Matt Wallace was unable to make any inroads on the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship leaderboard after shooting a frustrating even-par third round 72.

The Moor Park Golf Club professional began the day on five-under-par and would have been hoping to continue to make forward strides on ‘moving day’. Instead though, he had to battle back from being two-over for the day after 13 holes as back-to-back birdies saw him finish in a share of 44th place, 12 adrift of co-leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters.

Wallace tweeted: “Not the day I was looking for. Managed to fight back after being +2 through 13 for the second time this week. Game is close.”

A birdie four at the second offered the 27-year-old early optimism, but that was immediately cancelled out by a bogey five at the next hole.

Further dropped shots were to follow at the par four ninth and par three 12th, but the Pinner-based professional ensured he would finish the round on level par with birdies at the par four 14th and par three 15th.