Open leader Scottie Scheffler starts with birdie to dampen hopes of chasing pack
The American, who did not drop a shot on Saturday in establishing a four-stroke lead, would have heard the chants of 'Rory, Rory, Rory' as his rival strode off the first tee in the group ahead.
But he was, unsurprisingly, unfazed and despite finding the rough off the tee he struck a brilliant approach to inside a foot and immediately was seven ahead of the Northern Irishman.
Playing partner Haotong Lee also birdied so his overall lead remained four.
McIlroy birdied the second to reduce the gap to the leader back to six but there were no signs of the early fireworks of the previous day when he was three under through four on his way to a 66.
The Masters champion knew he would have to realistically better that if he were to stand a chance of winning his second Claret Jug but struggled for momentum and bundling a chip out of the rough way past the pin resulted in a dropped shot at the fourth he could ill afford.
Also back at eight under was playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick, who began the day one shot better off only to bogey the par-three third.
Bryson DeChambeau was also on that number through 16 holes after a six-birdie charge, while former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama carded seven birdies and one bogey in the group behind.
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