Rory McIlroy predicts the score he needs to shoot in order to win the Tour Championship on Sunday
· Yahoo Sports
Rory McIlroy shot a scintillating 63 at East Lake on day three of the Tour Championship.
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McIlroy began his week slowly, shooting rounds of 68 and 69, so he desperately needed a low one on Saturday.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Rory McIlroy was one-over par after two holes of his third round at the Tour Championship, but he followed that with nine birdies and one more bogey over his final 16 holes.
The six-time major champion’s 63 hauled him back into contention, and he trails Viktor Hovland by five strokes heading into the final round.
Photo by James Gilbert/PGA TOUR via Getty ImagesMcIlroy led the Tour Championship field in strokes gained putting on day three at East Lake.
And if he manages to take that form on the greens into Sunday, he will almost certainly have a chance to win.
Rory McIlroy predicts the score he needs to shoot to win the Tour Championship
McIlroy spoke to reporters after shooting a third-round 63 at East Lake on Saturday.
The Northern Irishman responded when asked how he feels about his position in the tournament with just 18 holes left to play.
“Yeah, I got myself back in the tournament,“ said McIlroy.
“We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how the leaders play the back nine. I feel like, if I’m within three or four of the lead going into tomorrow, we’ve seen what Cam did yesterday with a 62, goes out early. Bob did the same thing today with a 63, I shot a 63. There are scores out there.
Photo by James Gilbert/PGA TOUR via Getty Images“If I’m like a few groups before the leaders go out, maybe I can get off to a fast start and at least give them something to think about.
“It really depends on what the guys do this afternoon on the back nine. I would say, if I were to go out tomorrow and shoot the same score as I did today, I’d say that would have a very, very good chance.“
McIlroy was speaking when Hovland was 13-under par.
Now that the Norwegian got to 15-under, the six-time major champion probably knows he will have to shoot even lower than 63 in order to stand a chance of winning.
Rory McIlroy explains how he turned things around on day three at East Lake
McIlroy was asked what changed that enabled him to shoot a 63 after posting two fairly mediocre rounds to start his week at East Lake.
“Yeah, I think the difference today was I just putted a bit better. I putted a lot better,“ the Northern Irishman replied.
“I think I lost maybe a combined three shots on the greens over the first two days, and I probably gained over three on the greens today. So back to sort of even for the week.
“The ball striking has been there. I think I was second in ball striking to Gary Woodland the first couple days. It was another good display today. Hit some nice iron shots, drove it well for the most part.
“Look, it doesn’t — I still felt like I played okay the last couple days, just wasn’t getting as much out of my game as I wanted to. I pieced it together today and ended up obviously with a better score.“