RIYADH — England's Luke Joy fired a course-record 64 to join Gabriel Canizares atop the leaderboard heading into the final round of the MENA Golf Tour's American Express Dirab Golf Championship Tuesday. Starting the day, a good four shots behind, Joy rattled off one eagle and seven birdies, including five on the front nine, against a lone bogey to reach nine-under for the tournament along with joint overnight leader Gabriel Canizares of Spain, who carded a second round 70. England's Craig Hinton, who shared the opening day's lead with Canizares, sits alone in second place a further shot adrift as Spain's Mariano Ochoa and Thriston Arthur Lawrence of South Africa moved into a tie for the fourth at six-under, one shot ahead of England's talented amateur James Allan. It was Joy, a two-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour who made the biggest charge of the day, putting himself in pole position for a shot at the title. A change of putter did the trick for the Englishman as he started with a great birdie at the first which kind of set the tone for his almost a flawless round. “Of all the seven birdies, the one on the first was quite pleasing as I holed a nice putt from 20 feet,” said Joy, who bettered the previous course record of a 66 jointly held by Pakistan Shafiq Masih, Craig Smith of Wales and Ian Keenan of England. “I think I need to replicate this performance in the final round if I were to go the full distance,” said the Englishman, who played the first two rounds in the company of Prince Khaled Saud Al-Faisal. “It was a privilege playing with prince, who is a very chilled-out guy,” said Joy, whose back nine were highlighted by an eagle on the par-five, 13th when he stuffed his approach to within 15 feet and sunk the ensuing putt. Spain's Canizares, who is a son of European Tour veteran Jose Maria, made a solid start, rolling in three birdies to make the turn at three under. He picked up another shot at the 14th, but a bogey each on the 14th and 18th prevented him from taking the solo lead. England's young prodigy James Allan carded a modest one-under 71 to stay in the lead in the amateur division, one ahead of his compatriot Elliott Oxlade who backed his opening 69 with a 71. Mehdi Saissi returned a solid four-under 68 to take the sole possession of the lead in the MENA Division, upstaging fellow Moroccan and overnight leader Ayoub Lguirati, who a carded a second round 74 to slip one shot behind. Othman Almulla shot a level-par 72 — a good seven shots better than its first-round score — to lead the Saudi challenge along with Ali Alsakha at seven over. Elsewhere, Spain's Carlos Balmaseda, who is MENA Golf Tour ambassador, shot a 64 to move to four under along with compatriots Xavier Puig and Sixto Casabona-navarro. With five shots separating the top 10, the final day's proceedings promise a thrilling fare when the leaders hit the home stretch.
