By Kent Gray
Alexander Levy couldn’t quite believe his perfect 171 yard shot on the 4th for the second ace of the week at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday. Or what happened next.

“It felt nice but I look around and no prize! So I was a little bit upset,” said the Frenchman of his sweet nine iron.

The 27-year-old was only joking of course and might still land the biggest prize of them all. A 65 that could have and probably should have been better left Levy just three strokes adrift of China’s Haotong Li heading into Sunday and in with an excellent shot of a fifth European Tour title.

“I promise you, the last few days I play some good golf. I just enjoy and try to hit the perfect shots. I got a good stretch going from nine to 14 [five successive birdies]. And from there, I start to think, I’m leading the tournament, so I put a little bit more pressure on my shoulder, and I miss three short putts in a row.”

Dropped shots at 15 and 16 indeed stalled Levy’s progress. “I just start to think about what can happen and I don’t enjoy the moment. A lot of crowd there. It was tough because it was noisy and so I lost a little bit of concentration. It was not easy, but I will learn on that.

A bounce back birdie on 18, conjured up with “one perfect drive” and “one perfect 3-iron”, sent the Ryder Cup hopeful to bed happy after the dream on the tricky par-3 fourth.

“That was a perfect yardage, little 9-iron. I hit a perfect shot straight to the flag and I don’t know, I get lucky to make it because it’s a lot of downhill, left-to-right, and I just watched the shot and yeah, perfect pace, perfect shot. But it’s little bit lucky.”

“It will be a little bit more windy tomorrow I think. I’m looking forward to the challenge. The pressure will be nice. We practise for this moment, and tomorrow I’ll just try my best to get the best score.”

A repeat of Saturday’s 65 could well be good enough to get his hands on the Dallah trophy.