Tyrrell Hatton failed to keep a straight face after producing a remarkable shot that led to an unliely birdie as he chases victory in his first start since quitting LIV Golf

Tyrrell Hatton couldn't help but laugh after pulling off a remarkable recovery shot at the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.

The Englishman is playing his first event since making his departure from LIV Golf official, and he held a share of the 36-hole lead at Yas Links. Hatton made an adventurous start to his third round on Saturday, making a birdie at the first before spraying his tee shot at the third into a native area.

Faced with a gruesome, sandy lie in the long grass, Hatton was forced to choke down on the club with the ball well above his feet. The odds were against him to make a par, but he was able to make clean contact and set up an 11-foot birdie try.

Hatton burst into laughter when seeing the result, and playing partner Jon Rahm saw the funny side, too. The pair are close friends and spent the past three seasons playing together on the Legion XIII LIV team.

When Hatton duly rolled in the birdie putt, he tried to keep a straight face. But he could only manage it for a few seconds before laughter took over once more.

The ever-fiery Hatton was not cheerful for long, though. He slammed his club into the ground after duffing a chip into a bunker en route to a bogey at the eighth. He was also not impressed with a par at the short par-four 10th after hitting a sloppy pitch.

But a birdie followed at the 11th, and he is one shot off the lead of Rahm and Francesco Laporta in the closing stages of his back nine.

The world No. 28 is much happier with the state of his game after working with former DP World Tour winner-turned-coach Chris Paisley in recent weeks.

He said on Friday: "I spent a bit of time over in Orlando at Lake Nona, and yeah, it was good to practice out there again. I asked Chris Paisley — he's a member there — to help me with my practice. I feel like it's something I've been struggling with probably the last couple of years, to be honest.

"He just kind of structured it a bit better for me. He was there on the range, helping me sort of video some swings, set up some putting drills, all that kind of stuff.

"I feel like it's helped me a lot, and I feel like I've come into this week ready to play decent golf. So it's nice that it's already shown that so far. Obviously, there are still 36 holes to go, but hopefully I can keep hitting it well and holing putts."