official PGA Tour event in 17 months. He has been recovering from multiple back surgeries/procedures.
Woods owns 14 major championships, none since 2008.
Two major winners from last year, Stenson (Open Championship) and Danny Willett (Masters), are in the field. Stenson and Willett are ranked fourth and 13th in the world, respectively.
- OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC LEADERBOARD
EUROPEAN TOUR
OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC
Site: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Course: Emirates GC. Yardage: 7,328. Par: 72.
Purse: $2.65 million.
Television: Golf Channel — Thursday 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., 5:30-8:30 a.m.; Friday, 1-4 a.m., 5:30-8:30 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3:30-8 a.m.
Last week: Jeunghun Wang won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
Notes: Tiger Woods played in the Dubai Desert Classic for the eighth time. He has won twice, in 2006 and 2008, and has a career scoring average at Emirates Golf Club of 68.71. He previously played Dubai in 2014. He tied for 41st, 10 shots behind Stephen Gallacher. …Willett won last year by one shot over Andy Sullivan and Rafa Cabrera Bello. Later in 2016, all three played in the Ryder Cup for the first time. … Sergio Garcia is making his first European Tour start of 2017. He tied for 11th two weeks ago in the Singapore Open, joint sanctioned by the Japan and Asian tours. … Rory McIlroy withdrew with a rib injury suffered in Abu Dhabi and is not expected to play again until March. … Ernie Els is a three-time winner in Dubai, the most of any player. Els is not in the field this year. … Woods having played in Dubai meant 2015 remains the only calendar year as a professional that he did not play outside the United States except for the British Open.
Next week: Maybank Championship in Malaysia.
Online: www.europeantour.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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