DP World Tour Championship third-round leaderboard
-9 T Hatton (Eng); -8 V Perez (Fra); -6 M Lindberg (Swe); -5 A Scott (Aus), E Chacarra (Spa), F Laporta (Ita), R McIlroy (NI)
Selected others: -4 D Bradbury (Eng), J Schaper (SA), K Reitan (Nor); -3 M Wallace (Eng), J Dean (Eng), J Rahm (Spa); +3 P Reed (US), T Fleetwood (Eng)
Rory McIlroy's hopes of winning a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title faded as he fell four shots behind leader Tyrrell Hatton after three rounds of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Northern Irishman McIlroy started Saturday tied for the lead with Hatton but, while the Englishman remained at the top of the field with a four-under-par 68, McIlroy fell away with a 72 at the Earth Course in Dubai.
Hatton, on nine under for the tournament, holds a one-shot lead over France's Victor Perez as he bids for a first DP World Tour Championship, while Sweden's Mikael Lindberg is third on six under.
McIlroy is joint fourth in a group of four players which includes Spain's Eugenio Chacarra, the current leader in the Race to Dubai standings.
Six-time major champion McIlroy began the tournament trailing Chacarra by more than 500 points, but knowing a win would guarantee him an eighth season-long crown to equal the tally set by Scotland's…
