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Rory McIlroy reacts after his shot from the third tee
Press Association
Today at 10:18
Rory McIlroy had a finish to forget as his Tour Championship hopes vanished in Atlanta.
The Masters champion had it all to do on -9 playing the 15th but he took a double at the par three, birdied 16 before bogeys on 17 and 18 saw him finish on -6, a full ten shots off leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay.
Lowry fared better, but after a solid front nine of 32 to charge to -10, his momentum wavered on the way home and the Offalyman laboured to a one-over 36, leaving him on -9.
Fleetwood had to settle for a share of the lead going into the final round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Fleetwood, bidding for a maiden PGA Tour victory, held a three-shot lead thanks to a run of four straight birdies, including a successful 44-foot putt after a wayward tee shot on the seventh.
But the 34-year-old Englishman sent his six-iron off the tee into the water at the 15th, and a double-bogey five saw him dip from the outright lead to one shot behind Patrick Cantlay.
However, he showed great resilience to claw a shot back at the next, despite driving straight into a bunker, and another birdie at the 17th repaired the damage on his way to a battling round of 67.
But American Cantlay birdied the last to card a 64 and secure a tie at the top on 16 under.
US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who is weighing up whether to pick himself as a player at Bethpage next month, may have made that decision easier after a sparkling 63 kept him in contention.
Bradley is three off the lead, one behind fellow American Russell Henley, while world number one Scottie Scheffler is four back at 12 under.
