Sergio Garcia extended his lead to four shots in the early stages of the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The Spaniard made birdies on the 17th and 18th in darkness on Saturday to move three ahead and an opening gain in the final round moved him to 17 under and put him in control after four holes at Emirates Golf Club.
Open champion Henrik Stenson was then at 13 under after starting with four pars, a shot clear of South African George Coetzee.
Garcia got off to the perfect start, putting his approach to the first to inside six feet and rolling it home to extend his lead.
Coetzee made a birdie-birdie start to leapfrog Ian Poulter into third but Garcia's playing partners could not apply any pressure with Stenson and Poulter both making three consecutive pars.
The Englishman then missed a short putt on the fourth to drop to ten under, with countryman Tyrrell Hatton making birdies on the first and fifth to move a stroke ahead of him.
Matthew Fitzpatrick was at ten under after picking up three shots in his first seven holes, alongside another Englishman in Chris Paisley, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and American Peter Uihlein.
Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin and Thai Prom Messawat were then at nine under.
