Li Haotong will go in search of a fourth DP World Tour title when he takes a two-stroke lead into the final round, while Conor Purcell recorded his best round of the week thus far and has a top-20 finish in his sights at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

A level-par second round saw the Portmarnock man make the cut on the number, but despite starting moving day with a birdie, two subsequent bogeys saw him make the turn at +1 for the day and level-par overall.

A birdie on the 10th got him back to level-par for the day and he finished strongly with birdies on the 16th and 18th to make a late move up the leaderboard and he goes into the final round tied for 33rd and just three shots out of a tie for 12th.

Chinese Li carded a five under par round of 67 to reach 13-under after three rounds at Doha Golf Club and holds his first 54-hole lead since he claimed his last DP World Tour victory at the 2022 BMW International Open.

He started the day two strokes behind Englishman Brandon Robinson Thompson, but immediately drew level with birdies on the first and second holes. A third gain followed before the turn at the seventh and the 29-year-old finished with a flourish after carding further birdies on the 16^th and 17^th holes to sign for his 67.

“It felt not easy, definitely,” Li said after his round. “An opposite wind compared to the last two days. I holed some moments and par putts, especially the one on 10. Overall I’m very pleased.

“(Two opening birdies) definitely released a lot of pressure from that position. Especially with my driver being a little bit off today. I didn’t hit as many fairways as yesterday, I just need to create more chances tomorrow.

“So far this year my approach play has been really solid. I just need to keep the momentum going.

“I didn’t look at the leaderboard at all until number 10. Then I saw I was leading and I thought ‘okay’. It felt like a strange feeling. It’s been a while. Hopefully I can continue the momentum going into the final round.”

Robinson Thompson carded a one under par round of 71 to stay within reach of Li. The 32-year-old was one over par after 15 holes with a bogey on the par-4 sixth and 14 pars on his card. But he also found momentum on the closing stretch as he also birdied the 16^th and then closed the gap as he birdied the 18^th for an 11-under-par total.

This is the second week in a row Robinson Thompson has found himself in the final group on Sunday, as he eventually finish in a share of eighth at last week’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.

“It was a bit of a slow start, honestly,” said Robinson Thompson. “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. What was most impressive was how patient me and Rich (caddie) stayed. We said it all the way around, it was one of those days where I wasn’t quite hitting it close enough but I was hitting it on the right sides and making pars. 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.”

In a share of third on nine under par are Matthew Jordan of England and South Africa’s Jayden Schaper, and one stroke further back on eight under are Frenchman Martin Couvra, MK Kim of South Korea and Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

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