Abu Dhabi Championship: Daniel Hillier in the hunt as Aaron Rai takes outright lead

Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier has moved within three shots of the lead ahead of the final round at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship.

The 27-year-old continued his steady week in the penultimate event of the season, turning in his best round of the tournament to sit in contention with 18 holes to play.

Hillier shot a seven-under-par 65 in his third round, which featured nine birdies, including two on his final two holes. The round moved him to 17-under for the tournament, just a few shots behind leader Aaron Rai on 20-under.

At 17-under, Hillier sat in a two-way tie for fifth, alongside another Englishman, Andy Sullivan.

While the tournament has a prize fund of US$9 million ($16m) and the winner takes home US$1.53m, a good result will also further Hillier’s bid to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026.

The top 10 DP World Tour players not already exempt earn PGA Tour cards for the following year. Ranked at No 20 on the DP World Tour currently, Hillier is in the hunt for one of those spots but needs to make up some ground.

Fellow Kiwi Kazuma Kobori also turned in an improved card from his second round, with a three-under 69 seeing him move to 10-under for the tournament.

Joint leader after round one, the 24-year-old was left to rue a triple-bogey eight on the last hole of his second round which saw him finish the day one-over.

Kobori bounced back in his third round with four birdies and a bogey, but fell further down the leaderboard into a five-way share of 36th.

Rai held the outright lead going into the final round, taking a one-shot lead ahead of fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard.

After the tournament, the field will be cut from 75, with only the top 50 players on the season standings following the Abu Dhabi event qualifying for next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.