A final-day thriller is in the offing, with the two main protagonists chasing their own piece of history.
While the leader is eyeing a historic third Qatar Masters trophy, something no one has done before in the European Tour event’s 18-year past, his younger challenger is aiming to be become the first to win back-to-back titles at the Doha Golf Club.
All eyes will be on two-time winner Paul Lawrie and defending champion Branden Grace as both go head-to-head on the final day of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters today. After yesterday’s third round, Scotland’s Lawrie had opened up a two-stroke lead after shooting a cautious but unblemished 70, while South African Grace’s 68 helped him climb to second on a cold and windy day marked by low scores, with only six players bettering 70.
Lawrie was a picture of consistency during his bogey-free round. He went on par till the 13th, running neck and neck with Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts before a birdie on the 14th gave him the advantage he was looking for. He signed off with another birdies on the 18th to get to 13-under.
Grace outdid Lawrie with a run of 14 straight pars but they were book-ended by birdies on the first, 16th, 17th and 18th. Sharing the second spot with Grace was Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who shot a 69 with birdies on the first, eighth, 16th and 18th with a bogey on the fifth the sole sour note of his round.
They were followed a stroke behind by Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain, both at 10-under, with 15 players within five shots of the lead.
English duo Lee Slattery (69) and Andrew Johnston (72) were among five players at nine-under, while six players sat at eight-under, meaning Lawrie has a huge chasing pack behind him as he seeks to become the tournament’s first three-time winner and oldest champion.
“It’s still not over yet. There are a lot of good players behind me. It’s going to be a different challenge tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it. Every week that we play, the job is to get in contention with nine holes to play and hopefully I can do that on the front nine tomorrow,” said Lawrie.
The 47-year-old Scot was undeterred despite the cold and windy conditions, and the forecast is for even stronger winds on the final day.
“It’s obvious the wind was blowing a little bit. Conditions were tough as you can see by the scoring, so it was good to go around there and not have a bogey,” said Lawrie, who won the tournament in 1999 and 2012. “Still, it was a little bit frustrating as I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in. However, you look at the leaderboard and you can see that you’re still kind of doing well, so the frustration goes away pretty quickly and it was nice to end the day with a good putt.”
Lawrie’s career was transformed by his first Qatar Masters win in 1999, as later that year he won The Open Championship and qualified for his first Ryder Cup. Four years ago, his second title in Doha prompted arguably his most consistent season yet, featuring a winning Ryder Cup appearance.
Former world No. 1 Adam Scott of Australia is the only other two-time winner of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, having won in 2002 and 2008, while Zimbabwe’s Tony Johnstone was 44 when he won in 2001 and remains the tournament’s oldest champion.
The 27-year-old Grace, two decades younger than Lawrie, came off the course delighted to finish with three straight birdies. “It was a brutal day out there. The wind was blowing and the greens were tricky. In conditions like that, it’s tough to give yourself those chances,” said world No. 11 Grace, who is also the tournament’s top-ranked player. “I think patience was the name of the game today. I pretty much got the most out of my round. I didn’t really think I left any out there, so four-under was a great score.”
Grace is also chasing history as he seeks to become the first player to retain his title at the event. “That would be great. I’m just glad with the type of golf I’m playing and that I’m giving myself a shot at retaining the trophy,” said the South African, a six-time European Tour winner.
Englishman Richard Bland, who is five strokes behind leader Lawrie, recorded the lowest round of the day with an impressive 67. He birdied the fourth and fifth but dropped a shot on the seventh before birdieing the ninth to turn in 33. He picked a shot up on the 13th and then had a birdie-birdie finish as he seeks a first European Tour win in his 376th event.
Bradley Dredge, Gregory Havret, Ricardo Gouveia and Bernd Wiesberger all finished with 70s to also sit five shots off the lead alongside Johan Carlsson, who signed for a 72.

Leading scores (after 3rd round)
203: Paul Lawrie (GBR) 67-66-70
205: Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 67-69-69, Branden Grace (RSA) 70-67-68
206: Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) 67-69-70, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67-68-71
207: Andrew Johnston (GBR) 66-69-72, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 67-68-72, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 70-66-71, Lee Slattery 69-69-69
208: Ricardo Gouveia (POR) 67-71-70, Richard Bland (GBR) 72-69-67, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 68-70-70, Johan Carlsson (SWE) 69-67-72, Bradley Dredge (GBR) 71-67-70, Gregory Havret (FRA) 71-67-70
209: Robert Rock (GBR) 68-70-71, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 65-73-71, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 65-72-72
210: Tyrrell Hatton (GBR) 71-70-69, Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 71-68-71, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 70-66-74, Ernie Els (RSA) 68-70-72, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 69-68-73, George Coetzee (RSA) 67-70-73
211: Richie Ramsay (GBR) 71-69-71, Joost Luiten (NED) 70-67-74, Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) 67-70-74, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 66-68-77, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 68-72-71, Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA) 72-70-69