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Poulter takes two-stroke lead

Dubai - -England's Ian Poulter will take a two-shot advantage into the final day of the 7.5 million dollar Dubai World Championship as he attempts to win back-to-back titles on the European Tour.

After a bogey-free first two rounds, the flamboyant Englishman finally succumbed Saturday and incurred two during a still solid third round which he completed in 69 to sit 12-under par for the tournament.

Ross Fisher, co-leader at the halfway stage along with Poulter, bogeyed the difficult 18th hole of the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates, and a one-under par 71 saw him finish at 206, which tied him for the second place along with Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee (69) and Italian Francesco Molinari (68).

Defending champion Lee Westwood was a shot behind after a third-round 71, tied along with the first-round leader, Robert Karlsson of Sweden (67).

With two concurrent battles being staged in this season-ending tournament of the European Tour, Germany's Martin Kaymer is still set to win the Race to Dubai title and claim the honour of Europe's No1 player.

Kaymer closed with an unfortunate double bogey after hitting his third shot into the water on the par-five 18th to sit tied for 11th at six-under par 210. More importantly, Northern Ireland's Grame McDowell, the only man who could have denied him the season-ending honour, conceded the race after a third-round 69 could only lift him to two-under par for the tournament and in a tie for 30th place.

McDowell needs to finish at least inside the top-three to have any chance of stopping Kaymer

After finishing what was his best round of the tournament so far, McDowell said: "I think barring the impossible, Europe's No1 is probably not a reality for me anymore.

"I can certainly go out and give it 100 per cent tomorrow (Sunday) in the last round here and just put a nice end to what's been a fantastic year for me. It's been amazing.

"Of course, I would love to have finished it off in a little bit more style. Actually, in a way I have finished it in style. I came into this five week run needing to get a big finish and I did give it a big finish."

Kaymer said he'd like to do something more than just win the Race to Dubai.

"I am six behind now. That was a huge mistake on the 18th. I think it put me in a position where I cannot really win the tournament anymore, and Ian is playing fantastic the last few weeks," said Kaymer.

"Yes, it looks like I have won The Race to Dubai, which is nice, but I want to play well here. I want to finish as high as possible."

Poulter, who mixed two bogeys in his round which contained five birdies, said: "I feel happy. It's great that I'm in the driving seat. I'm two in front which is better than being behind.

"I thought it was important today to go out there and play solid, bank a few birdies. I figured the guys from behind were going to shoot a decent score. The pins were tucked, so it obviously made it very difficult.

"It was a game of patience out there today. I felt I dropped two silly, silly bogeys on holes that I really feel I should have taken advantage of. That was the only frustration of the day. Apart from that it was pretty solid."

Fisher was disappointed with his bogey on the 18th, but was upbeat about his victory chances.

"I didn't play as well as yesterday. But there were some glimmers of good golf that I produced yesterday and I hit some real close shots," he said.

"So you know, shame to walk off with six, but overall, two shots behind. Anything can happen."

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy shot a round of six-under par 66 - the best round of the day along with South Africa's Retief Goosen - to climb up to tied ninth place at 209.

Leading third round scores in the $7.5m Dubai World Championship tournament on Saturday (par 72):

204 Ian Poulter (ENG) 69-66-69

206 Francesco Molinari (ITA) 71-67-68, Ross Fisher (ENG) 71-64-71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68-69-69

207 Robert Karlsson (SWE) 65-75-67, Lee Westwood 69-67-71

208 Paul Casey (ENG) 70-67-71, Alvaro Quiros (ESP) 72-67-69

209 Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71-72-66, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 73-66-70

210 Martin Kaymer (GER) 67-70-73, Luke Donald (ENG) 74-67-69

211 Robert Jan Derksen (NED) 71-70-70, Anders Hansen (DEN) 74-70-67, Joost Luiten (NED) 72-72-67, Peter Lawrie (IRL) 76-67-68, Y.E. Yang (KOR) 71-69-71, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 70-70-71, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 69-71-71

212 Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 71-71-70, Peter Hanson (SWE) 76-69-67, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 70 72 70, Chris Wood (ENG) 73-70-69, Matteo Manassero (ITA) 74-68-70, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 72-71-69

213 Seung-yul Noh (KOR) 66-73-74, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 69-74-70, Soren Hansen (DEN) 74-70-69, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 74-70-69

214 Graeme McDowell (NIR) 72-73-69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP) 73-71-70

215 Brett Rumford (AUS) 71-70-74, Richie Ramsay (SCO) 73-69-73, Gary Boyd (ENG) 70-75-70, Ernie Els (RSA) 73-70-72, Richard Green (AUS) 72 73 70, Darren Clarke (NIR) 71-71-73, Gregory Havret (FRA) 72-73-70

216 Retief Goosen (RSA) 78-72-66
, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 75-73-68, Simon Dyson 72-71-73

217 Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 69-75-73
, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 69-71-77, David Horsey (ENG) 70-73-74, Jamie Donaldson (WAL) 78-67-72, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 75-73-69 

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