Date: January 20, 2008
Author:

German surges in the desert

German youngster Martin Kaymer is on the verge of breaking onto the world stage in style as he finds himself leading the field by six strokes at the Abu Dhabi Championship while Scott Strange is the best of the Australian contingent in the United Arab Emirates. Kaymer, though, has been a pillar of strength throughout the first three days of the tournament, publicly declaring he was concentrating on his golf and letting the scorecard take care of itself. The 2007 European Tour Rookie of the Year&aposs scorecard is certainly an impressive one as another quality four-under 68 round on Saturday (UAE time) in the Emirates&apos capital saw him go into the final round at 17-under overall, six strokes ahead of nearest challenger Anthony Wall (65). Swede Henrik Stenson was just one stroke behind Kaymer after the first round but, after carding a three-under 69 on day three, he now finds himself seven strokes adrift of the German. For the Australian contingent, Scott Strange has surged past Adam Scott on the leaderboard, carding a six-under 66 on Saturday to move into a tie for sixth position on the leaderboard at seven-under. After dropping off the pace through a two-over 74 in the second round, Scott recovered somewhat with a one-under 71 on Saturday but, at three-under for the tournament he is now 14 strokes behind Kaymer. Scott, though, is two strokes ahead of countryman Paul Sheehan (70), while Australian Richard Green is at even par overall after a one-over 73 round. Third Round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship (Par 72): -17: Martin Kaymer 66 65 68 -11: Anthony Wall 71 69 65 -10: Henrik Stenson 67 70 69 -9: Lee Westwood 69 73 65 -8: Peter Hedblom 69 70 69 -7: Mark Foster 70 70 69, Ignacio Garrido 69 70 70, Paul McGinley 72 71 66, Scott Strange (Australia) 72 71 66, Steve Webster 70 68 71 -6: Richard Finch 71 70 69, Robert Karlsson 68 72 70, Thomas Levet 70 72 68, Alvaro Quiros Garcia 73 69 68 -5: Luke Donald 71 73 67, James Kingston 71 68 71, Maarten Lafeber 74 69 68, Alexander Noren 70 72 69 -4: Phillip Archer 71 68 73, John Bickerton 71 70 71, Paul Broadhurst 72 72 68, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 71, Nick Dougherty 72 71 69, Simon Dyson 73 71 68, Oliver Fisher 72 71 69, Andrew McLardy 71 72 69, Colin Montgomerie 72 72 68, Charl Schwartzel 70 70 72 Also: -3: Adam Scott (Australia) 68 74 71 -1: Paul Sheehan (Australia) 73 72 70 E: Richard Green (Australia) 75 68 73