Neues » The rookie is coming

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (SportsNetwork. Cheap Flyers Jerseys .com) - Rory McIlroy recorded his second straight bogey-free round on Saturday and his 6-under 66 on day three has moved him four shots clear heading into the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy finished his third round at 20-under-par 196, which is four strokes better than Morten Orum Madsen. McIlroy has nine career wins on the European Tour, with four of them coming last season. The five-time major champion earned his first professional victory at this event back in 2009. To be bogey-free again today was important to me, especially when youre going out with the lead, said McIlroy. Im very happy. I feel like I could be a little bit more but Im not going to complain. Im four ahead going into the final day, so Ive put myself in a great position to win tomorrow. After shooting a 63 on Friday, Madsen matched McIlroy with a 66 of his own on day three and moved into sole possession of second place at 16-under 200. Two shots further back is 23-time tour winner Lee Westwood (69) at 14-under 202. Two-time defending champion Stephen Gallacher, first-round leader Bernd Wiesberger, Andy Sullivan and Danny Willett all fired matching, 2-under 70s and are tied for fourth at 13-under 203. McIlroy, last years British Open and PGA Championship winner, started the day with a 1-shot lead and quickly widened the gap. The 25-year-old Ulsterman jumped out to a fast start when he drained birdies on one, three and five to go along with pars on two, four and six. Following the par on No. 6, McIlroy poured in back-to-back gains on seven and eight before finishing his front nine with a par on nine. Making the turn with a 4-shot lead, it seemed as if McIlroy would extend his advantage even more on the back nine, but he slowed down a bit down the stretch. McIlroy made eight straight pars from No. 9 and saw his lead whittled down to three when Madsen birdied the last. McIlroy broke the par streak when he drained a birdie putt from about 15 feet on the par-4 17th, moving his advantage back to four. Now on the par-5 18th, a hole he had birdied in 14 of his last 18 rounds prior to Saturday, McIlroy found the water with his second shot and was in danger of making bogey. McIlroy remained calm, however, as his fourth shot landed about 10 feet from the hole and he knocked that in for par to make it 36 straight holes without a bogey. Not to make any mistakes makes it that much harder for anyone else, McIlroy said. Just to get that up-and-down on the last was big for momentum going into tomorrow ... I just have to go and try and play similar golf to the way I have the first three days. Madsen, who holds the weeks low round with his 63 Friday, also went bogey- free and may stand the best chance of catching McIlroy on Sunday. Madsen started with a pair of pars on one and two before making his first birdie on No. 3. He then wrapped four more pars on four, five, seven and eight around a gain on No. 6. The 26-year-old from Denmark made the turn in style with back-to-back birdies on nine and 10. Following his fifth gain of the day on 13, Madsen rattled off four straight pars from 14 before closing with a birdie at the last to pull within three of McIlroy at the time. Three shots behind McIlroy to start the day, Westwood had a strong start to his round before struggling a bit in the middle. Westwood made a pair of birdies on two and three, but he made a mess of No. 9 and settled for double- bogey as the Englishman made the turn at even par. A birdie on 10 got Westwood back into red figures and he traded a bogey on 12 for a birdie on 13. Westwood finished well to give himself an outside shot going into Sunday as three pars from 14 preceded back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, putting him six strokes behind McIlroy. NOTES: McIlroys last bogey came on the par-4 ninth hole, his last, in the first round ... McIlroy finished his third round just one shot off of Gallachers 54-hole record of 195. Gallacher also tied the tournament record of 266 that year in his first of two consecutive victories here ... McIlroy has finished runner-up in each of the last four events he has played in ... Madsen is seeking his second victory on tour, with his lone win coming at the South African Open Championship last season ... Westwoods last win was at the Maybank Malaysian Open last year. Cheap Flyers Jerseys China . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. Cheap Flyers Jerseys Authentic . -- All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and the New Orleans Saints met Tuesday for arbitration on his contract. http://www.cheapflyersjerseys.com/ . After just two league games in June, Toronto (6-4-1) will go on to play seven in July plus a friendly against Tottenham. Five of those contests are against Eastern Conference opposition, meaning valuable points in the playoff race are on the line.Vancouver’s getting production from the supporting cast, a Flyer is challenging for the scoring lead, Tuesday was a rough night for injuries and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Nick Bonino – The Vancouver centre scored a pair of goals in a 5-2 win at Colorado, giving him six goals and 11 points in 13 games this season. The best part about Bonino’s production with the Canucks is that all 11 points have come at even strength. Last season, in Anaheim, 20 of his 49 points came on the power play. Hes also working with positive possession (52.4% Corsi) on the Canucks second line. Jakub Voracek – The Flyers right winger scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 win against Edmonton, giving him 11 points in a six-game point streak. He now ranks second in the league, with 18 points, one behind Sidney Crosby. Goalies – Blues G Jake Allen stopped all 26 New Jersey shots he faced in a 1-0 Blues win at New Jersey . Senators G Craig Anderson stopped 31 of 32 Red Wings shots in a 3-1 win. Penguins G Tomas Greiss turned aside 33 of 34 shots in a 4-1 win at Minnesota. Kings G Jonathan Quick stopped 33 of 34, including all 17 he faced in the third period, in a 3-1 win at Dallas. Flyers G Steve Mason stopped 35 of 36 shots in a 4-1 win against Edmonton. Jets G Ondrej Pavelec stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 3-1 win over Nashville. ZEROES Jeff Skinner – Demoted to the fourth line, playing a season-low 11:12, and had Carolina’s worst possession stats (2 shot attempts for, eight against, 20.0%) at Columbus. His 5:57 even-strength ice time was the lowest among Carolina skaters by a wide margin. Jiri Tlusty, at 9:41, was second lowest among Hurricanes forwards and he left with an injury after a hit from Columbus D Jack Johnson. Braden Holtby – The Capitals goaltender allowed four goals on 23 shots against Calgary, dropping his save percentage to .891 in nine games this season. Max Talbot – Avalanche forward was buried in his own end against Vancouver, on the ice for one shot attempt for and 13 against (7.1%). As a team, the Avalanche rank 29th in Team Corsi (41.6%) this season. SHORT SHIFTS Bruins LW Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Florida, giving him six points in the past three games…Bruins C Carl Soderberg, RW Loui Eriksson and LW Matt Fraser had better than 81% of even-strength shot attempts against Florida…Flames D Mark Giordano had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 overtime win at Washington. Giordano is tied with defence partner T.J. Brodie and San Jose’s Brent Burns for the scoring lead among defencemen. All three have 13 points…Blue Jackets LW Nick Foligno scored a pair of goals in a 4-2 loss to Carolina, giving him 13 points in 11 games…Kings D Drew Doughty played 31:46 in a 3-1 win at Dallas, his highest ice time in a regular-season game since January 24, 2013. Doughty is averaging a career-high 27:00 per game this season…Blues RW Ryan Reaves drew another blank against New Jersey (0 shot attempts for, 6 against), putting him at zero shots for and 18 against over the past two games…Capitals C Michael Latta had strong possession (15 shot attempts for, 4 against, 79.0%) and faceoff (68.6%) numbers in the loss to Calgary…The Arizona line of LW Tobias Rieder, C Antoine Vermette and RW Shane Doan controlled better than 70% of the possession against Toronto. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Blackhawks LW Patrick Sharp suffered a knee injury that will apparently keep him out for weeks. Wild LW Zach Parise played just 12:50 before leaving with an upper-body injury. After the injury, Thomas Vaneek moved up to take Parise’s spot alongside Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville. Cheap Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys. Panthers enforcer Shawn Thornton played a career-high 16:03 in his return to Boston. Oilers G Viktor Fasth returned from injury, allowing four goals in 25 shots at Philadelphia in his first game in three weeks. Blue Jackets C Boone Jenner played his first game of the year, getting 17:52 of ice time against Carolina. Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin returned to the lineup, after a couple of games as a healthy scratch, and had an uneventful 12:28 at Columbus, with no points and one blocked shot attempt. Stars RW Valeri Nichushkin played his first game in more than three weeks, and he struggled with 36% possession and on the ice for all three of the Kings’ goals. Blue Jackets D Ryan Murray suffered a setback in his recovery from knee surgery so, while Murray sat out, Frederic St. Denis played in his first NHL game since April, 2012, when he was with Montreal. Flyers LW Michael Raffl is set to miss the next six weeks with a lower-body injury. Matt Read did get some time Tuesday with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek on the Flyers top line. While Predators D Anton Volchenkov is suspended, Victor Bartley got into the lineup at Winnipeg, playing 11:36. Senators RW Alex Chiasson missed Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury, so Erik Condra joined Mika Zibanejad and Milan Michalek on Ottawa’s second line. Devils D Eric Gelinas returned to the New Jersey lineup, and delivered strong possession stats (15 shot attempts for, 6 against, 71.4%) as Jon Merrill was out due to injury. Penguins D Olli Maatta had surgery to remove a tumor from his thyroid and is expected to miss the next four weeks. Robert Bortuzzo was inserted into the lineup for Maatta. Avalanche D Brad Stuart left Tuesday’s loss to Vancouver with a leg injury. If he’s going to miss time, Zach Redmond is next up on the Colorado depth chart. Senators D Chris Phillips left Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury. Blackhawks winger Ben Smith was moved up to the top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Smith didn’t have any points, but recorded the best possession stats (13 for, 5 against, 72.2%) for the Blackhawks. FIRSTS Canucks C Bo Horvat played his first NHL game in Colorado, with respectable possession (8 for, 5 against, 61.5%) in 8:52 of ice time. Stars D Sergei Gonchar played his first game of the year, with a modest 12:36 of ice time in Dallas’ 3-1 loss to Los Angeles. D Carlo Colaiacovo played in his first game for Philadelphia, playing 16:50 against Edmonton. Coyotes D Brandon Gormley played his first game of the season for Phoenix, getting 9:43 of ice time in a 3-2 win over Toronto. FANTASY FOCUS A player to keep an eye on from each game tonight: Tyler Ennis – It may be a fool’s errand to recommend Buffalo Sabres, but with the Canadiens starting backup G Dustin Tokarski, might as well give a look to the only Sabres player with more than two goals. Kevin Hayes – The rookie is coming off a strong game against St. Louis, when he registered six shots on goal and a strong all-around performance with linemates Chris Kreider and Lee Stempniak. Ryan Strome – The Islanders are reeling, with three straight losses, but they are getting a shot in Anaheim with the Ducks forced to go with third-string goaltender Jason LaBarbera. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '