Rory McIlroy insists it will be a win for him alone if he comes through a final-round shootout and completes a hat-trick of wins and clinches his 24th PGA TOUR title at the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.

Twelve months ago, the Co Down man was celebrating his 21st US win "and one more than (Greg) Norman" after the event was totally overshadowed by the LIV Golf's launch in London.

This time, the Canadian Open has been completely overshadowed by Tuesday's shock announcement of the deal between the PGA TOUR, the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

And McIlroy admits he has taken refuge between the ropes after confessing earlier this week he felt like a sacrificial lamb in the battle between the Saudis and world golf.

"Look, I would love to win the Canadian Open for the third time," the world number three said after carding a six-under 66 to share second place with Tommy Fleetwood (64), Mark Hubbard (66), Justin Rose (66), Harry Higgs (67) and Andrew Novak (67) on 12-under par, just two shots behind Chinese Taipei's CT Pan (66).

"I've never won a tournament three times in a row. I felt like last year, the win wasn't just for me. It was for a few other things. But this one, this year, if I were able to get over the line, will be solely for me."

McIlroy has putted all week brilliantly, and that may be down to his ability to block out the external noise of the PIF deal and use the golf course as a sanctuary.

"Yeah, for whatever reason, I seem to play better when there's a little bit of noise going in the world of golf," McIlroy said.  

"It's really nice to get inside the ropes and just concentrate on my job at the end of the day, which is trying to get the ball around the golf course.

"So, yeah, it's been a nice reprieve with everything else going on and happy to be playing well."

He described the current controversy surrounding the game as "just drama, part of a soap opera, unfortunately."

"As I said at the start of the week, I feel terrible for RBC and this tournament because they're such a great supporter of the TOUR, and they have just been really unlucky the last couple years with all the noise surrounding their tournament."

As for his golf, he knows he will likely need another fast start after playing the tough front nine in three-under, then picking up three more birdies in a row from the 11th.

"Then the putter went a little cold on me over those last five holes," he said after three-putting the par-five 18th for par.

"But, yeah, overall, it's great to put myself in with a shot tomorrow. There's a lot of people up there around the lead, so it's going to be a fun day."

Sunday promises to be a cavalry charge with just five strokes covering the top 12 on the leaderboard.

"Yeah, it feels eerily similar to the last two tournaments," said McIlroy, who was tied for the lead heading into the final round of last week's Memorial Tournament only to tie for seventh after a 75.

"I was tied for the lead with Webb at Hamilton in 2019. Then last year, with Tony and JT. Looks like there could be a lot of guys up around the lead tomorrow. So it's going to be a really interesting day."

Shane Lowry goes into the final round tied for 24th on five-under-par after making five birdies and three bogeys in a 70.

On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow shot 72 to miss the cut on four-over in the Shoprite LPGA Classic in New Jersey, where Sweden's Dani Holmqvist leads by a shot from Hyo Joo Kim on 11-under par.

At the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed in Stockholm, England's Dale Whitnell shot a two-under 70 to lead by four shots on 19-under from Germany's Yannick Paul at Ullna Golf and Country Club.

On the Challenge Tour, Italy's Filippo Celli leads England's Saam Hutsby and French amateur Martin Couvra by a shot on 15-under heading into the final round of the Andalucía Challenge de Cádiz.

Conor Purcell (67) and Ruaidhri McGee (72) are tied 12th on nine-under, six behind the leader at Iberostar Real Golf Novo Sancti Petri.

Meanwhile, Robert Moran is just one stroke behind Charlie Crockett (65) heading into the final two rounds of the St Andrews Links Trophy.

The Castle golfer shot a three-under 69 on the Old Course to share second with Finland’s Markus Luoma, the Netherlands’ Jerry Ji and Sweden’s Albert Hansson on eight-under,

Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire is a shot further back in tied sixth after a 66.