It was a helluva day for Rory McIlroy.
After shooting 2-over 38 on the front nine, McIlroy drove the green on the 401-yard par-4 10th hole, making birdie, the first of six he carded on the back nine, tying the scoring record with a 6-under 30. He shot 4-under 68 on Saturday and moved to 5 under for the tournament.
In his post-round media availability, McIlroy was asked about the biggest difference between the front nine and back. His answer?
“Eight shots,” he said while smiling. “Yeah, I just didn’t have any momentum — I played the front nine pretty well. I hit two good shots into 1. Hit a great shot into 2. Hit a good drive, hit two good shots into 4. I was giving myself loads of looks.
“Then I hit a decent shot into 7 that I then 3-putted. Then, instead of, I was staying patient, then, instead of six pars in a row and then trying to break that with a birdie, I end up making a bogey, was sort of pretty frustrated going into the back nine.
“Then the 3 on 10, the tee shot onto the green there, that sort of got me going a little bit.”
McIlroy added birdies at Nos. 12-13. Then after a pair of pars, he made three straight to finish his round and vault up the leaderboard.
Heading into the final round, at a place he has won before, McIlroy knows he will have to be patient while he continues pursuing the leaders.
“You start chasing on this golf course, it can bite you pretty quickly,” McIlroy said. “You start taking some more aggressive lines, start going at some pins with these firm greens and short siding yourself. You got to pick your spots and still be patient. I think the wind’s going to be out of a different direction again tomorrow, so the wind or the golf course is going to play quite different to what it was today.
“We’ll see what happens.”
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