McIlroy survives day of attrition to keep Players Championship hopes alive
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy survived a day of attrition and a string of soft bogeys to birdie the last and keep leader JJ Spaun in his sights at TPC Sawgrass.
The world number two rolled in a nine-footer for a one-over 73 to share fifth place on eight-under, four shots behind the unheralded Californian Spaun (34), who shot a 70 in 30mph gusts.
World number 57 Spaun, whose lone win came in the 2022 Valero Texas Open, made five birdies alongside McIlroy, rattling in a 25-footer for a closing par to lead by a shot on 12-under from Bud Cauley, who took advantage of more benign early conditions to shoot 66.
“I feel like I played better than I scored, McIlroy said. “All the bogeys I made were really soft.
“Three-putt on five. Sort of made a mess of 12, three-putted 13, three-putted 17.
“They slowed the greens down today for obvious reasons, and I feel like I didn't adjust very well to that.”
Alex Smalley shares third place with Lucas Glover, three behind Spaun on nine-under, with McIlroy a shot further back alongside Canadian Corey Conners and Akshay Bhatia.
But the Holywood star is still arguably the betting favourite on the final day and will go out in the penultimate group after the PGA Tour opted to bring forward the tee times and send players out in threeballs from the first and 10th tees due to the forecast for late afternoon thunderstorms.
“Not out of it by any means,” McIlroy said. “The wind is supposed to still be blowing tomorrow, so yeah, it was nice to birdie that (the 18th) just to get one closer to JJ on the last.”
After seeing some of the leaders crash and burn in yesterday’s high winds, McIlroy does not believe four shots is an insurmountable deficit.
“Yeah, I think with these conditions it is (doable),” he said. “As I said, I shot one over today, and I feel like I could have shot - I feel like every bogey was really soft.
“I could have shot something in the 60s. I have to at least be encouraged by how I hit it and how I controlled myself around there. I just need to chip and putt better tomorrow.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler shot 72, but while he’s seven behind Spaun, he’s not out of the running for a third successive Players Championship win.
“It was just really tough out there,” Scheffler said after making bogeys at two of his last three holes.
Shane Lowry made four birdies and four bogeys before driving into the water at the last to finish with a double bogey six.
His 74 left him tied for 51st on one-over.
At LIV Golf Singapore, Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs claimed a third successive team win by three shots from Tom McKibbin’s Legion XIII.
Joaquin Niemann shot a six-under 65 at Sentosa to win the individual title by five shots from Brooks Kooeka on 17 under and win $4m.
McKibbin won $187,500 as he tied for 25th on two-under after a 70.
McKibbin won another $375,000 as his share of Legion XIII’s $1.5m team payout, bringing his winnings for the week to $562,500.
On the Ladies European Tour, Belgium’s Manon De Roey made a clutch birdie at the 18th to win the Australian Women’s Classic and become a three-time LET winner.
She shot a one under 69 to pip England’s Cara Gainer by a shot on nine-under-par at Coffs Harbour.
She won €45,000 as Kildare’s Lauren Walsh shot 74 to tie for 16th (€4,994) on two-under.
Anna Foster also shot 74 to tie for 53rd (€1,125) on four over.
On the Epson Tour, Sara Byrne goes into the final round of the IOA Golf Classic tied for 59th on two-over
She made the cut on the mark after adding a 73 to her opening 71 and lies 10 strokes behind leaders Gina Kim and Jeongeun Lee5.
