Former champion Jorge Campillo will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters after completing a flawless third-round 66.
The 2020 winner had to return to the course early on day three to finish off his second round, carding four birdies in eight holes to sign for a 65.
And the Spaniard continued his fine form in round three, making six birdies and no bogeys in his first 17 holes to get to 16 under par on Saturday before the hooter sounded at 16:47 local time.
He then parred the 18th on Sunday morning to remain one shot clear at the top of the leaderboard.
Finn Sami Välimäki was his nearest challenger on 15 under after finishing his third-round 67 with a birdie at the 18th in near-darkness.
Scottish Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre was a single shot further back following his 70.
His countryman Scott Jamieson was among those another stroke back after firing eight birdies in his final 10 holes on Saturday to give his chances of keeping his DP World Tour card an enormous boost.
Jamieson started the week 119th on the Race to Dubai Rankings, needing a good result to squeeze into the top 116.
Campillo started the day four shots off the lead with eight holes of his second round to complete and reeled off four birdies to sit on 10 under par at the halfway stage of the tournament.
With Daniel Hillier also picking up four birdies in the morning to reach 14 under after two rounds, Campillo remained four strokes back as he got his third round under way.
But he soon set about closing the gap, taking advantage of the par-five 1st for the third round in succession before adding further birdies at the 5th, 7th and 8th to open up a two-shot lead at the summit.
Campillo made a two-putt birdie on the long 10th to move to 15 under before breaking a run of five successive pars with a birdie at the 16th, having gone agonisingly close to holing his eagle try from almost 80 feet.
He gave himself another outside chance at the par-three 17th but had to settle for a par there, and as he was tapping in, the hooter sounded, meaning his group could not start the 18th until Sunday, when a par saw him remain at 16 under.
Välimäki turned in 33 courtesy of three front-nine birdies before dropping his first shot of the week at the 11th.
But he bounced straight back, making gains at the 12th, 13th and 18th to get to 15 under.
Välimäki said: “I actually got a really good read [on the 18th]. I saw the line and made a really good putt.
“I’ll try to win the tournament, it has been a long time, so hopefully I’ll get back in the circle. I have tomorrow to go and then two more weeks. I need to get one win to make it to the PGA Tour. That’s my goal.”
– Report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
