Scott Jamieson still top Scot in Dubai

Scott Jamieson continued to lead the three Scots who made the cut in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic - the final leg of the European Tour's Desert Swing.

The 32-year-old Glaswegian came home in 34, three-under, for a 71 to sit on five-under overall, two better than Craig Lee (70) and three ahead of David Drysdale (72).

“It’s another round under par,” said Jamieson of achieving that feat after opening with rounds of 69 and 71 on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club.

Out in 37, two-over, after dropping shots at the fifth and eighth, the Glaswegian started for home with third birdies in four holes before making a bogey at the par-4 16th.

He thought his eagle chip from around 30 feet at the next hole was going in, raising his arms in anticipation, only for the ball to agonisingly slip past the side of the ball.

“It looked in but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be,” said Jamieson, smiling ruefully after also seeing a birdie attempt from around 15 feet stay above ground at the last.

“I didn’t play well today, hitting a few more errant tee shots than the opening couple of days, so it was a decent score in the end.”

Lee birdied the opening two holes before making further gains at the 11th and 13th but was disappointed to drop shots at the third and 18th, both par-5s.

“It was interesting today,” said the Stirling man, who’d battled a wrist injury on the opening day then neck trouble on Friday.

“My neck was a bit better, allowing me to get back to 70-80 per cent power, but my wrist wasn’t brilliant this morning.

“It’s just wear and tear, to be honest. It was fine for three or four weeks but came back last week and has been a problem again this week. I need to figure out a programme how to strengthen it.”

The former Tartan Tour star hit a 6-iron to a couple of feet at the first before rolling in a six-footer at the second. “Two of the easiest birdies you’ll ever get,” he said.

“Not playing the par-5s well was frustrating, but it’s good to get another sub-par round in as it all helps as you try to keep chipping away.”

Having followed an early gain at the second with a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth, Drysdale stormed to the turn in 31 to sit six-under for the tournament.

But the wind was taken out of his sails by a triple-bogey 7 at the 12th, where a pulled tee shot, a penalty drop that was required after putting the next one into a bush then a duff from the waste area did the damage.

“It came out of the blue,” groaned the Cockburnspath man. “There has been some decent golf before that but halves of 31 and 41 says it all, I’m afraid.”