Ryan Fox will take a commanding six-shot lead into the final round of the Ras Al Khaimah Classic as he looks for a first 72-hole strokeplay victory on the DP World Tour.
The big-hitting Kiwi entered day three with a three-shot advantage and doubled that as he carded a 65 to get to 19 under at Al Hamra Golf Club.
Spanish duo Adri Arnaus and Pablo Larrazabal were at 13 under alongside Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Pole Adrian Meronk.
A 2016 European Challenge Tour graduate, Fox is looking to add to the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth title he won in 2019 and two European Challenge Tour victories.
Fox’s 54-hole advantage is the largest of the season so far and a victory would have him joining Thriston Lawrence as a 2022 wire-to-wire winner, with the South African lifting the trophy at the weather-affected 36-hole Joburg Open.
The last wire-to-wire winner over 72 holes was Nacho Elvira at the 2021 Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale.
A win would also complete a memorable Desert Swing for Fox, who made his first DP World Tour hole-in-one at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago.
“My head is in a pretty good place,” he said. “Ask me that on the first tee tomorrow and I might have a slightly different answer, but I felt like I had really good control over the ball today, only hit a couple of bad shots and holed some putts as well.
“I’ve put myself exactly where I want to be and it’s that cliche – it’s all on me tomorrow.
“Somebody is going to have to go out and shoot something really low or I’m going to have to play poorly so hopefully I can keep playing how I’ve played the last couple of days and put it out of reach.
“I’ve made six bogeys all week and bounced back every time, it’s just been one of those weeks where it felt like every part of my game has kind of worked and when I’ve hit a bad shot I haven’t let it get to me too much.
“For the most part, everything has worked, which is kind of rare for me, to be honest, I’ve always had something for the week that hasn’t worked. Hopefully, I can keep that going for one more day.”
In complete control 🎯#RakGolfClassic pic.twitter.com/eRpW9noqBf
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 12, 2022
Fox’s lead was trimmed to one shot as Jason Scrivener holed out from 115 yards on the first for an eagle but the 35-year-old soon surged ahead with an opening four birdies.
A five-footer helped him get up and down on the driveable par-four 1st and he almost spun his second in for an eagle at the 2nd.
He only just cleared the water after a self-admitted push at the par-five 3rd but set up a two-putt birdie and then put his tee-shot at the par-three 4th to 12 feet.
At that point, he led by four and despite following another birdie on the par-five 8th courtesy of an up-and-down with a bogey on the 9th after a poor tee-shot, he picked the shot straight back up from 23 feet on the 10th.
The leader did well to drop just one shot after finding water on the 12th but, as he had done with his previous five bogeys this week, he birdied his following hole with the help of a smart chip on the driveable par-four 13th.
A birdie from the fringe on the 16th moved him five ahead before an approach to seven feet on the 17th brought a 25th birdie of the week.
Meronk and Jamieson were both bogey-free as they cared rounds of 64 and 65, respectively, with Arnaus starting birdie-birdie-eagle in a 66 and Larrazabal making seven birdies and three bogeys in a 68.
German Marcel Siem matched the best round of his DP World Tour career with a 64 that was his lowest effort since the 2013 Trophée Hassan II and left him at 12 under alongside Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura and Scot Robert MacIntyre.
There was then a group of eight players eight shots off the lead.
– Report from DP World Tour website
