Rory McIlroy gets himself into the mix as storms hit Tour Championship

McIlroy played 16 holes in 5-under before the late-starting third round was suspended again by weather, climbing to 15-under at East Lake and into fourth place

Sun, 28 Aug, 2022 - 11:05

Scott Michaux

On a Saturday disrupted by dangerous weather that sent four spectators to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after lightning struck at East Lake Golf Club during a suspension, Rory McIlroy got enough done to get himself into the mix at the Tour Championship.

McIlroy played 16 holes in 5-under before the late-starting third round was suspended again by weather, climbing to 15-under at East Lake and into fourth place. He’ll wake up just four shots off the lead when the third round resumes Sunday morning in Atlanta, 2:45 p.m. Irish time.

Most importantly for the crowd trying to chase down the FedEx Cup title from behind, the leaders didn’t do much damage through 12 holes on Saturday, with Scottie Scheffler only even par on the day and 19-under overall. Xander Schauffele, who twice climbed into a share of the lead, was 1-under through 12 and is one shot behind Scheffler at 18-under overall and two ahead of Sungjae Im at 16-under through 14 holes Saturday.

“I wasn't playing my best, but I was kind of hanging in there,” said Scheffler, who birdied the eighth and bogeyed the 11th to remain where he started the third round after an hour-long delay. “I was looking forward to giving myself some opportunities at the end, but then the horn went off.”

A day after McIlroy struggled to give himself birdie opportunities, he got rolling early in the third round to start cutting down the nine-shot deficit he started the day with. After make a birdie on 2 from 14 feet, he stuck a wedge to 3 feet on the third for another birdie.

He gave one back with a bogey after getting in trouble in a fairway bunker on the fourth, but he lasered a 196-yard approach to just 2 feet on the par-5 sixth to make his second eagle of the week there. A 27-foot birdie putt on 8 sent him out in 4-under 31 on the front.

McIlroy added birdie from just 7 feet on No. 13 and missed another chance from the same distance on 16 before the horn sounded to suspend play with two holes remaining including the reachable par-5 18th.

Depending on how Scheffler and Schauffele finish, McIlroy has at least given himself a puncher’s chance on Sunday on a rain-softened course that has already yielded a round of 62 and several 63s this week.

A crowd tied for fifth a shot behind McIlroy at 14-under includes Justin Thomas and Sepp Straka through 17 holes and Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay through 13.

Scheffler, who started the week at 10-under with a two-shot lead that he at one point expanded to six shots, says he can’t concern himself with the traffic that’s stacked up behind him heading into the last day before with the FedEx Cup and $18 million prize at stake.

“Still with a 72-hole event I think it's still pretty early in the tournament, and right now I think we're all just kind of jockeying for position,” he said. “I was just out there trying to hit some quality shots, so it doesn't do me too well to be paying attention to what other people do.”