Paul Waring saw his lead cut to a single shot during the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The Englishman started the day five clear but a one-over 73 left the door ajar for the chasing pack.

Waring's 18-under-par total is one clear of Niklas Norgaard, with Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Thorbjørn Olesen and Sebastian Söderberg tied for third on 15 under.

Waring found a bunker with his opening tee shot and had to scramble par from eight feet at the first, but looked to have settled down as he birdied the par-five second and hit his tee shot to eight feet at the short fourth.

However, he ran his birdie attempt five feet past and missed the return, before missing birdie putts at the next nine holes.

Finding sand off the tee at the 14th proved costly as he failed to save par from 15 feet.

Waring had produced the shot of his life with a fairway wood to inside four feet at the last on Friday, but 24 hours later ended up in a greenside bunker and had to settle for a 15th par of the day.

Waring joked after his round: “You've got to have an average day, haven't you?

“I'm a little bit disappointed – I felt like I could have put myself out of site but four rounds of golf, you're always going to have a bit of an iffy run of holes, an iffy round of golf. If beginning of the week you had given me a one-shot lead going into tomorrow I'd have snapped your hand off.

“I'm trying to remain positive that I'm still in the lead, looking forward to getting out there tomorrow.

“I wasn't at my best today, felt a little bit jittery in total honesty, I felt the greens were a foot-and-a-half quicker, they were breaking a bit more than what I was reading. I just struggled on them a little bit today.

“I was absolutely fine for the first few holes. Four I've hit a lovely tee-shot and three-putted and that just put me on the back foot a little bit. I didn't recover in total honesty. I went into a bit of a defensive mode – you're playing to win golf tournaments and you have to manage your emotions and what's going on around you.

“It's a game of golf tomorrow in the sunshine – I'm looking forward to the challenge of it now. I feel like my bad golf is out of the way now.”

Sporting superstars Rory McIlroy and Gareth Bale joined forces recently as the duo showcased their golfing abilities in a unique, eye-catching campaign ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

The four-day Rolex Series event, part of the inaugural DP World Tour Play-Offs, is currently taking place at Yas Links, with the likes of McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Shane Lowry competing.

McIlroy, reigning Race to Dubai champion, was joined by Bale, the former Real Madrid forward and keen golfer, with the pair taking part in a series of visually impressive challenges on Yas Island which involved a fast-paced flying drone.

Firstly, McIlroy and Bale were tasked with hitting shots, both individually and together, with the drone flying as close to the ball flights as possible, changing the flight path around the ball trajectories each time.

They were then challenged to hit a flying drone in the style of a clay shooting target, with the pair working as a team over multiple rounds to complete the task.

Here is the breakdown of the prize fund and Race to Dubai Ranking points: