SCORING DIFFERENCE

Check out this stat which has just flashed up on the TV broadcast…

Look at the difference in scoring between the front and back nine!

MCILROY KEEPS OUTSIDE CHANCE ALIVE

After making birdie at the par-5 10th for the fourth day in a row, McIlroy adds another by rolling home a mid-range putt at the par-3 11th. He’s into the top-10 at nine-under – five strokes back. The World No.3 is not out of this…

HILLIER ESCAPES

Hatton can’t quite find the bottom of the hole with his birdie chance and knocks it in for par. Meanwhile, Hillier tidies up for a superb four. The gap remains two, but it could have been so much worse if not for a brilliant save by the Kiwi.

Hatton makes the turn in just 33 strokes after one early bogey and three subsequent birdies.

HEADING DOWN 9

Hatton and Hillier find the centre cut down the ninth fairway, and the former takes advantage by sending his approach into the heart of the green. The New Zealander, however, has just missed the putting surface to the right and this chip will be quick with a capital Q. Water lurking behind, too. Rather him than me…

Far from the forgotten man, Ferguson lifts a beautiful chip shot high into the air and watches it roll down to a matter of feet.

Hillier quickly follows and – fair play to him – dribbles it down to six feet or so. That’s a good result.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR…

Firstly, hello and welcome to Golf Monthly’s coverage of the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic final round. Tyrrell Hatton currently leads by a couple from Daniel Hillier, but there is a queue of players lining up behind in case of a slip-up by the LIV man.

To bring you up to speed on what has occurred so far in round four, both Hatton and Hillier bogeyed the first before making gains at the second and third, respectively. Their playing partner in the final group, Ewen Ferguson, is one-over for the day after bogeying the third.

Meanwhile, Hatton has found a couple more birdies on the front nine while Hillier slipped up at the fifth to help his English rival open up a two-stroke advantage.

In a tie for third currently, David Micheluzzi has put together a quite remarkable round of seven-under, but he is almost done for the day. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (-6) and Ricardo Gouveia (-5) are two more players to have made significant strides towards the top of the leaderboard after fantastic outings.

Rory McIlroy has not long made the turn at one-under for the day and seven-under for the week, and he sits just outside the top-10 as it appears his quest for three consecutive titles is over.

But, back at the top, Hatton, Hillier, and Ferguson are on the ninth, which is where we will join the action…