When you’re looking to rubber-stamp your ticket to the European Tour, the last thing you need heading into the closing day of the biggest event of your season is a cracked driver.

David Law’s broken bit of golfing kit arrived at the worst possible time as he slipped to a three-over 75 in round three of the Challenge Tour’s Grand Final in Ras Al Kaimah.

The former Scottish Amateur champion, who finished with a three-under tally of 213, is still inside the top-15 of the projected rankings and on course for promotion to the main circuit but the general disruption caused in this game of fine tuning and even finer margins was not ideal.

“After I finished on Thursday, I went out and hit a few drivers and I noticed that the top of it cracked,” said Law. “I put on a spare head but I’d never hit it before. I was trying to make it work but it’s not ideal for your swing when you are doing that.

“I decided to give it a go but, after the first six holes, I hit 3-wood for the rest of the day. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”

Law was five-over after six turbulent holes but repaired some of that damage with a run of four straight birdies from the 13th.

Liam Johnston and Robert MacIntyre are the best of the Scots on seven-under 209s behind Spain’s Adri Arnaus, who leads the field on a 14-under aggregate.

Calum Hill shot a 68 for 210 but essentially needs to win to have a hope of automatic promotion.