If he manages to pick up a birdie on the par-five 18th in the third round of the DP World Tour’s Commercialbank Qatar Masters, Thomas Aiken will take a big step towards retaining his playing privileges on the circuit.
He has to sleep overnight on that knowledge, as play was suspended on Saturday in for fading light. He has made six birdies already in his third round, but there are also three bogeys on his card, and he is currently in a share of fourth place on 13-under for the tournament. That final birdie would lift him to a share of third, and his projected position on the Race to Dubai rankings would be commensurately higher than the current 130th. At the moment, the top 116 players on that list are certain of retaining their cards for next season.
While Aiken has a hole still to complete in the third round, so does the leader Jorge Campillo of Spain, who was on six-under through 17 and on 16-under for the tournament. Campillo leads by one from Sami Valimaki of Finland, who was done with his third successive 67 to reach 15-under. Robert MacIntyre of Scotland was on 14-under in third, with a third round of two-under through 16.
Thriston Lawrence managed to complete his round, signing for a level-par 72 to remain nine-under. He was in a share of 16th. Zander Lombard was also done, his three-under 69 taking him to seven-under and a share of 24th. They are both assured of their cards for the 2024 season.
Hennie du Plessis, Daniel van Tonder and Jayden Schaper were all on five-under after their third rounds of 71, 74 and 71 respectively. Du Plessis and Schaper both seem certain to have their playing privileges for next year, while Van Tonder needs a strong finish to climb beyond the 117th position he is currently projected to finish in.
On three-under and in a share of 53rd, Deon Germishuys is projected to finish 126th, so he will want to find a flourish with which to finish in the final round, rather than the one-over he carded in the third round.
