Hoch, 47, is seeking his 11th PGA Tour title

Scott Hoch found some inspired form on the back nine at the Blue Monster to join fellow American Bob Tway at the top of the leaderboard.

Hoch was five shots behind after nine holes but then produced five birdies en route to a six-under-par 66 in the third round.

Tway, who led after two rounds, parred the final eight holes for a 69.

He and Hoch are one stroke ahead of Jim Furyk (69) and Paraguay's Carlos Franco (68), with Canadian Mike Weir (67) two shots off the pace.

A total of 10 players were bunched within four shots.

THIRD ROUND SCORES -14 Scott Hoch, Bob Tway -13 Carlos Franco (Par), Jim Furyk -12 Mike Weir (Can) -11 Rod Pampling (Aus), Cliff Kresge, Billy Mayfair

Tway has not won since 1995, and he admitted he will be nervous for Sunday's final round.

"I know I'm not expected to win, but I know in my mind I can if I play well," the 1986 PGA Championship winner said.

"It wasn't a great round, but it was pretty solid. Maybe I can play a little more solid tomorrow and have a chance."

Britain's Nick Faldo birdied the first six holes and was two strokes off of the lead before five bogies on the back nine put him back to six under for the tournament.

Dubai Desert Classic

A bogey at the last hurt Els

Ernie Els, Alastair Forsyth and David Lynn go into Sunday's final round at the Dubai Desert Classic tied on 13 under par.

The trio fired three-under-par 69s on Saturday after also sharing the lead at the halfway stage.

Els, the world number two, birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to reach 14 under but bogeyed the last for the second day in succession.

The South African also dropped shots at the fourth and ninth holes.

But Els' disappointment will be minor in comparison to Tobias Dier's - the German carded an 11 to crash from eight under to two under after putting three balls in the lake.

THIRD ROUND SCORES -13 Ernie Els (SA), Alastair Forsyth (Sco), David Lynn (Eng) -11 Kevin Na (Kor), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Ian Woosnam (Wal) -10 Robert-Jan Derksen (Neth), Phillip Price (Wal), Thomas Bjorn (Den)

Scotland's Forsyth, a former European Tour Rookie of the Year and winner of last year's Malaysian Open, matched his playing partner Els on a testing day at the tough Majlis course.

"He showed he is human and does make mistakes," said Forsyth of Els.

England's Lynn recovered from a poor start to rattle off three birdies during the final nine holes.

Lynn's playing partner Mikko Ilonen struggled on Saturday, and carded a one-over-par 73 to fall back to nine under after 54 holes.

Welsh veteran Ian Woosnam is in a group of three just two shots behind the leaders on 11 under par.

While European Ryder Cup team-mates Thomas Bjorn and Phillip Price are a shot further back on 10 under.

The best round of the morning came from Ireland's Peter Lawrie, who shot a five-under-par 67.

Seven birdies and two bogeys took him to a total of eight under.