Golf: Ryan Fox drops way down leaderboard at Abu Dhabi Championship

Ryan Fox of New Zealand plays his second shot on the second hole during the third round on day three of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Photo / Getty

The third round is typically referred to as moving day but Ryan Fox was only moving in one direction and that was backward at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship overnight following a shocking round.

The world number 28 jumped into a share of ninth after a superb six-under second round Saturday but had a 13-shot swing overnight to shoot a seven-over 79 - falling all the way back to last.

The round started with a birdie, taking Fox to eight-under for the tournament but that was the one highlight of the day.

It was followed by six bogies and a double bogey seven on the final hole, after he found the water, as the Kiwi dropped all the way back to a share of last-placed 67th at even par.

New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is in a share of 48 after a one-under 73.

On the PGA Tour, Danny Lee moved just outside the top 20 of The American Express event with a third round 67 in La Quinta, California. He heads into the final day at 14-under, nine shots behind leaders Jon Rahm and Davis Thompson.

Lee had six birdies and one bogey to sit in a share of 21st. The Kiwi is looking for his second top 25 result of the 2022-23 season.

In Abu Dhabi, Shane Lowry moved into position to win the tournament for a second time but the Irishman has plenty of company on a stacked leaderboard.

That includes, out of nowhere, his compatriot and fellow major winner Padraig Harrington.

Lowry, the 2019 champion, shot 6-under 66 to tie for the third-round lead Saturday with Francesco Molinari and Min Woo Lee at 13-under overall.

There were 12 players within three shots of the joint leaders and among them is the 51-year-old Harrington, who shot 64.

Lowry, who began the day three shots off the lead, eagled the par-4 sixth when he holed out from the fairway. He added five birdies and one bogey.

“First tournament of the year, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” the 35-year-old Irishman said. “My thing would be I try and give myself as many chances to win as I can and at some stage hopefully it happens. Tomorrow I’ve got a chance to go out there and do something special, so hopefully I can bring the game that I brought the last few days and roll a few putts in as well and you never know.”

Australian Lee made seven birdies and one bogey in his 66, with the highlight coming at the short fourth as he almost made a hole-in-one.

Molinari, co-leader at the halfway point, had birdies at the second and third but bogeyed the fifth before staging a strong back nine that saw the Italian pick up shots at the 10th and 18th to shoot 69.

“Definitely it’s going to be sort of a shootout tomorrow,” Molinari said. “There’s loads of guys with a chance.”

Grant Forrest of Scotland, Victor Perez of France and Sebastian Söderberg of Sweden are one shot off the lead.

Harrington, a three-time major champion, is in the four-strong group another stroke back.