McIlroy and Scheffler suffer third round blues at Torrey Pines

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy suffered his worst putting day for a decade on the PGA TOUR and Scottie Scheffler shot his highest round for nearly three years to trail Patrick Rodgers by five shots heading into the final final round of the Genesis Invitational.

The Holywood star lost 3.90 in the strokes gained putting category in a two-over 74 which was his biggest loss on the greens since he lost over four shots the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship.

He’s tied for eighth on three-under-par with world number one Scottie Scheffler who bogeyed two par fives in the same round for the first time in five years as he struggled to a four-over 76 for his worst score since the 2022 Players Championship.

McIlroy had 33 putts, while Scheffler took 32.

It was a far different day for Rodgers, who is seeking his first PGA TOUR win in his 284th start.

While he dumped his third in the water at the par-five 18th, he got up and down from 60 yards for bogey and a four-under 68 that gave him a one-shot lead on eight-under over Denny McCarty (71), who is seeking his first win in his 194th start.

Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, who aced the 140-yard third, lies just one shot further back in third after a 70.

McIlroy and Scheffler will be paired together for today’s final round but they will go out 55 minutes before leaders Rodgers and McCarthy looking to make up for forgettable third rounds.

McIlroy missed three birdie chances in his first four holes, then three-putted the par-five sixth for bogey, missing from three feet for par.

Another shot went at the short eighth, where he was bunkered and missed a seven-footer.

And while he birdied the par-five ninth to get back to one-over for the day, he missed a five-footer for birdie at the par-five 13th, then three-putted from 13 feet for a double-bogey at the 230-yard 16th, missing another three-footer.

A closing birdie four gives him an outside chance of challenging for his third win in four starts worldwide but he has his work cut out to catch Rodgers.

The American (32), who matched or broke some of Tiger Woods' records at Stanford, knows it won’t be easy to break his PGA TOUR duck.

“It felt like early in my career with the amateur resume that I had, I felt like there was a lot expected of myself internally," Rodgers said. "And it was something where when immediate success, immediate wins didn’t come straight away, it was kind of fighting who I saw myself to be.

“So instead of playing with a monkey on your back that gets bigger and bigger over time when it doesn’t happen, I’m trying to play from a perspective that feels fresh and new and exciting and full of opportunity. Because that’s what this game is, and I have a great one tomorrow.”

Scheffler has endured an erratic start to the season since undergoing surgery on his had following a Christmas Day cooking accident.

While he broke par in seven of his first eighth rounds to tie for ninth in Pebble Beach and for 25th in Phoenix, where he shot 41 on his final nine holes.

On Saturday, Scheffler birdied the fifth to tie for the lead with Davis Thompson, but he three-putted the par-five sixth for bogey and dropped another shot at the par-five ninth after taking two chips from thick rough 76, his highest score in nearly three years.