In increasingly windy conditions on Saturday, Rory McIlroy managed to make just enough birdie putts for a 3-under 67 and maintain his one-shot lead over Tom Kim in the Genesis Scottish Open.
Although he has the raw figures to back him up, McIlroy still didn’t make as many birdies as he had hoped for, which is a frequent setback among players. He missed an eagle attempt from just over 3 feet and a birdie putt from 5 feet while attempting to build a cushion at The Renaissance Club the day after missing nine putts that were 10 feet or closer.
As he attempts to win his first professional match in Scotland, McIlroy was at 13-under 197. In seven prior attempts as a professional, he has never placed in the top 10, and he has three Alfred Dunhill Links Championship runner-up results. He has four top-five finishes in Scotland’s Open Championships.
Kim completed all of the requirements for a 67, which kept him in the game. He claimed he didn’t hit the ball as well as he did the day before and frequently found himself out of position, but he was most happy that he stuck with it and managed a round without making any bogeys.
When Kim missed the fairway to the right on the 18th par-4 hole and found himself in a difficult lie to the left, that was at risk. However, Kim made his putt from roughly 10 feet and walked off with a par and a fist pump.
“Because I worked so hard to get everything out of that round, I thought that putt was the icing on the cake. With momentum and everything, it was certainly great to be able to finish with a par. puts me in a position to succeed tomorrow.” Kim said.
And at that point, everyone might want to grip onto their hats.
Due to the forecasted afternoon downpour, start times were moved forward to early Saturday morning. Even without gusts, the Sunday forecast called for winds of about 30 mph. The start time on Sunday is 6:45 am, which is earlier than the third round.
There is a big list of potential possibilities, and that can bring others into the picture.
The first group to leave had Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a 63 to share second place with Brian Harman (67) and move to 11-under 199. After a shaky start, Fleetwood has played his last three nines in a 32-32-31 fashion.
With absolutely little going right, No. 1 player in the world Scottie Scheffler found himself eight strokes back on the front nine. However, he made birdies on three of the next four holes, including one on the 18th from roughly 25 feet, for a score of 67.
At position 200, Scheffler was joined by Shane Lowry (age 65), J.T. Poston (age 65), Eric Cole (age 64), and Byeong Hun An (age 69). The two front-runners for the three spots available for The Open Championship for those who are not already exempt are An and Cole.
“If you turned it around the opposite way, I suppose I might feel a little awful about my positioning. It’s a fantastic feeling, though, when you have a good finish and manage to steal at least two strokes on the final two holes, as I did today.” Scheffler said.
Padraig Harrington, who was three shots off the pace at the beginning of the weekend, could only manage a 70 and dropped to sixth place. According to Harrington, if he performs well at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open the following week at Royal Liverpool, he will forgo the PGA Tour Champions in an effort to be considered for the Ryder Cup.
Sam Burns, who had a weird day on the course, was also six shots back. On the 10th par-5, Burns was in a pot bunker to the left of the fairway when his ball smashed into and stuck in the vetted side. Even though the ball wasn’t implanted, it became stuck as if it were plugged. The ball rolled back into the bunker when he had to play it from there and into the side again.
He made his second shot, missed the green, and was unable to recover to take triple-bogey 8.
