Only one player currently in the top 10 posted a worse score in the third round of the Truist Championship than Rory McIlroy, with the Northern Irishman finishing two over par for his final 12 holes at Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Rory McIlroy has got plenty of work to do if he is going to secure his fourth win of the year heading into the PGA Championship. The 36-year-old is six shots off the lead which is held by Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka.
McIlroy, of course, is still adjusting to the fact that the burden of trying to win the career grand slam is now gone following his dramatic victory at The Masters. However, that will probably provide little comfort immediately after a frustrating day at the latest signature event on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy looked to be on the charge after birdieing four, five and six on Saturday. However, a double bogey on seven and a bogey on eight left him back where he started. And he was only able to make one more birdie over the rest of the third round.
What Rory McIlroy needs to shoot in the final round to stand any chance of winning the Truist Championship
That prompted him to head to the practice area after his round. And speaking on Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee suggested what McIlroy is likely to need to shoot on Sunday if he is going to stand any chance of yet another victory at this event.
“He was on the range afterwards, and rightly so. If you watch him today, you’ll notice he would hit shots and then his arms would collapse afterwards. Usually when you’re finishing with your arms this close to your neck, you’ve come a little bit from the inside, you’ve got a little bit stuck. I think that explains the two way miss, a lot of hooks followed by a big push to the right. So perhaps he was getting just a fraction a little bit too underneath it, needs to get more on top of it. So he went to the range tried to sort that out,” he said.
“I think Shane Lowry alluded to the fact that they were expecting to see 59s this week. Well, if the wind’s not blowing tomorrow and the golf course is soft we’ve already seen a 61 in round number one by Keith Mitchell. You’ve alluded to the fact that Rory’s come from six back, so it’s certainly in there.
“It’ll be nuts [if he birdies four of the first six], but again, it’s going to take something like 61. 62 at the highest.”
‘One of the worst performances’ of Rory McIlroy’s career in the third round at Philadelphia Cricket Club
When you look at McIlroy’s stats on Saturday, it is not difficult to see where the biggest problems lay. He only managed to hit a handful of fairways during the round.
| Category | Strokes gained | Field rank |
| Off the tee | 0.059 | 35 |
| Approach | 1.100 | 16 |
| Around the green | -0.961 | 56 |
| Putting | 0.901 | 22 |
| Total | 1.100 | T22 |
And Chamblee noted that McIlroy has probably rarely been worse in that area of the game.
“Even as poorly as he drove it today, he’s still fourth in strokes gained off the tee for the week. But yeah, three of 14 fairways, that’s going to be one of his worst performances of his career in terms of finding fairways. He hasn’t been particularly sharp this week with his irons, he hasn’t been particularly sharp around the greens. He’s been very sharp prior to today off of the tee, and very sharp throughout the week on the greens. And having said all that, he’s just six back,” he added.
As Chamblee suggested, McIlroy was also poor around the greens. He lost almost a full shot to the field – making it the third day in a row in which he has lost ground in that category.
Perhaps the golfing world is seeing a McIlroy who no longer has that same hunger outside of the majors.
But judging by the fact that he did head to the range afterwards, it would appear that McIlroy has no intention of taking his foot off the gas right now.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
