Rory McIlroy produced the best round of his tournament at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, despite being forced into a wedge change prior to his third round.
Firing four birdies and one bogey for a three-under 69, McIlroy jumped a number of places up the leaderboard on Moving Day, even though he had to change his lob wedge before teeing off at Emirates GC.
Speaking after his round, McIlroy stated: "I had a spare thankfully. I was just hitting a few bunker shots to warm up and one of the balls came out a little funny, and I looked at my face and there was some big massive score mark up the middle of the face from a stone. Luckily I had a brand new one in the locker that I could replace it with. It worked out okay."
Regarding the wedges McIlroy uses, he is currently playing TaylorMade MG4s in 46°, 50° and 54°. Reportedly, McIlroy also uses a Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks in 58°, with it unclear as to which model was damaged prior to his round.
Sitting at six-under-par, the four-time Dubai Desert Classic winner is seven shots back of leader, Daniel Hillier, who carded a two-under-par third round to get to 13-under.
Last year, defending champion McIlroy came from 10 shots back at the halfway stage to win but, with just 18 holes remaining, the 35-year-old knows he will need to go low to have any chance of a third straight Desert Classic trophy.
"(It)Depends on what the conditions are tomorrow. I don't think the winning score will go much past 13, depending on obviously the conditions. But I mean, 15, so I'd need to go out and shoot 63 tomorrow.
"If the conditions are right, I've been able to do that before, especially if you can make a score on the front nine before, as you say, that scorable back nine, my key tomorrow is if I can get off to a faster start and shoot three or four on the front, then I have a chance."
