Rory McIlroy insists he must cut out the “sloppy” mistakes if he’s to come from five shots behind Lucas Glover to win the FedEx St Jude Championship and return to world number one.

The Holywood star overcame a mid-round wobble when he chipped in for par at the 14th and went on to birdie the next three holes.

He bogeyed the 18th after a poor drive and carded a two-under 68 that left him tied for sixth on nine-under at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

But while he’s five shots behind Glover who shot 66 to lead by a shot from Taylor Moore in 14-under, the three time FedExCup winner is not giving up.

“Disappointing after the good work that I did on 15, 16 and 17 to get those shots back to give one back at the end,” McIlroy said of his closing bogey.

“But overall I feel like I've sort of been stuck in neutral a little bit this week, and I'm still in a decent position.

“Depending on what the leaders do coming in, five back going into tomorrow, I feel like I could catch fire and hopefully make a run.”

He had his caddie Harry Diamond head to a local golf shop to have half an inch taken off his putter before the round but while he was better on the greens, he admitted he made too many errors. 

“I think just sloppy mistakes,” he said. “First week back in a couple of weeks, and I guess hopefully getting them all out of the system before next week and the TOUR Championship.”

He added: “I'm going to need to go out tomorrow and shoot something like Justin Rose shot this morning, like a 61, 62 to have a chance. 

“But I feel like you break it down, four-under a nine, I feel with the way I'm hitting it, the way I'm playing, it's doable. 

“Not saying that that's what's going to happen, but it's not out of the realms of possibility.”

McIlroy must win and hope current world number one Scottie Scheffler finishes worse than solo fifth to return to the top of the world rankings.

Scheffler shot a one-over 71 to share 23rd on six-under, four shots outside the top five.

Tommy Fleetwood shot a third consecutive 66 to trail Glover by just two shots.

As for Seamus Power, he found water twice more and made double bogeys at the 11th and 18th as he carded a 71 to slip to 68th in the 70-man field on five-over.