Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Shane Lowry moves three shots before

Lowry made 21 birdies during the first three days in Abu Dhabi. ABD Dhabi HSBC Championship third-round leaderboard-17 S Lowry (Ire); -14 R Sterne (SA); -12 I Poulter (Eng); -11 P Larrazabal (Spa); -10 S Jamieson (Sco), S Kjeldsen (Den), M Kieffer (Ger), T Pieters (Bel); -9 L Westwood (B), B Koepka (US), P Waring (Eng) Other selected: -8 L Oosthuizen (SA); -6 T Bjorn (Den); -4 D Johnson (US); -3 T Fleetwood (Eng)

Irishman Shane Lowry will take a three-prong lead on the last Saturday of the HSBC championship Abu Dhabi.

The 31-year-old, untitled since the WGC-Bridesgestone Invitational in August 2015, scored seven birdies in a five under 67 to reach 17-under-par.

He leads the South African Richard Sterne, who had an eagle in his 69.

Ian Poulter is two further back after an eagle at the last in his 69, while Lee Westwood goes to nine had slipped under after two double thieves in his 73.

On a windy afternoon at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Lowry placed three birdies in a row from the sixth.

"We are clearly playing in a world-class field on a very difficult golf course," he said.

"I think I should just go out and stay aggressive, and just play my own game and try to make as many birds as possible, that's the way I play golf, if I can, hopefully At the end of the day I can be there and give myself a chance to come the last few days. "19458900 Sterne has not won since he won his sixth European Tour title at the Joburg Open in 2013 and said:" It is long ago that I was in the clinch, but I managed to pull it out a few times, so maybe there is some magic left in me. "