Little went right for Paul Dunne as he fell 14 places to 17th following a third round 73 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Tied for fourth, just two shots off the lead after rounds of 68 and 66, he goes into the final round on nine under par but still with a chance as he’s just four strokes behind leader Tyrell Hatton.

Dunne’s problem is the number of players ahead of him on a packed leaderboard which sees the top 16 covered by just three strokes.

Hatton has a one shot lead on 13 under par over a group of five players which includes US Open champion Dustin Johnson and two-time major winner Martin Kaymer.

American Johnson posted the lowest round of the day – a superb eight under par 64 while overnight leader Kaymer, a three-time winner in Abu Dhabi, returned a level par round of 72 to stay on 12 under par and remain in contention for a fourth Falcon Trophy,

The 2014 winner Pablo Larrazábal (69), Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat (70) and England's Tommy Fleetwood (70) complete the group in a share of second place on that mark.

There are 15 players within three shots of the leader, including Open champion Henrik Stenson, four-time 2016 winner Alex Noren and 23-time European Tour winner Lee Westwood. 

Hatton is seeking to make the perfect start to 2017 after ending his 2016 campaign by finishing runner up in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai – his seventh top ten finish in 11 appearances, a run which included a maiden European Tour victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Dunne, 24, will be looking to recapture the form of the first two days when he hit most greens and putted well.

On Saturday, he birdied the ninth to turn in one under par but he dropped shots at the 12th and 17th coming home.

Tyrrell Hatton

“I didn't do a whole lot of practice over the winter. I spent most of my time playing Xbox and chilling out at home to be perfectly honest, so it is a little bit of a surprise to see where I'm at this week, but I’m very happy with one round to go. Obviously there are big names are up there, so I've just got to focus on my game and try and play as well as I can. I love this place. It's one of my favourite events of the year, so hopefully I can go out there tomorrow and have a good day.”

Martin Kaymer

“I didn't hit as many good tee shots as the first two days. I missed a few fairways today, and then it's difficult to create birdie chances. And then I had a couple poor shots on 10 and 11 and made couple bogeys there. I fought back well with another birdie, and then the putts didn't drop in the end. You always have one of those rounds where you're not quite happy with, so it's okay. I think I'm in very good position for tomorrow.

“I’ll just really enjoy the challenge tomorrow. I'm don’t feel a lot of pressure to win the golf tournament. Always when you lead a golf tournament by three or four shots, you kind of expect yourself to win, and I don't really have that pressure tomorrow. I know I've done very well here in the past, so I can play very free and very aggressive tomorrow.”

Dustin Johnson

“I played a little bit better today. The biggest difference was I drove it better. I hit a lot more fairways today than I have been. I holed a few putts. I have still have yet to birdie a par five, but I did make an eagle on eight today. I chipped one in. It was a really solid round.”

Round three scores

203 T Hatton (Eng) 67 68 68,

204 D Johnson (USA) 72 68 64, T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 67 70, P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 67 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 66 68 70, M Kaymer (Ger) 66 66 72,

205 B Wiesberger (Aut) 68 69 68, P Hanson (Swe) 68 69 68, J Wang (Kor) 68 67 70, D Burmester (RSA) 69 70 66, B An (Kor) 69 69 67,

206 A Noren (Swe) 71 67 68, R Fisher (Eng) 69 69 68, M Kieffer (Ger) 70 67 69, L Westwood (Eng) 68 69 69, H Stenson (Swe) 64 71 71,

207 B Grace (RSA) 68 70 69, B Dredge (Wal) 68 69 70, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 67 66 74, Paul Dunne (Irl) 68 66 73, C Shinkwin (Eng) 68 74 65,

208 A Björk (Swe) 69 72 67, R Gouveia (Por) 72 69 67, O Fisher (Eng) 66 72 70, S Brazel (Aus) 71 65 72,

209 L Slattery (Eng) 68 71 70, M Warren (Sco) 66 72 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 71 70 68, R Fox (Nzl) 69 71 69, C Hanson (Eng) 71 66 72, J Van Zyl (RSA) 71 71 67, C Paisley (Eng) 71 65 73,

 210 T Olesen (Den) 69 70 71, T Aiken (RSA) 71 70 69, I Poulter (Eng) 69 72 69, A Quiros (Esp) 70 70 70,

211 B Hebert (Fra) 71 67 73, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 70 71, R Fowler (USA) 72 68 71, D Horsey (Eng) 71 69 71, C Luck (am) (Aus) 72 65 74,

212 J Luiten (Ned) 72 70 70, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 68 72, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 69 73, G Coetzee (RSA) 70 69 73, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 72 71, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 69 70, D Lipsky (USA) 68 72 72, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 70 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 73 69 70, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 70 72, J Campillo (Esp) 72 70 70, N Elvira (Esp) 70 71 71, A Otaegui (Esp) 72 70 70, T Bjørn (Den) 68 70 74, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 70 70,

213 P Uihlein (USA) 70 67 76, D Im (USA) 70 71 72, R Langasque (Fra) 71 70 72, G Bourdy (Fra) 72 70 71, M Manassero (Ita) 73 67 73, M Korhonen (Fin) 68 72 73, G Stal (Fra) 69 69 75, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 71 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 68 70 75,

214 M Carlsson (Swe) 74 66 74, J Smith (Eng) 68 70 76,

215 J Quesne (Fra) 67 75 73, D Brooks (Eng) 73 66 76, A Wall (Eng) 69 70 76, R Wattel  (Fra) 72 68 75,

217 A Dodt (Aus) 75 66 76,

219 S Chawrasia (Ind) 68 74 77,