Rory McIlroy moves up leaderboard with third round 66

Irish Examiner

19-07-2025

Rory McIlroy has kept his home Open bid alive into Sunday's final round with a five-under par round of 66 that contained four birdies, an eagle, a bogey and two bizarre moments.
It left him five shots behind Scottie Scheffler with the leader playing the 14th.
McIlroy, starting seven shots behind, reeled off three birdies in his first four holes to sit at six-under par.
His charge lost some steam mid-round with no more shots dropped or picked up from there to the turn.
There was a bizarre twist at the difficult 11th when a lucky break left him with a great lie off a wayward tee shot before his second was affected by what turned out to be a buried ball underneath his own that only surfaced on contact.
The five-time major champion picked up the unexpected object with an astonished smile but the end result to the hole was a scuffed chip from the fairway that left him with a long putt for par that didn't disappear.
McIlroy could ill afford dropped shots, not least with Scheffler carding an eagle minutes later, so the eagle of his own that followed on 12 was critical, and he reached eight-under with a birdie at 15 before another twist on the second last.
A tee shot pulled right ended up on an elevated mound outside the ropes before a member of the public picked up the ball.
That allowed him to place it for his second shot but he couldn't capitalize on the break with another birdie.
It could have been better and it could have been worse. Tied for 12th at the start of play, he sat in a tie for fifth by the time his day was done.
Good, but unlikely to be good enough. He will likely need something historic on Sunday to have a chance.