Els, Forsyth & Lynn share lead

Ernie Els has been the game's form player so far this year but neither of his co-leaders after the Dubai Desert Classic's third round appeared to be feeling pressurised by the world number two on Saturday.

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth and Englishman David Lynn both matched Els with third-round scores of 69 at the Emirates Golf Club and the trio will start Sunday's final round deadlocked at 13-under-par 203.

"Obviously, Ernie is there so he's probably the man to beat," said Forsyth, who led a stumbling Els by three strokes after the first nine holes on Saturday before the South African rallied. "But today he showed he's human and he does make mistakes.

"A lot of guys are still in touch so it's all to play for tomorrow. I think it'll be pretty close.

"Playing with Ernie today was as much pressure as I'm going to feel," added the 27-year-old Scot, who won last year's Malaysian Open.

"It won't be any easier tomorrow but it doesn't really make much difference who you're playing with. I think you're going to have four or five or six different guys all trying to win it."

Lynn, who birdied the 18th hole to get into a three-way share of the lead, was pleased that he will be playing in the group behind Els and Forsyth on Sunday.

"I'll be playing just before, so all eyes will be on Ernie at the back, so I can just go out and try to see what I can do," said the 29-year-old Englishman.

Asked if Els, popularly known as the Big Easy, was capable of running away with the tournament in his bid to win his fifth title of the year, Lynn replied: "There's always that fear at the moment.

"He's always up there but it doesn't seem to be happening here in Dubai. I mean, the scoring in general didn't look too good today.

"If it's going to be the same sort of thing tomorrow, it's anybody's guess what it's going to take."

Defending champion Els suffered a few hiccups on Saturday, with bogeys at the fourth, ninth and at the last, but a run of four birdies in seven holes after the turn resurrected his score and few would bet against the easy-swinging South African winning his fifth title in seven starts on Sunday.

"It would mean a lot to defend this title tomorrow," said the 33-year-old. "I like this golf course, I like this tournament and obviously I'm here to win."

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