NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Rory McIlroy believed if he carded a 6-under 64 in the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday, he’d put enough pressure on the leaders to shoot even par or better.
The two-time reigning Masters champion came close, posting a 4-under 66 to move to 3 under after 54 holes. He was one stroke behind early clubhouse leaders Matt Schmid of Germany and Nick Taylor of Canada, who both posted 5-under 65.
“We’ll see what happens,” McIlroy said. “We’ll see what the guys do this afternoon. But I’ve climbed my way out of that hole a little bit, which I’m proud of myself for doing that, but there’s one more day left.”
McIlroy put himself in an early hole with a 4-over 74 in the first round. He gained all but one stroke back in the second round, getting him back into contention in the second major of the season.
McIlroy was tied for 105th after the first round. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he would become only the fifth golfer to win a major after being 50th or worse after the first round. Steve Jones, who was tied for 84th after the opening round of the 1996 U.S. Open, was the last golfer to do it.
“I had a really bad finish on Thursday, but at the end of the day, I was only seven back,” McIlroy said. “I thought back to last year’s Masters. I was seven back after the first day, and I was two ahead going into the final day. So, there’s a lot of golf and a lot of things can happen during the course of a golf tournament. I’ve progressively just got a little bit closer to the lead each day.”
McIlroy and others benefitted from more advantageous scoring conditions on Saturday morning, as the wind lay down and temperatures warmed up. The PGA of America also backed away from its diabolical pin positions in the first two rounds, which world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler called the most difficult he’d seen on the PGA Tour.
“Wind direction is a little bit different,” McIlroy said. “So, I think it makes some of the holes play slightly easier than they’ve played the first couple of days. Yeah, some hole locations are a little more generous, but there are still some hole locations that have been tucked away.”
After carding six bogeys and two birdies in the first round, McIlroy did the opposite on Saturday. He made an 8½-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and a 12½-footer on No. 5.
On the 397-yard sixth hole, McIlroy drove the green. He two-putted from 55 feet for another birdie.
“I wasn’t trying to hit it on the green,” McIlroy said. “I was just trying to get it up there somewhere around the green. I knew if I hit it good, I could get it close to [the] front edge. It was a perfect line. I think the fairways are drying out. They’re all cut down grain, so they are getting very fast. So if you can get the ball rolling on the fairways, it can go an awfully long way.”
McIlroy made another birdie on the par-5 ninth and made the turn at 3-under 32. He picked up two more birdies on Nos. 11 and 13, which tied him with second-round leaders Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy at 4 under.
The six-time major champion made a couple of mistakes down the stretch, including a bogey on the par-3 17th. He made an 8-footer to save par on No. 18.
McIlroy wasn’t the only golfer who took advantage of better conditions on Saturday. Chris Kirk had a chance to tie the course record of 8-under 62 but made a double-bogey on the 18th. He settled for a 5-under 65.
Kristoffer Reitan, who picked up his first PGA Tour victory in last week’s Truist Championship, made two eagles on the par-4 13th and par-5 16th. On the 292-yard 13th, Reitan’s drive hit the pin and stopped 6 feet, 4 inches away. It would have been the first ace on a par-4 hole in major championship history.
Reitan posted a 5-under 65 and was 2 under after 54 holes.
“I thought the front nine was gettable today,” Reitan said. “That’s why I was a little bit frustrated that I wasn’t able to take care of any of those chances. It can be gettable on the back nine, too. You have a drivable par-4. You have a par-5. If you hit a good drive, you can reach it fairly easily, especially with today’s wind.”
As the golfers with late tee times went out Saturday afternoon, the wind started blowing and swirling again.
“The wind was whipping at the end,” McIlroy said. “We’ll see if it continues to blow as hard as that as the afternoon goes on. I’d certainly like it to blow as hard as that as the afternoon goes on, but we’ll see.”
