A late double-bogey in the third round on Saturday pegged him back a little, but Richard Sterne will go into the final round of the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links in seventh place.

Even with that double-bogey, Sterne carded a four-under-par 68 to move to 16-under-par for the tournament. That put him just four strokes out of the lead, which was held at 20-under by England’s Aaron Rai, who carded a six-under 66 to be one clear of countryman Tommy Fleetwood and Dane Nicolai Hojgaard.

Sterne started with an eagle two on the first hole, which set him up for a charge on moving day. Two more birdies on the front nine, on the fourth and seventh, and two more after the turn on the 11th and 14th put him on 18-under and right in the mix.

On the 15th, he put his tee shot into a fairway bunker, and was only able to advance it 75 yards out of that. His approach only just crept onto the green, leaving him over 63 feet to save par. He three-putted from there.

Rai shared the halfway lead with countryman Fleetwood on 14-under but put his foot to the floor in perfect scoring conditions on Saturday to hit the front on his own. He turned in 31 after picking up five shots on the front nine before adding further birdies at the 11th and 14th, with his only bogey of the day coming on the 17th. He had led by three during the closing stages of his round but the late bogey and strong finishes from the chasing pack ate into his advantage.

Jayden Schaper was the next-best of the South Africans and he had a third round of five-under-par 67 to move to a share of 26th on 11-under-par.

Dylan Naidoo was in a share of 53rd, Thriston Lawrence of 58th, Shaun Norris of 64th, and Jacques Kruyswijk of 71st in the 72-man field.