Ryder Cup teammates Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton share the halfway lead at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, moving three stokes clear of the chasing pack at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
U.S. Open Champion Fitzpatrick is seeking a third DP World Tour Championship victory, to add to his 2016 and 2020 triumphs, and he is also now the front-runner in the race to finish the season at the top of the DP World Tour Rankings in partnership with Rolex.
If Fitzpatrick were to win a second Rolex Series title in Dubai, he would need World Number One Rory McIlroy to finish worse than second. However, if the 28-year-old were to finish runner-up, McIlroy would need to finish the week worse than seventh for Fitzpatrick to end the year as European Number One for the first time.
“Just got to keep pushing on. Yeah, just keep playing how I feel like I’m playing right now. I feel really comfortable with where my game is at, particularly after three weeks off and looking forward to the weekend,” – Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick and Hatton carded five under par rounds of 67 to reach 12 under par, sitting three strokes ahead of Spaniard Adri Arnaus and Sweden’s Alex Noren. One stroke further back on eight under par are two-time DP World Tour Championship winner Jon Rahm and compatriot Jorge Campillo.
McIlroy carded a four under round of 68 to move to five under par in a share of 11th as he seeks to become just the second player in history to win the DP World Tour Rankings and PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup in the same season.
