Rory McIlroy and Séamus Power are almost certain to have early tee times in the final round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass after neither player managed to shoot in the red figures on Saturday.
McIlroy, whose preparations for his title defence were hampered by a back injury which prevented him from playing a practice round, squeezed his way into the weekend field with a shot to spare after birdieing the 36th hole, but hopes of a trademark surge up the leaderboard on moving day proved wide of the mark.
The world number two continued to struggle to follow one good shot with another, and his putting, which used to be his Achilles’ Heel but has become a weapon in recent years, continued to look suspect.
He missed four putts from the 12-15-foot range on the opening nine, along with a seven-footer and a three-footer to make the turn at one-over for the day.
Back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 promised a revival, but a wild tee shot on 12 found the hazard – he also went swimming on the par-5 ninth – and though he found each of the final six greens in regulation, his putting woes continued and he ended up signing for a level-par 72 that left him 11 shots behind the leader before the final group had even left the range.
Power, who was a late addition to the field, made the cut on the number but bogeyed two of his first four before rebounding to claw his way back to level-par at the turn.
It all went wrong on 10 where he made a triple bogey-seven without any penalty shots, but he still managed to find a way to pick himself up and birdie the next. Two more birdies on 15 and 16 got him back to level once again, but a pull off the final tee ended up wet, and he did well to salvage a double bogey-six.
For Power, the final round will be a case of picking up as many strokes as possible and the valuable FedEx Cup points that accompany, while McIlroy will be hoping to escape unscathed and chalk the performance down to the niggling injury and the lack of ideal preparation.
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