Who is leading the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic after round 3? Leaderboard explored

The third round of the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic was played at Emirates Golf Club on Saturday (Jan. 18). Only a third of the field (26 players) broke par on the so-called Moving Day.

Daniel Hillier leads the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on 13-under. Tyrrell Hatton continued his charge from the previous day and is now in second place, one stroke behind the leader.

2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic Round 3 Leaderboard

Here is the Hero Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard after the third round. Only the top 50 are included:

1	Daniel Hillier	-13
2	Tyrrell Hatton	-12
3	Ewen Ferguson	-10
T4	Ryan Fox	-9
T4	Laurie Canter	-9
T6	Dylan Frittelli	-8
T6	Calum Hill	-8
T6	Tom McKibbin	-8
T6	Shaun Norris	-8
T10	Guido Migliozzi	-7
T10	Rasmus Højgaard	-7
T12	Rory McIlroy	-6
T12	Robert MacIntyre	-6
T12	David Ford (a)	-6
T12	Niklas Norgaard	-6
T12	Johannes Veerman	-6
T12	Min Woo Lee	-6
T12	Jason Scrivener	-6
T19	Jayden Schaper	-5
T19	Adam Scott	-5
T19	Haotong Li	-5
T19	Mike Lorenzo-Vera	-5
T19	Thorbjørn Olesen	-5
T19	Ricardo Gouveia	-5
T25	Sebastian Söderberg	-4
T25	Matt Wallace	-4
T25	Casey Jarvis	-4
T25	Patrick Reed	-4
T25	Louis de Jager	-4
T25	Todd Clements	-4
T31	Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen	-3
T31	Alexander Björk	-3
T31	Julien Guerrier	-3
T31	Ivan Cantero	-3
T31	Keita Nakajima	-3
T31	Tommy Fleetwood	-3
T31	Richard Mansell	-3
T31	David Micheluzzi	-3
T39	Jordan Smith	-2
T39	Jordan Gumberg	-2
T39	Marcus Armitage	-2
T39	Alexander Knappe	-2
T39	Elvis Smylie	-2
T39	Adam Bresnu	-2
T39	Richie Ramsay	-2
T46	Francesco Laporta	-1
T46	Maximilian Kieffer	-1
T46	Akshay Bhatia	-1
T46	Nacho Elvira	-1
T50	Adrian Otaegui	E
T50	Nicolai Højgaard	E
T50	Joe Dean	E
T50	Tom Vaillant	E
T50	Matthew Jordan	E
T50	Daniel Gavins	E
T50	Nicolas Colsaerts	E
T50	Romain Langasque	E
T50	Jacques Kruyswijk	E
T50	Joel Girrbach	E
T50	Sam Bairstow	E
T50	Marcel Schneider	E
T50	Joost Luiten	E
T50	Dan Bradbury	E
T50	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	E
T50	Preston Summerhays (a)	E
T50	Alfredo Garcia-Heredia	E

Daniel Hillier was one of the few players to shoot under par in the third round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. His performance included six birdies and four bogeys (2-under for the round).

Hillier had this to say about the possibility of winning the tournament (via DP World Tour News Service):

"It would be life-changing. Last year was pretty tough. It was a bit of a grind. I was getting pretty frustrated with myself towards the end of the year. Gave myself a little bit of a break and time to reset, and I'm feeling refreshed. Yeah, excited for tomorrow."

Tyrrell Hatton carded an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys for a 4-under round to move up one spot on the leaderboard. Hatton is seeking his fifth career Rolex Series victory and, if successful, would tie Jon Rahm as the all-time leading winner of Rolex Series events.

Defending Hero Dubai Desert Classic champion Rory McIlroy shot four birdies and one bogey on Saturday to move up 21 places on the leaderboard. McIlroy is now tied for 12th, seven shots behind Hillier.

About the author

Julio is a Golf specialist for Sportskeeda and boasts immense experience across sports and professions. Having practiced law for 15 years, he then moved to Cuban and International media houses such as Juventud Tecnica Magazine and teleSUR on baseball, track & field and boxing, among other sports, before taking up his current position. He even received an Honorary Mention in the 2023 Cuban National Journalism Contest.

Julio enjoys keeping up with everything that happens in the golf world, which helps him develop interesting angles for even the most mundane stories. What separates him from other journalists is that he has an eye for stats, and is proficient in both Spanish and English. His legal background helps him accurately report non-sporting golf issues such as rules analysis, contract issues, etc.

He ensures complete accuracy in his articles by only consulting primary sources, verifying information from multiple sources, and always looking for diverse opinions.

Nelly Korda is his favorite golfer due to her pure talent, while he also likes Alison Lee for her perseverance. His non-golf interests include baseball and track & field, while he also enjoys watching TV.

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Edited by Luke Koshi