As he leads the Scottish Open by one shot going into Sunday’s final round, Rory McIlroy has been scorching The Renaissance Club for the past three days.
McIlroy has been the player of the tournament from tee to green, by far. He is the leader in the field in terms of strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained from tee to green, and overall stroke gains.
With a tee shot average of 337.1 yards, he also leads the field in driving distance.
“It was again another excellent round of golf. After shooting a 3-under 67 on Saturday, McIlroy remarked, “Very solid.
“I feel like I’ve left a few on the course over the last few of days, but on the other hand, the last few holes were in fairly difficult circumstances. I performed well. It’s been a good three days, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s final group and seeing how my game performs under pressure.
In order to avoid the bad weather that was expected to pound Scotland’s east coast later in the day, PGA Tour and DP World Tour officials moved early Saturday’s tee times.
However, McIlroy did not seem to mind the early start or the challenging conditions down the stretch as he gracefully waltzed around The Renaissance Club for the third day in a row.
With birdies on two of his opening three holes on Saturday, the Northern Irishman got off to a fast start.
McIlroy reached 13-under for the title and 3-under for his round with another par-breaking shot at the seventh hole.
Then, at the 594-yard, par-5 10th hole, came the shot of the day.
McIlroy hit a stunning 6-iron to three and a half feet from 232 yards out.
He then missed the eagle putt and settled for his fourth birdie of the day.
McIlroy has struggled with his putting this week, as evidenced by the fact that he is currently 60th in the field in strokes gained: putting.
His flat stick has not cooperated, and players typically struggle when this happens.
But through 54 holes, McIlroy is alone in the lead thanks to his excellent, gorgeous iron play.
McIlroy declared, “I’m in a really good position.” “When you’re in the lead heading into the last day, it’s difficult to be disappointed. Certainly, I’ll accept it.
McIlroy’s last holes were affected by the increasing wind, which resulted in a pair of bogeys at the 12th and 15th holes.
However, those modest setbacks were made up for by McIloy’s birdie at the par-3 14th, where he made a 15-footer.
He pared the final three holes to card an even-par 35 on the back side to maintain a one-shot lead over Tom Kim heading into Sunday.
For the second consecutive day, Scottish Open officials moved the tee times up because of high winds in Sunday’s forecast. Groups will go off split tees and in threesomes once again.
McIlroy will play alongside Kim and Tommy Fleetwood in the final pairing, as they are scheduled to tee off at 3:57 a.m. ET.
Regarding Sunday’s conditions, McIlroy advised “just taking it as it comes.” “Since it appears to be quite windy, I’ll just try to manage the flight of my ball as much as I can. Everyone will find it difficult, but we simply need to keep at it and strive to finish it.
Even par will probably turn out to be a fantastic score, so the entire field will suffer through the elements. On Sunday, wind gusts might reach 50 mph in some places.
However, McIlroy has the upper hand because he is 13-under par. If he falters, other players will have to come grab him.
If McIlroy can hold on and battle the wind, he will win the first PGA Tour competition of 2023, providing him the best possible momentum for the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool the following week.
