McIlroy out of the picture after camera click causes distraction
This week, said Rory McIlroy, is all about next week. A third-round 68 after successive rounds of 67 has left the Northern Irishman on 11 under par going into the final day of the Scottish Open here in East Lothian.
Realistically, that is too far behind overnight leader Bernd Wiesberger, on 20 under, to harbour anything but an academic interest in the final shakedown. But McIlroy professed himself happy with his week’s work, his thoughts already dominated by the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
“For most of this year my scores have been better than my performance, but this week I’ve been playing better than I scored and that could easily have been a 65 or a 66 today,” he said. “But all I wanted to do this week was get a scorecard in my hand. I just wanted to play four rounds of competitive golf and I’m going to do that.
“I’ll always play better the week after playing competitively, that’s how my game gets into good shape, so I’ve achieved what I wanted to this week. I’ll at least have a better idea of where my game is at going into next week, instead of having to figure it out once I get there.”
At one stage it looked as if McIlroy was about to post a round that would put him in contention on the final day. After a bogey at two, when he had to hack out of deep undergrowth, he had four birdies in five holes to reach the turn in three under, only to register bogeys at 11 and 12, after the click of a spectator’s camera on his tee-shot at 11 put him off, before rallying with two birdies in the final three holes.
“I definitely got frustrated, he said. “I bogeyed 11 and let that bother me, and bogeyed 12 after that. There were a lot of chances and I feel I could be a few shots better. Coulda, woulda, shoulda doesn’t help, but as long as I play a good, solid final round I’ll be happy.”
However, as preparation for Portrush, the Renaissance Club left much to be desired. With virtually zero wind and slow, wet greens, this defenceless course has little in common with the Dunluce Links which, when the Open was last there in 1951, let just two men leave with under-par scores.
While McIlroy agreed that, shorn of any defences, this East Lothian course was too easy, he nevertheless felt that there were still some useful similarities with Portrush. “It’s so benign, I’d have liked to have seen it a little more difficult,” he said. “At Portrush the greens will be a little faster, but [here] it’s just been a touch slow and a touch sticky, which doesn’t challenge you enough.
“It’s been a bit wet this week so it hasn’t played as firm and fast as you would expect, but at the same time, Portrush isn’t going to play firm and fast either. It’s a lush links course – even when Royal County Down is bone dry, Portrush will still have a lot of greenness to it.”
If the McIlroy failed to take the Renaissance Club apart, the same was not true of several of his fellow competitors. After posting a record 10-under round of 61 on Friday, Austria’s Wiesberger kicked on yesterday, topping the leaderboard by two shots from South African Erik van Rooyen after a six-under round of 65.
The standout round, however, belonged to Andrea Pavan, the 30-yearold Italian shooting a nine-under 62 to briefly top the leaderboard on 14 under before the overnight leaders went out. It could have been even more spectacular, though, after reaching the turn in 29 strokes thanks to two eagles.
Englishmen Matt Wallace and Tyrrell Hatton, and South African George Coetzee, shot seven under to move into contention.