Rory McIlroy slips out of contention after eight-hole nightmare in India

Rory McIlroy slipped out of contention as Race to Dubai rival Eugenio Chacarra led the DP World India Championship at the end of Saturday’s play.

McIlroy is seeking to win the Harry Vardon Trophy for an eighth time, equalling the record held by Colin Montgomerie, but did himself no favours with four bogeys and a double in an eight-hole stretch in his third round.

Chacarra is the nearest challenger to Patrick Reed, who narrowly made the cut in New Delhi at level par before ending the day six under, on the season-long rankings, with McIlroy just behind in third.

Round two was completed on Saturday morning following long weather delays earlier in the week, with Chacarra leading by one at that stage on 10 under par after a second successive round of 67 featuring seven birdies.

The Spaniard added four more in the first seven holes of round three and was 14 under, 10 shots ahead of McIlroy, when bad light ended play. He will return with seven holes of his round still to complete, leading by two strokes from Angel Hidalgo and Joost Luiten.

McIlroy birdied the penultimate hole as he wrapped up his second round, then opened his third with another gain to provide some early encouragement.

But things quickly went downhill from there, finding thick rough at the third and sand at the fourth where he missed a short putt to make it back-to-back bogeys.

A double followed at the sixth, where his chip from another tangled lie beside the green travelled barely a yard, and though he birdied the next he bogeyed the ninth and tenth after missing from five feet at the latter.

He holed from a greenside bunker to eagle the 14th shortly before the hooter, at which point he was in a share of 40th place with three holes to play.

Scotland’s Scott Jamieson, who almost aced the par-three seventh, was 11 under, three off the lead and also facing 25 holes on Sunday. England’s Todd Clements and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin ended the day a shot further back.

Reigning champion Tommy Fleetwood was nine under, matching Italian Gregorio De Leo for the best score among those to have completed their rounds. Fellow Englishman Dan Bradbury was a shot further back alongside Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, who had five holes outstanding, with Shane Lowry and Laurie Canter among the group at seven under.