Bhullar starts well but slips later to lie T-53rd in Dubai Classic golf

India's Gaganjeet Bhullar began with a flourish but faltered later and ended with two-over 74 to slip to tied-53rd after 54 holes in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament here on Saturday.

Bhullar is two-over 218 while Shubhankar Sharma missed the halfway cut on Friday.

China's Wu Ashun landed an eagle two on the Par-4 first hole and did not take his foot off the pedal. Despite a late bogey Wu shot 67 and moved into sole lead at 11-under.

At one stage he was four clear of the field before Victor Perez birdied four times in a row from 10th to 13th and added two more on 17 and 18 for six-under 31 on back nine for his 67.

He moved to 10-under and was within one shot of Wu.

Bhullar began with birdies on first and second and then hung in with six pars and one bogey on the front nine. Not only did the birdies dry up on the back nine, he also dropped shots on 12, 14 and 16 for a 74.

The in-form and consistent Frenchman Perez, who in his last four starts has two runner-up finishes at Turkish Airlines and in Abu Dhabi last week, was T-4th.

His sole European Tour win came at the Dunhill Links Championships last year and is in contention for a second victory.

Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau kept himself in line for back-to-back Dubai Desert Classic titles, as he shot two-under 70 despite two back nine bogeys.

He was nine-under alongside Tom Lewis (65) and Kurt Kitayama (68).

Lewis' 65 equalled Tommy Fleetwood's round on Friday and Soren Kjeldsen also shot 65 to reach six-under.

Overnight leader Eddie Pepperell (72) was eight-under, a shot clear of Fleetwood (69), South African Dean Burmester (72) and Spaniard Nacho Elvira (66), who closed with a birdie-eagle on 17th and 18th.