Irish challenge falters as Jamie Donaldson saves cat at Bond villain clubhouse

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are struggling to keep up with the hot pace at the European Tour championship finale in Dubai

McIlroy and Lowry are a respective four and seven shots off the leading pair of Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Henrik Stenson, who lie at -14 after three rounds. World number one McIlroy needed a birdie on the 18th to stay in the hunt following a mid-round blip that included back-to-back double bogeys. McIlroy's Team Europe colleague Jamie Donaldson is tied on -7 with Lowry but won the loudest applause of the day. Donaldson, who claimed the winning point in this year's Ryder Cupo, rescued a cat that had managed to get itself stuck on its prowls near the clubhouse.

He can do no wrong right now! Jamie Donaldson shoots 67 in Dubai then saves a cat stuck on the clubhouse #Hero pic.twitter.com/WVtLChKKaD — The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 22, 2014

It is, as yet, unclear whether the cat needed saving or was simply lolling on a branch in the first place. As for the Jumeirah Golf Estates clubhouse, it looks like a perfect layer of larceny for a future Bond villain:

The stunning new clubhouse at @JGEGolf, home to this week's #DPWTC. pic.twitter.com/zbdrwBEImJ — The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 22, 2014