Rory McIlroy was delighted to be rewarded for his patience as the World Number Two lurked ominously in contention at the 2026 Dubai Invitational.
The Northern Irishman led after 18 holes at Dubai Creek Resort, but a second-round 74 saw him sit three adrift of overnight leaders Shane Lowry and Nacho Elvira.
McIlroy opened on Saturday with a birdie but dropped a shot at the fourth before birdies at the tenth, 13th and 16th saw him remain three behind Elvira in solo fifth at five under ahead of the final round.
"A little better than yesterday, kept the ball dry instead of the four water balls I had," McIlroy said.
"It was a tricky enough day, got off to a bit of a slow start, but stayed patient and hung in there and was rewarded with birdies on the back nine."
McIlroy has a stunning record in the United Arab Emirates, with seven victories, eight second-placed finishes and a further 36 top-tens during his career.
He also tends to make a fast start to the campaign, with a win, six runner-ups and 15 top-five finishes in his first event of a DP World Tour season since turning professional 20 years ago.
When told the latter stat, a stunned McIlroy replied: "I think the enthusiasm to start a new year and start fresh (is the reason behind those early results).
"I've always loved coming out here to the Middle East and Dubai, and playing in these tournaments.
"Even as an amateur, I played a couple of Dubai Desert Classics as well so I've been coming out here for over 20 years.
"It's a place where I'm comfortable, made a lot of friends here along the way and I'm always excited to start my year in Dubai."
Tommy Fleetwood was thrilled to bounce back in style on Moving Day and give himself an unlikely chance of defending his crown at Dubai Creek Resort.
The Englishman, who won this inaugural event two years ago, saw his lengthy run of under-par rounds come to an end on Friday when he carded a seven-over 78.
Fleetwood's last round which was not in red came during the first 18 holes at the BMW PGA Championship in September, while his last round without carding a birdie came on Moving Day at the US PGA Championship in May.
However, the World Number Three carded the joint lowest third round on Saturday courtesy of seven birdies and two bogeys to reach level par for the tournament, eight shots behind Elvira.
"Golf's hard, and every now and again it's very humbling," Fleetwood said of Friday's round.
"When you look over it, I scored the absolute worst and everything I could do wrong, I did wrong, but I wasn't terrible, if you know what I mean.
"It was an accumulation of doing everything wrong at the same time. That was really disappointing.
"I think today it feels lovely, just kind of mini-goals. I sort of had in my mind, let's try and get back under par for the tournament throughout the weekend, I feel that would be good.
"Yesterday was a really disappointing, humbling day, but I can make the other three days good, then it won't be a bad week."
