Ryan Fox has a commanding six-shot lead heading into the final round of the 2022 Ras Al Khaimah Classic in the UAE.
Victory on Monday morning New Zealand time would see Fox secure his first 72-hole stroke-play victory on the DP World Tour formerly known as the European Tour.
The Kiwi entered day three with a three-shot advantage and doubled that as he carded a 65 to get to 19 under at Al Hamra Golf Club.
Spanish duo Adri Arnaus and Pablo Larrazábal were at 13 under alongside Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Pole Adrian Meronk.
Fox is looking to add to the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth title he won in 2019 and two European Challenge Tour victories.
Fox’s 54-hole advantage is the largest of the season so far and a victory would see him join Thriston Lawrence as a 2022 wire-to-wire winner, with the South African lifting the trophy at the weather-affected 36-hole Joburg Open.
The last wire-to-wire winner over 72 holes was Nacho Elvira at the 2021 Cazoo Open.
A win would also complete a memorable Desert Swing for Fox, who made his first DP World Tour hole-in-one at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago.
“My head is in a pretty good place,” he said after round three.
“Ask me that on the first tee tomorrow and I might have a slightly different answer but I felt like I had really good control over the ball today, only hit a couple of bad shots and holed some putts as well.
“I’ve put myself exactly where I want to be and it’s that cliché – it’s all on me tomorrow.
“Somebody is going to have to go out and shoot something really low or I’m going to have to play poorly so hopefully I can keep playing how I’ve played the last couple of days and put it out of reach.
“I’ve made six bogeys all week and bounced back every time, it’s just been one of those weeks where it felt like every part of my game has kind of worked and when I’ve hit a bad shot I haven’t let it get to me too much.
“For the most part everything has worked which is kind of rare for me, to be honest, I’ve always had something for the week that hasn’t worked. Hopefully, I can keep that going for one more day.”
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Fox’s lead was trimmed to one shot as Jason Scrivener holed out from 115 yards on the first for an eagle but the 35-year-old soon surged ahead with an opening four birdies.
A five-footer helped him get up and down on the driveable par-four first and he almost spun his second in for an eagle at the second.
He only just cleared the water after a self-admitted push at the par-five third but set up a two-putt birdie and then put his tee-shot at the par-three fourth to 12 feet.
At that point he led by four and despite following another birdie on the par-five eighth courtesy of an up-and-down with a bogey on the ninth after a poor tee-shot, he picked the shot straight back up from 23 feet on the tenth.
Fox did well to drop just one shot after finding water on the 12th but, as he had done with his previous five bogeys this week, he birdied his following hole with the help of a smart chip on the driveable par four 13th.
A birdie from the fringe on the 16th moved him five ahead before an approach to seven feet on the 17th brought a 25th birdie of the week.
Fox will tee off at 8.30pm Sunday night NZDT.
