David Cannon/Getty Images
Wu celebrates after his eagle on the 1st hole in the third round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

By Kent Gray
Ashun Wu clearly didn’t receive the memo about Pink Day at the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. Clad from top to toe in black, save for a sparkling white glove, what the fashionably unfazed world No.366 didn’t leave in his hotel wardrobe on Saturday morning was that streaky good golf game of his.

With a brilliantly fluky eagle to open, a luckless finish and lashings of wedge wizardry and silky putting in between, Wu fired a memorable 67 on ‘moving day’ to snare the initiative at the $3.25 million event.

At -11, the Chinese 34-year-old will take a one-stroke lead over Frenchman Victor Perez into Sunday’s final round at Emirates Golf Club and the dream of adding the fabled Dallah trophy to his three previous European Tour titles, the last of them at the KLM Open in September 2018. A forecast promising winds gusting in excess of 40km/h won’t make turning that dream into reality easy, nor the names loitering nearby on a bunched leaderboard.

Perez will start the final round just a shot adrift of China’s Ashun Wu. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

After his breakthrough at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last September and a tie for second in Abu Dhabi last week capped by a closing 63, Dundee-domiciled Perez will take ominous momentum into Sunday. Englishman Tom Lewis and American Kurt Kitayama will likewise fancy their chances but perhaps not as much as defending champion Bryson DeChambeau who also lurks just two adrift at -9.

DeChambeau emerged from a frustrating day where every birdie gain seemed to be accompanied by a bogey give-back with a two-under 70. He still looks the player to beat with all of last year’s memories to draw on although Tommy Fleetwood, in a gaggle at four adrift, might have something to say about that. Out in the fourth to last two-ball with Nacho Elvira, Fleetwood could set a tasty clubhouse…target if he signs for anything like the 63 he also closed with in Abu Dhabi to share second with Perez last Sunday.

Wily old Wu shouldn’t be overly fazed, especially if he can conjure a repeat of Saturday and particularly the first flawless 15 holes.

A hole-out eagle two from the left-hand rough on the 1st and a deft chip-in on the 3rd were bonuses in a lighting start, more than compensating for the day’s only dropped shot when a chip from the deep rough beyond the 16th green stopped short in the jaws of the cup. But where Wu truly excelled was on and around the greens, his chipping sublime and a series of dead-weight, centre-cuppers making putting look easy on the slippery Majlis putting surfaces.

Tell us about that eagle, just the third in ODDC history on the par-4 first.

“Yeah, that’s my ‘Happy Chinese New Year Shot’, you know. …Second shot is unbelievable for me. I didn’t know I holed it and the gallery went wild and I knew I holed it, so I was very happy,” said Wu who led by as many as four strokes early on.

You certainly couldn’t miss the Chinese player in his Gary Player-esque outfit even if you probably didn’t see his ascent to the summit of the leaderboard coming after rounds of 77-74 saw him miss last week’s cut in Abu Dhabi by eight shots.

It’s set up a surprise Sunday where a lot of the guesswork could be in figuring out the forecast wind.

“Tomorrow is a great day for me, I think. I’m always happy to play the final round in the final group. So just enjoy the game and play your best, best game, best round tomorrow and let it happen, that’s it.”