Rory McIlroy (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

Rory McIlroy had the fans chanting his name as he carded a five-under 65 to share the lead with Tony Finau heading into the final round of the RBC Canadian Open.

Despite continuing struggles with his wedges, the defending champion produced one of his best all-round displays of the year at St. George's Golf & Country Club to get to 11-under par and match Finau, who posted the clubhouse target with an eight-under 62.

With PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas carding a 63 to share third place with Sam Burns (63), Wyndham Clark (68) and Alex Smalley (67) on nine-under, the final round promises to be a thriller.

Speaking just a few hours after Charl Schwartzel won $4.75 million at the inaugural LIV Golf event near London (Ben Coley sums it up brilliantly here), McIlroy said: “Yeah, it's unbelievable, the atmosphere out there today was, I mean I can't remember the last time I played in an atmosphere like that. It was really special. Walking on to the 16th tee there, the Rink, my ears were ringing hitting that tee shot. So, no, it's going to be loud again tomorrow and that's really good fun for us to play in. Just really appreciate everyone coming out and supporting this event…I mean it's certainly the best atmosphere of any golf tournament going on this week. Yeah, the crowd support is incredible and yeah, I'm pretty sure what's going to happen over the final 18 holes here is going to be more entertaining than what other golf was played this week anywhere else.”

The world No 8 hasn’t won since capturing the CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in October last year and hopes he can break that run with a successful title defence, albeit three years after his win at Hamilton, the week before the US Open.

“I hope so. Yeah, that would be really nice. I'm just happy to give myself a chance, be in the final group. Once I saw, I think Tony had got to 10 or maybe 11, I think I was on like 8 or 9 at the time. I just said to myself, let's just try to get yourself in the final group.

“Sort of feels pretty similar to last time at Hamilton, I was just trying to get myself in that final group with Webb and I was able to, tied for the lead there. So, yeah, just sets me up well for tomorrow. Feel like all aspects of my game are in pretty good shape, so just go out there and try and post a number and see if that's good enough.”

He played some incredible shots, including a 201-yard missile from dee rough at the ninth that found the green.

Ridiculous golf from @McIlroyRory 😮 pic.twitter.com/tOJC7DO7XJ
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) June 11, 2022

“Yeah, that was probably low key one of the best shots I've hit all year. The lie wasn't great in the rough, it was good enough for me to at least think I had a chance. I opened the face on a 5-iron and I went down the grip a little bit. And out of the rough like that all I think is just try to get your hands as high as possible at the top of the swing and then just hit it as hard as you can. It came out perfectly. I think sometimes with those shots there's a little bit of luck involved as well, but I felt like I had a decent path into the back of the ball to be able to at least get it -- I was trying to, honestly I was trying to get it into that front left bunker. And it came out just a little right of where I thought it was going to and ended up on the green, which was a nice bonus.”

Shane Lowry made four birdies and three bogeys in a 69 to slip back to tied 15th on five-under, hitting just five fairways yesterday.

Leona cut again

On the LPGA Tour, Leona Maguire missed her fourth cut in her last five starts in the Shoprite LPGA Classic in Atlantic City.

The Co Cavan star, who was tied eighth in the US Women’s Open, double-bogeyed her second hole of the day and went on to shoot a second successive 73 at Seaview to miss the level par cut by four shots.

The LPGA writes: “Taking on the Bay Course at the Seaview, A Dolce Hotel for the first time, Frida Kinhult finished Saturday in the top spot on the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer leaderboard at -9 after a bogey-free 67. Kinhult, whose 66 on Friday was a career-low 18-hole score, holds a 36-hole lead/co-lead for the first time in her young Tour career.”

HALMSTAD, SWEDEN - JUNE 11: Linn Grant of weden plays her shot off the 4th tee during Day Three of the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club on June 11, 2022 in Halmstad, Sweden. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Grant leads in Sweden

Local favourite Linn Grant will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed as she bids to become the DP World Tour's first female winner.

The 22-year-old Swede fired a flawless 66, which included a tremendous eagle from 75 feet on the 11th and four birdies, to get to 16 under par and overtake halfway leader Jason Scrivener at the top.

Australian Scrivener had led for most of the day and found himself three shots clear at the turn, but he missed good chances to extend his advantage and a double bogey at the short 16th saw him fall from the summit.

A closing birdie handed Scrivener solo second spot on 14 under, while home hero and tournament co-host Henrik Stenson was alone in third another shot further back.

Grant only entered the paid ranks last year but is already a proven winner, having followed up her maiden Ladies European Tour victory at the Joburg Ladies Open in March with a second title at the Mithra Belgian Ladies Open two weeks ago.

Defending champion Jonathan Caldwell is tied 60th on two-under after a 72.

McGee five back in Emporda

Jens Dantorp will bid for his second victory on the 2022 Road to Mallorca as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Empordà Challenge.

The Swede followed his course record-equalling second round with a three-under-par round of 67 on day three to move to 11 under par, one ahead of Scotland’s Liam Johnston who breezed into contention with an excellent six-under-par 64 at Empordà Golf.

Ruaaidhri McGee is tied seventh on six-under after a 66 with John Murphy a shot further back in tied 11th in five-under after a long 69.

US on brink in Curtis Cup

Scores

Singles draw

The USGA writes:

When Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup captain Elaine Ratcliffe addresses her team on Saturday night, she might want to eschew a big speech for the Greek mythological story of Sisyphus. He’s the character who kept rolling a big boulder up a hill, only to have it keep falling back to the bottom.

That’s what Saturday in the 42nd Curtis Cup Match at Merion Golf Club felt like for the visiting side. When it looked like GB&I might sweep the Americans in the three afternoon foursomes matches, the USA managed to get a split – one win, one tie and one defeat – to keep its five-point advantage.

Going into Sunday’s eight singles matches, the USA, which owns an 8½-3½ lead, needs only 1½ points to retain the Cup in biennial competition for a third consecutive time, while GB&I must get a near-sweep (seven points) to regain the Cup it last held in 2016.

Given recent history, it will take a Herculean effort from GB&I. In the last two Curtis Cups, the USA has produced 14½ of a possible 16 points in singles, including a record 8-0 sweep in 2018 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., in a 17-3 rout.

“We don’t take anything for granted,” said USA competitor Rachel Kuehn, who picked up a clutch point in foursomes with partner Amari Avery. “No matter how we finished today, we’re still not across the line. I think the goal tomorrow is to go out and win all eight singles matches. The goal is not to hit that 10 or 10½ mark [to retain the Cup]. That goal is to win all eight and to walk off with everyone feeling good. I think everyone is aware that the GB&I team is very talented and they are very capable of coming back on us.”

The USA side saw that competitive side in both sessions on Saturday, but especially in foursomes. All three GB&I sides led at the halfway point, and two of those matches saw four-hole advantages. Only the veteran team of Hannah Darling, of Scotland, and Annabell Fuller, of England, held on for a win, defeating Jensen Castle and Latanna Stone, 2 and 1. Darling clinched the victory with a 13-foot birdie on No. 17.

It was the first victory for either player in the Match. Darling, a first-team All-America this past season for the University of South Carolina, and Fuller, a University of Florida standout who made the cut in last year’s AIG Women’s British Open and qualified for last week’s U.S. Women’s Open Presented by ProMedica, were a combined 0-5 going into the match.

“I don’t know how to describe it, but the fact that it’s come this late [in the Match] is honestly … a bit annoying,” said Darling of finally getting on the board. “But we got it done, and to almost have the momentum in our favor now going into [Sunday], that’s huge.”

Said Ratcliffe: “The result in the end perhaps does not show the golf that was played out there. Golf is very fair, but golf is also brutal, and I would say at the moment I would put it closer to brutal, how I feel for the players and the manner in which it just slipped through our fingers.”

The GB&I tandem of Wake Forest standout Lauren Walsh and Ohio State transfer Caley McGinty, who earned the lone point of the morning four-ball session, looked like it would have a perfect 2-0 day when it took a 4-up lead thru 11 holes against the Stanford University duo of Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck. But they discovered that beating the No. 1 and 4 players in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® is no easy task.

Zhang and Heck, fresh off winning an NCAA title for the Cardinal in late May, chipped away at the deficit with birdies on 12, 13 and 16. The sides tied the par-3 17th with bogeys before a winning par on No. 18 earned the duo a huge half-point.

“You're not trying to do any crazy math,” said Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion. “You're taking it one hole at a time. It's not good to think ahead and think how many holes you have to win. Rose and I were playing well, I know they were playing well, so we just had to be patient out there and wait for things to go our way.”

Avery, a rising sophomore at the University of Southern California, and Wake Forest rising senior Kuehn didn’t have as big of a deficit to erase against Emily Price (Kent State) and Amelia Williamson (Florida State). Avery made a difficult 15-foot birdie on No. 8 to win their first hole of the match. She later converted an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to give the USA tandem a 2-up cushion.

Despite a bogey on No. 17 when the USA side failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, Kuehn, whose mother, Brenda, played in two Curtis Cups in the 1990s, delivered a clutch approach shot to the middle of the 18th green. GB&I, now likely needing a birdie to get a tie, failed to get up and down for par, and Avery’s lag putt from 30 feet was enough to secure a 2-up victory.

“You always have to expect it’s going to be a tight, hard match,” said Avery, now the only player on either side to be 4-0. “Honestly, I love that. I never want it to be easy. I want to fight hard for my win.”

Mother Nature threw the Match a curve ball on Saturday when glorious sunshine from Day 1 was replaced by overcast skies, cooler temperatures and intermittent rain, the kind of conditions – minus the wind – GB&I players see virtually all the time back home.

But even the change in weather couldn’t change the fortunes of the visitors. Just like in the afternoon foursomes, GB&I had a good opportunity to win the morning four-ball session and cut into what was then a four-point deficit.

The USA somehow managed two points to build its margin to 7-2.

Walsh and McGinty set the tone for a possible rally, registering eight birdies in a 10-hole stretch from No. 5 in closing out Kuehn and Castle, 5 and 4. It matched the largest margin of victory in four-ball, a format that began in 2008 when the competition switched from two to three days.

Walsh, who is Kuehn’s roommate and best friend at Wake, birdied 12, 13 and 14 to close out the match.

“I think the thing in four-ball is to make sure we give ourselves two chances [at birdie],” said Walsh, “and we did that well. That gives you freedom on the greens to hole a putt.”

But GB&I’s hopes were short-lived. Avery and fellow 18-year-old rookie, Megha Ganne, held off Darling and Fuller, 2 and 1. It was Avery who closed out the match with a clutch 5-foot par putt on No. 17 after she was a bit frisky with her 30-foot birdie attempt. Darling had a chance to keep the match going, but watched in disbelief as her 4-foot par putt lipped out.

Avery and Ganne, an incoming Stanford freshman, improved to 2-0 as a team.

“Once you get into a zone, the whole rookie-veteran thing goes out the window,” said Avery. “It’s just who can hit the ball the best and like I have said multiple times, we mesh really well together.”

Stone, a rising senior at Louisiana State University, and Wake Forest graduate student Emilia Migliaccio looked all but defeated when Florida State rising junior Charlotte Heath holed a 15-foot birdie on No. 15 to give her and 2021 British Women’s Amateur champion Louise Duncan a 2-up lead. Undeterred, Stone knocked her approach to the par-4 16th to 3 feet for a winning birdie. She then converted a clutch 10-foot par putt on the par-3 17th hole to tie the match.

Instead of getting a half-point or losing a full point, the USA earned a full point when Migliaccio was the only player to reach the 402-yard 18th in regulation, and her two-putt par secured a come-from-behind, 1-up victory.

“I’m just so ecstatic,” said Stone. “I’m just so proud of us.”

The same could be said for the entire USA Team.