McIlroy seeks driving discipline after third round 65 in Houston

Rory McIlroy fired a bogey-free 65 but finds himself eight shots behind Min Woo Lee heading into the final round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

As world number one Scottie Scheffler laboured to a one-under 69 to slip to joint third, five shots behind the Australian, McIlroy chipped in for an eagle at his penultimate hole and said he happy with everything in his game bar his driving ahead of his final round before the Masters.

“I wanted to see myself drive it a little bit better, which I haven't really seen,” McIlroy said. 

“It's hard here because, you know, it's so wide that it entices you to just stand up and try to hit it as hard as you can, so accuracy isn't a premium at all this week.

“Then I guess, short game-wise, like chipping, I wanted that to be a little better. 

“I felt I was a little tentative with some chips at Sawgrass, but chipping's been really good this week. 

“I scrambled well, so that's been good to see. Still feel like I need to do a little bit of work off the tee and get the driver figured out.”

While he missed two putts inside seven feet, McIlroy made his share, rolling in birdies at the 11th, 14th and par-five third before chipping in for an eagle at the 601-yard eighth.

“I liked how I played the par 5s on the second nine,” McIlroy joked. “It's one of those golf courses where you give yourself loads of chances from like 20, 25 feet and then when you're not converting any, it feels frustrating. 

“Like, I feel like I played OK. I said last night it's such an easy golf course to make a ton of pars, but then to make like a run of birdies almost feels difficult, but it almost feels difficult to make bogeys, too.

“But it was nice to get out there and play decent. Certainly didn't have my best, but shot a decent round and hopefully another good one tomorrow.”

He added: “I played a bit better, certainly scored a little bit better the last two days. Hopefully end the tournament with another good one tomorrow.”

Like McIlroy in round one, Scheffler was stuck in neutral and mixed three birdies with two bogeys as he followed his course record-equalling 62 with a 69.

The Master champion is tied for third on 12-under with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (65) and Ryan Gerard (68), five shots behind Lee, who shot 63 to lead by four shots from Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti (65) on 17-under.

“I mean, really, I just think on the greens is probably the only difference,” Scheffler said of the contrast between his 62 and his 69.

“I feel like yesterday I holed a bunch of putts, today I feel like I couldn't get the ball to go in the hole.”

Feeling that he struck the ball better than he did in his 62, Scheffler added: “It's a funny game sometimes.

“Yesterday was a day where I felt like I really needed to go to the range and hit some balls and make sure things were feeling the way I needed to, and today I felt like I was striking it a lot better, just a bit off.”

He has his work cut out to claim his first win of 2025 after Lee (26) had just 23 putts in his 63 as he chases his maiden PGA Tour win.

“I'm sure I'll go out and try to have a good round, not overthink things, just try to get off to a good start,” Scheffler said.

“Today I made some mistakes early in the round, a few shots I would have liked to have had back, but overall, hopefully be a little bit sharper tomorrow and move our way up the leaderboard.

As for big-hitting Lee, who has Shane Lowry’s former caddie Brian “Bo” Martin on his bag, the Australian surged clear thanks to a hot run of six birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of his round after completing the final two holes of a second round 64 earlier in the day. 

“I just got told that I had eight one-putts in a row or something like that and 10 putts in 10 holes,” he said.

“I guess it was a little autopilot early on. Very solid day again.

“The last couple of days were really good. Today was a really long day, I need to get back into bed. 

“But maybe that's what I have to do; I might have to do two warmups, two physio sessions, and maybe I can shoot seven-under all the time. No, it was great fun and very solid overall.”

Meanwhile, Leona Maguire made six birdies in a rollercoaster, one-under 71 to share 58th on five-under in the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass in Arizona.

The Co Cavan star heads into the final round 13 strokes behind Lilia Vu, who shot 68 to lead by two strokes from England’s Charley Hull (68) on 18-under in Chandler.