China’s Haotong Li moved into pole position at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after taking over from England’s Brandon Robinson-Thompson at the top of the leaderboard.

Li, a three-time DP World Tour winner, fired a third-round 67 to reach 13-under at Doha Golf Club.

FULL LEADERBOARD

A one-under 71 saw Robinson-Thompson move to 11-under, enough for second spot and a place in the final group on Sunday, with his compatriot Matthew Jordan and South African Jayden Schaper sharing third on nine-under after rounds of 67 and 69 respectively.

Meanwhile Conor Purcell carded his best rounf of the tournament so far, a two-under 70 that moved him to three-under-par.

Li wasted no time wiping out Robinson-Thompson’s two-shot overnight advantage as he birdied the first and second.

The Englishman had only one deviation from par over his first 15 holes and that was a bogey at the sixth, with Li taking the outright lead with a birdie at the seventh.

Both players cashed in on the driveable 16th, where Robinson-Thompson recorded his first gain of the day.

Li rolled in a 15 footer at the 17th but Robinson-Thompson got up and down from the back of the 18th green to close the gap to two.

“It felt not easy definitely,” said Li, who is seeking his first title since 2022.

“I didn’t hit as many fairways as yesterday, I just need to create more chances tomorrow.

“It’s been a while. Hopefully I can continue the momentum going into the final round.”

Robinson-Thompson was tied for eighth in Bahrain last week and was pleased to keep his challenge on course over the closing holes.

“It was a bit of a slow start, honestly,” he said. “Again the wind was up, pins were tucked a little bit and I kept hitting them to 30 or 40 feet.

“I kept giving myself chances but not close enough.

“You never know on this golf course, especially with this wind direction. You can always finish hot and luckily I picked up two towards the end there.”

Earlier Jordan had moved through the field with five straight birdies from the 12th and, although he dropped a shot after three-putting the 17th, he holed a huge 56-birdie putt on the last.