Min Woo Lee soars in European Tour event

Li Haotong is neck-on-neck with American Dustin Johnson in the Saudi International golf after the Chinese star carded four eagles in the third round.

Chinese golf star Haotong Li

China's Haotong Li has struck four eagles to move into equal first at the Saudi International. (AAP)

Australian rookie Min Woo Lee is poised to give his fledgling pro career a big boost after a blistering third round at the European Tour's Saudi International.

The 20-year-old shot a flawless seven-under 66 to be tied for sixth at eight under, in a group including veteran countrymen Scott Hend (69), going into the final round at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

Lee is making only his second pro start, having missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on debut.

However, he would need something extraordinary to happen to contend for the title as he's eight shots behind the joint leaders, world No.3 Dustin Johnson and China's Li Haotong, who have a five-shot lead from England's Tom Lewis.

Li struck an astonishing four eagles to register an eight-under-par 62 and catch Johnson (65).

Li, who started the day in joint second place with South Africa's Zander Lombard, got off to a wonderful start, chipping in an eagle from the rough on the very first hole.

The 23-year-old, who said he had a lot of luck, birdied the par-five fourth but got in trouble soon after with a double bogey on the sixth hole before steadying the ship by sinking an 18-footer for another birdie on the seventh to turn in 33.

Li made another eagle immediately after the turn followed by a series of pars before closing his round with back-to-back eagles on the par-four 17th and par-five 18th to draw level with Johnson.

"Very lucky today," Li said.

"Those eagles, especially the last couple of shots, were really solid but except (for) that, honestly, my play, wasn't that good.

"If (the approach into the first) didn't go in the hole, it could have been off the green. It's a very lucky eagle over there. At the 10th, that's what I wanted to play, but I felt like I pushed it a little bit.

"I got a lucky bounce, kicked it left and it went in the hole, which is very lucky, too."

Former US Masters champion Sergio Garcia was disqualified earlier in the day for intentionally damaging the greens.


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Source: AAP



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