Rory McIlroy’s putter was holding him back at the 36-hole mark of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship, but something clicked on Saturday and he’s breathed fresh life into his FedEx Cup chances.
The world number two made nine birdies on his way to a seven-under 63 that lifted him up to seventh on the leaderboard, five behind Viktor Hovland and just two shots from the group tied for third.
“Yeah, I think the difference today was I just putted a bit better,” he said afterwards. “I putted a lot better. I think I lost maybe a combined three on the greens over the first two days and I probably gained over three on the greens today. So back to sort of even for the week.
“The ball striking has been there. I think I was second in ball striking to Gary Woodland the first couple days. It was another good display today. Hit some nice iron shots, drove it well for the most part.
“Look, it doesn’t — I still felt like I played okay the last couple days, just wasn’t getting as much out of my game as I wanted to. I pieced it together today and ended up obviously with a better score.”
The reason for the big improvement on the greens wasn’t necessarily anything technical, in McIlroy’s estimation, but more a result of leaving himself easier putts to make.
“Honestly, I feel like I just left myself in better spots on the greens,” he explained. “I gave myself easier putts, putts that didn’t break two ways, and I didn’t have a ton — I felt like, when I got it rolling there on the back nine, every putt was like a cup right or a cup left and feed it down the hill and led it. So I left myself simpler putts.”
Though the leaders had yet to tackle the back nine at the time McIlroy was talking to the press, he felt as though his 63 had put him right back in contention, though he knows it’ll likely take something similar on Sunday to claim a fourth FedEx Cup title.
“Yeah, I got myself back in the tournament,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how the leaders play the back nine. I feel like, if I’m within three or four of the lead going into tomorrow, we’ve seen what Cam did yesterday with a 62, goes out early. Bob did the same thing today with a 63, I shot a 63. There are scores out there.
“If I’m like a few groups before the leaders go out, maybe I can get off to a fast start and at least give them something to think about.”
In the end, it was five strokes with Hovland birdieing his final two holes to take sole possession of the lead from Ryan Gerard.
The Norwegian, winner of the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup in 2023, is looking to go wire-to-wire this year, but besides McIlroy now throwing his shoulder to the wheel, the chasing pack is a who’s who of big guns with world number one Scottie Scheffler, Adam Scott, Ludvig Åberg and Chris Gotterup all sharing third place at -12.
McIlroy will play alongside Cameron Young – also at 10-under – in the fourth-to-last group on the final day, with Scheffler joining Gotterup before Scott and Aberg form the penultimate group and Hovland and Gerard go out last.
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