• Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Round Three

Tiger Woods storms to the top in Abu Dhabi

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Tiger Woods moved ominously to the top of the leaderboard after three rounds of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, but Rory McIlroy is in hot pursuit.

After a couple of years in the golfing wilderness, Woods showed signs of a revival at the end of 2011 and he has carried the momentum into this year. He has shown steady improvement over the course of the three days in Abu Dhabi and he plotted his way round quite superbly to record a 66 which moved him to 11-under.

Woods' distance control was hugely impressive and, importantly, had the pace of the greens nailed down. He set the tone with a birdie on the first and a brilliant approach on the seventh yielded another red number.

The 14-time major winner found trouble off the tee on nine, having lost his footing, but a brilliant escape from the waste area helped him make a par.

Woods showed the benefit of finding fairways off tees when knocking in a birdie putt on 10 and followed it up on 12 with a fine putt for a two. Another supreme approach and solid putt on 15 secured his fifth birdie of the round.

When Woods did find himself in trouble, as was the case when he missed the fairway with a driver on 17, he played sensibly towards the middle of the green as opposed to taking on the pins and he was rewarded with a bogey-free round.

McIlroy had a mixed day, repeatedly finding bunkers and waste areas, but his supreme touch enabled him to extricate himself from trouble and he gained momentum when he birdied 15 and 17.

He had a horror time on 18 following a wild drive. He was so far right he had to play over the water and come up the ninth, but somehow he escaped with a par to card a 68 - which leaves him two behind Woods.

Robert Rock will be in the final group with Woods on Sunday as a birdie on 18 helped him sign for 66 to move to 11-under.

Peter Hanson and Francesco Molinari will be firmly in the mix on Sunday, following rounds of 64 and 66 respectively, as they sit at nine-under - one stroke ahead of George Coetzee and James Kingston.

Thomas Bjorn was the big mover on Saturday, with the Dane surging up the field to seven-under with a superb 65.

Lee Westwood arrived in Abu Dhabi nursing a neck problem and looked out of sorts over the first two days. But work with the physio has clearly had a positive effect as he struck the ball well on Saturday to card a 68. He is seven off the pace at four-under but it is not inconceivable that he could mount a challenge on Sunday.

World No. 1 Luke Donald's week has got progressively worse, as he followed rounds of 71 and 72 with a 73 on Saturday. He found trouble on a number of occasions and had to play a shot left handed at one stage after getting too close to a tree.

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