Graeme McDowell dug deep to keep flying Finn Mikko Ilonen in his sights and put himself in position to grab a dream Irish Open win today.

The Portrush ace — bidding to become the first Ulsterman to win the Irish Open since Fred Daly in 1946 — birdied two of his last three holes for a 69 to trail Ilonen by just two shots on 10 under par.

But he’s not the only Ulsterman with the title in his sights after Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin recovered from a double bogey at the first to fire a 69 that leaves him just four behind on eight under.

As Ilonen fired a 69 to lead by a shot from a red-hot Englishman Danny Willett, who had a hole in one at the seventh in a sizzling 63, McDowell birdied the 16th and 17th to keep his title hopes alive, alone in third place.

Gunning for a win that would complete a dream week for Irish golf with The Open coming back to his home town of Portrush and pal Rory McIlroy declaring his Olympic allegiance to Ireland, McDowell said: "I’ll try and give the fans what they want tomorrow, an Irish winner. But there's a lot of names on that leaderboard that will have some issues on that.

“The Irish Open is well up my leaderboard as far as wish lists of golf tournaments I would like to win. It would do many things; it would kickstart my season, it would boost my Ryder Cup chances.

”I’d dearly love to give the fans what they want, but there's a guy standing over there from Finland who is a hell of a damn good player. We’ll see. I feel like I'm playing good enough, put it that way.” 

The Portrush star holed an 18 footer for birdie at the second but struggled to get the ball in the hole on the greens until late in a 31-putt round.

Bogeys at the eighth and ninth left him behind the eight-ball and when he lipped out for birdie at the 10th, he looked utterly frustrated.

A great tee shot to the par-three 11th yielded a birdie to get him back to level for the day.

But after missed birdie chances inside 10 feet at the 13th and 14th, his caddie Ken Comboy came to the rescue, reminding him to keep his head steady.

Urged on by a 28,000 strong crowd, McDowell holed a 40 footer for birdie at the 16th and an 18 footer at the 17th to close the gap on Ilonen.

As for Maybin, he's looking for his first win but also has a chance to win one of three spots in The Open on offer for the top three, not already qualified, who finish in the top 10.

“I’ve had three seconds, been beaten in a playoff and played with big names in the last group,” said Maybin of his bid for victory. “I have a lot to draw on. I'll go out tomorrow and play my game and total them up at the end. 

“After shooting 65 on Friday, there’s no reason why I can't do it on Sunday.“

Leader Ilonen is not going to go away without a fight and he’s happy he’s going to be playing with Willett rather than McDowell, who will have all crowd support today.

Ilonen said: “I've been leading all the way this week and been handling the pressure of the lead pretty well so far, so I'm expecting not to do anything else tomorrow.”

Willett went out in 32 with an ace at the 165-yard seventh and then surged home in 31 thanks to four birdies in his last five holes.

But with the top 14 on the leaderboard covered by just five shots, the tournament is wide open with England's Matthew Baldwin (66), Swede Christopher Broberg (66), Frenchman Romain Wattel (70) and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti (65) tied for fourth on nine under.

Even Pádraig Harrington has a chance despite falling six shots off the pace on six under after a flat 71 while Michael Hoey's 70 leaving him tied for 27th on four under.

 

Irish Open at Fota Island Resort (par 71)

201 M Ilonen (Fin) 64 68 69,

202 D Willett (Eng) 73 66 63,

203 G McDowell (Nir) 68 66 69,

204 M Baldwin (Eng) 67 71 66, F Zanotti (Par) 70 69 65, R Wattel (Fra) 69 65 70, K Broberg (Swe) 69 69 66,

205 G Maybin (Nir) 71 65 69, E Molinari (Ita) 67 69 69, A Hansen (Den) 67 70 68, S Khan (Eng) 69 66 70, M Carlsson (Swe) 66 71 68,

206 G Stal (Fra) 70 67 69, G Bourdy (Fra) 68 71 67,

207 R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 70 68, O Fisher (Eng) 73 68 66, A Gee (Eng) 68 70 69, P Casey (Eng) 69 69 69, R Finch (Eng) 68 72 67, P Harrington (Irl) 69 67 71,

208 M Crespi (Ita) 68 67 73, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 69 67, R Santos (Por) 71 71 66, C Wood (Eng) 69 69 70, G Havret (Fra) 70 68 70, R Rock (Eng) 68 66 74,

209 G Storm (Eng) 69 70 70, R Kakko (Fin) 71 66 72, R Bland (Eng) 73 68 68, M Hoey (Nir) 68 71 70, D Huizing (Ned) 67 71 71, M Nixon (Eng) 70 65 74, M Warren (Sco) 71 70 68,

210 E Goya (Arg) 70 70 70, J Singh (Ind) 68 73 69, S Manley (Wal) 70 68 72, J Kelly (Irl) 71 71 68, S Kim (Kor) 69 67 74, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 72 68 70, R Fisher (Eng) 68 72 70, L Hao-Tong (Chn) 69 72 69, S Webster (Eng) 70 70 70,

211 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 72 69 70, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 68 71, S Walker (Eng) 72 68 71, M Siem (Ger) 66 74 71, P Lawrie (Irl) 69 72 70,

212 T Pieters (Bel) 72 70 70, A Pavan (Ita) 71 71 70, A Quiros (Esp) 70 70 72, D Horsey (Eng) 72 69 71, D Howell (Eng) 72 67 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 70 72, C Doak (Sco) 69 70 73, A McArthur (Sco) 71 67 74,

213 J Knutzon (USA) 73 69 71, A Wall (Eng) 71 71 71, J Roos (RSA) 68 73 72, D Clarke (Nir) 72 68 73,

214 S Dodd (Wal) 73 69 72, J Heath (Eng) 70 72 72, A Forsyth (Sco) 71 71 72, D Fichardt (RSA) 68 74 72, R Karlsson (Swe) 66 76 72,

215 J Olazábal (Esp) 69 73 73, M Lundberg (Swe) 70 71 74,

216 W Ormsby (Aus) 70 71 75, J Doherty (Sco) 71 71 74, J Walters (RSA) 68 74 74, A Saddier (Fra) 71 71 74, T Lewis (Eng) 68 72 76,

217 F Calmels (Fra) 73 69 75,

218 P Sjöland (Swe) 69 72 77,

219 M Miller (USA) 73 67 79, G Hurley (am) (Irl) 72 66 81