Abu Dhabi Championship: Tommy Fleetwood is one shot behind leader Aaron Rai after 54 holes
Fleetwood has been very impressive in recent months, winning his first PGA title at the Tour Championship in August before helping Europe beat the United States at the Ryder Cup in September.
Last month, the world number five won his first title of the season on the DP World Tour in India.
“I’m playing really good golf at the moment and have found myself in this position a lot throughout the summer, but I never take it for granted,” Fleetwood told the DP World Tour website.
“This is what you practice for, these are the moments of our lives and I really appreciate it.”
Spaniard Nacho Elvira, who posted a score of 65, is two shots behind the leader, while England’s Andy Sullivan and New Zealander Daniel Hillier are tied for fourth at 17 under.
Rory McIlroy finished the day six shots behind after his round of 66, which kept him in pole position to win a seventh Race to Dubai title as the season’s leading golfer on the DP World Tour.
The Abu Dhabi Championship is the first of two end-of-season playoff events on the DP World Tour, with the top 70 players competing this week and the top 50 qualifying for next week’s final in Dubai.
With a total of 9,000 points to share this week (1,500 for the winner) and 12,000 more next week (2,000 for the winner), the Harry Vardon Trophy for the season title is up for grabs.
Northern Irishman McIlroy, who is two behind Colin Montgomerie’s eight-year record as tour number one, leads the Race to Dubai standings just under 500 points ahead of Marco Penge, the Englishman who has won three times at the circuit this year.
Penge is 11 under for this week’s tournament after his 70 on Saturday, finishing with a damaging double bogey after finding water at the par-five 18th.
Fleetwood is almost 2,800 points behind McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings, so to have any chance of a highly unlikely overall victory he would have to win both play-off events and hope his Ryder Cup teammate falters.
