If Thursday was Jekyll and Friday was Hyde, what was Saturday for Rory McIlroy? The numbers on the card suggest that it was closer to Hyde, as he matched his Friday tally with a three-under-par 69, but the way he went about it could scarcely have been different.
Whereas his sublime tee-to-green game had been conspicuous by its absence in round two and his scrambling and putting kept him in touch with the leaders, he gave himself chance after chance with the flatstick on moving day and, time and again, watched in frustration as his ball drifted past the hole.
The day couldn’t have started much better as he ripped a drive down the right side of the first fairway and stuck a wedge to four feet before converting for an opening birdie, then struck two beautiful shots to find the heart of the green on the par-5 second. But after coming up three feet shy with his eagle attempt, he lipped out the birdie putt and had to settle for a par that felt much more like a bogey.
That pretty much set the tone for the day, as good birdie chances came and went on three, eight, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17, but birdies on the par-5 seventh and 14th holes, and one at the short par-4 15th got him to the last within a shot of the lead.
Forced to take his medicine and layup after pushing his tee shot a little right and being stymied by a tree, he trusted his wedge game and, after leaving himself a nine-footer up the hill, made no mistake with his putt, completing a four-under 68 that lifted him out of the big group tied for second at -12 and drew him level with Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen on -13 and they’ll play in the final group on Sunday.
“Yeah, I got off to a good start,” he said afterwards. “I hit two great shots into the first, two great shots into the second. I missed a short putt on two, three-putted that. I feel after that, I sort of let that affect me a little bit, especially on the greens for the next few holes.
“But stayed really patient, gave myself plenty of opportunities. Didn’t hole that much but I knew there was a few chances coming in. It was nice to take advantage of those, 14, 15, and 18.
“So overall, a bit of a battling day. The conditions were tricky enough. But happy to shoot the score that I did.”
While Marco Penge, McIlroy’s closest Race to Dubai challenger at the start of the week, was effectively out of the running after 36 holes, Tyrrell Hatton can still spoil McIlroy’s chances of a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy as the leading player on the Order of Merit. Hatton’s 67 was his second in succession, and he’s part of the group at -12, one behind McIlroy and Neergard-Petersen, but Hatton needs to win and hope that McIlroy finishes no better than in a three-way tie for eighth. And McIlroy admitted that he’s not looking over his shoulder at Hatton.
“No, you know, I’m in a better position than him,” he said. “I’m focused on myself. If I go out and play the golf that I know I’m capable of, especially around this golf course, I know that it will be okay.”
Having finally slipped into a Green Jacket back in April, and won four times across both the PGA and DP World Tours, it’s already been arguably the best season of McIlroy’s career and he’s fully focused on claiming a fifth win in the DP World Tour Championship, knowing that it would be the perfect end to the campaign.
“It would be an amazing way to end the season,” he said. “You know, I knew coming out here for these two weeks, Dubai last week and this week, I needed to play well. Marco wasn’t that far behind. Obviously Tyrrell wasn’t that far behind. I knew I needed to come out here, play well. I played well when I needed to last week, especially at the weekend. I put myself in position to try to get another win here.
“So yeah, really pleased. I certainly could have coasted into these couple of weeks and enjoyed myself but The Race to Dubai is important to me, and it’s important to me to try to get a little bit closer to Monty. As I said, I’ve put myself in a great position to go and do that tomorrow.”
Shane Lowry can still end his year on a high and claim an elusive victory. Lowry is just three off the lead, but it was another day of frustration on the greens for the Offaly man, and there are 11 players ahead of him on the leaderboard, including many of the biggest names on the DP World Tour.
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