McIlroy still plans aggressive approach

Rory McIlroy pledged to “go down swinging” in his bid to win a major for the first time in four years.

On a day of low scoring, McIlroy on Saturday bogeyed two of his last three holes for a 1-under 70. Instead of being two shots behind, he was four back. And he wasn’t about to change his strategy of being aggressive.

“Go out and hit a lot of drivers,” McIlroy said. “I felt like today the course was perfectly set up to take advantage of it and attack it. Tried to do that for the most part. Maybe my wedge play wasn’t quite as good as it should have been, but I gave myself plenty of chances.”

McIlroy said he felt like he left some shots out on the course, and was disappointed at the way he finished. Still, he’s won the Open before and believes he has a reasonable shot to do it again.

“I’ve got a bit of experience at this,” he said.

McIlroy and others on the leaderboard are keeping an eye on the notoriously fickle Scottish weather going into the final round. The wind is expected to pick up some, and if it shifts scores could climb.

The best thing, McIlroy said, is there are only five players in front of the group bunched four shots off the lead.

“I’m obviously disappointed after the way I finished, but I’m still in the tournament,” he said. “I’m only a few shots behind. The wind is supposed to pick up a little bit. So it will make things interesting.”