Rory McIlroy lived up to his headline act billing as he stole the show in the third round of the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down, where the world number three navigated a route to the top of the leaderboard with a stubbornly and brilliantly executed 69 for a total of six-under-par 207, a shot clear of Italy’s Matteo Manassero.
This wasn’t a day for club twirling and or for standing in admiration of any shots. Rather, with winds gusting to 45 kilometres per hour, accentuating the challenge of a links that already asked numerous questions of those looking to conquer it, the third round of the $6 million tournament was, in the main, turned into one of survival.
As Bob MacIntyre, looking a third national open win of the season to add to his Canadian Open and Scottish Open successes, put it: “It was absolutely brutal . . . . it (felt) like there’s a disaster around the corner at any moment.”
McIlroy, though, was mostly immune from the elements as he strode the links as if on his own domain, even a rare errant tee-shot on the 18th led to a closing bogey as he went from right rough to left rough to right rough (up against the corporate hospitality). After pitching to 10 feet, his final act was to miss the par saving putt and tapped in for a bogey.
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Still, what went before was a performance of great fortitude, of adopting a strategy and, for the most part, executing it.
“I definitely would have taken the score before I went out today. I got off to the perfect start making (eagle) three on one and then it was just a matter of trying to par as many holes as possible and if you picked up a birdie here and there, it was a bonus. I think to shoot in the 60s today in those conditions was obviously a really good effort and that puts me in a good position going into tomorrow,” said McIlroy.
From the start, McIlroy – a winner of the Irish Open in 2016 but chasing a first professional title on home turf in Northern Ireland, in a career in which he has amassed 40 wins around the globe – had his game face on. An eagle three on the Par 5 first had McIlroy hitting the ground running and he stuck to the task, adding bridies on the seventh and 13th with bogeys on the fifth and 18th.
The eagle may have jumped him into a share of the lead, but it was the brilliant birdie on the difficult 13th – where he hit an iron off the tee that finished in gnarly furze – had provided the showcasing moment. He committed to the approach from the rough and hit an approach 170 yards to 35 feet and rolled in the breaking putt.
Of the possibility of closing the deal to win, McIlroy said: “It would be amazing. I’m excited to give myself a chance. The last couple times I’ve played in Northern Ireland, it hasn’t really panned out the way I wanted. So to play a good three days here and be in the final group (with Manassero) and give myself a chance tomorrow . . . . I’m excited for the opportunity, and I can’t get too far ahead of myself, but yeah, I’m excited to go out there and give it my all.”
Both Tom McKibbin and Séamus Power made significant moves up the leaderboard, but Shane Lowry – after a birdie-birdie-birdie start – played his way out of contention with a disappointing bogey-bogey finish.
McKibbin’s 70 for 213 saw him jump to tied-13th, an improvement of 34 places on his starting position, while Power’s 71 for 214 saw him move to tied-21st, up 26 places. Lowry’s 74 for 215 saw him drop 11 places to tied-30th.
Seán Keeling, the 17-year-old amateur from Roganstown who had played so impressively to make the cut, had a tough day on the links – including a triple bogey seven on the fifth hole – as he shot an 81 for 223 to drop to tied-66th.
For Todd Clements, though, it proved a chastening day. He had walked to the first tee for a pairing with McIlroy and his first act was to drive the ball out of bounds down the right, the first act in a round of 85 for 22 which saw Clements fall from tied-second to tied-64th.
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