Rónán MacNamara in Portrush
It wasn’t quite a repeat of his Masters Saturday heroics but Rory McIlroy believes he has given himself “half a chance” of ousting Scottie Scheffler and winning the Open Championship on home soil at Royal Portrush after a blistering start and an eagle on the 12th lifted him to within six shots of the world number one.
McIlroy did what he had to do in firing a third round of 66 to move into the penultimate Sunday pairing on eight-under-par. But despite producing plenty of fireworks, he only trimmed the overnight deficit by one shot after Scheffler (-14) stormed four shots clear of the field with a ho-hum 67.
“I feel like I’ve at least given myself half a chance tomorrow,” said McIlroy who knows he will need something special and perhaps a bit more to leapfrog Scheffler.
“Yeah, he’s playing like Scottie. I don’t think it’s a surprise. Everyone’s seen the way he’s played or plays over the last two or three years. He’s just so solid. He doesn’t make mistakes. It looked like he could have made bogey on 14 there.”
“He’s turned himself into a really consistent putter as well. So there doesn’t seem to be any weakness there. Whenever you’re trying to chase down a guy like that, it’s hard to do. But he’s incredibly impressive.”
The atmosphere was feverish with a Ryder Cup vibe at a sun drenched Portrush and McIlroy produced some sensational moments, rolling in three birdies in his opening four holes as he looked to make a charge at Scheffler’s advantage.
He got himself to within four of the lead but lost momentum after failing to birdie the short par-4 5th and par-5 7th. Things took a turn for the worse in the most bizarre fashion.
Having missed the fairway by some distance on the 11th, McIlroy looked to have drawn a fantastic lie in the rough, but when playing his second, the ball ricocheted left after colliding with a plugged ball which nobody saw until he broke turf with his shot.
It was a mouth opening moment for the Holywood man who cost himself a bogey after failing to get up and down from short of the green. But what looked to be a good break off the tee turned into one of the strangest moments ever seen on a golf course.
“Yeah, what happened on 11 was just so — my ball came out so strange, like I thought I was going to get a flier, and I looked up at my ball, and I could see it spinning up against the wind. Just a really weird — I had obviously no idea there was a ball anywhere close to my ball.
“I could have done better with the chip shot there anyway. That was the bogey — I mean, making bogey on 11 is not the end of the world. It’s a tough hole.”
There was lift off after the bogey on 11 with a brilliant eagle on the 12th as McIlroy trickled the ball in from 56-feet to get back to within five shots of Scheffler. It drew one of the loudest roars he has ever experienced before he birdied the 15th.
“Yeah, it was incredible. It was so much fun. I got off to the perfect start, 3-under through 4. Felt like at the end of the front nine there, at least through 11, the par on 7 felt like a bogey, and then the bogey on 11.
“Then to play those last seven holes at 3-under I thought was a good effort. Yeah, I played well. I rode my luck at times, but yeah, it was an incredible atmosphere out there.
“The eagle on 12 was one of the coolest moments of — it’s one of the largest roars I’ve ever heard on a golf course. So that was a really cool moment. To get those shots back straight away was nice, and I felt like I played the last few holes really solid and picked one up coming in, which was good.”
McIlroy will tee off in the second to last group at 2.20pm alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick.
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