At 10 shots out, Rory must Slam door on his bid
AUGUSTA — Rory McIlroy isn’t going to win the Grand Slam. At 6-under for the week after a thirdround 68, he is 10 shots out of the lead. But the World No. 1 said it wasn’t weighing on his mind.
“I wasn’t approaching it like I was trying to win the Grand Slam,” McIlroy said. “I was approaching it like I was trying to win another golf tournament. So I don’t think it’s really had any impact on the way I’ve played this week.”
McIlroy’s best finish here is his tie for eighth last year. He certainly has a chance to better that on Sunday, as he is tied for fifth with Tiger Woods, with whom he’ll pair in Sunday’s final round. But there is no evidence that he has figured this place out.
“I definitely feel like I play this golf course better and better every year that I come here,” he said. “I don’t know, I just need to keep putting numbers up like I did today. I know I’m capable of it. Just a few stretches of holes have held me back, and that’s really been the case this year again.”
FASHION PHIL
Phil Mickelson was wearing a salmon-colored shirt, hoping to get some Arnold Palmer luck going. “It’s not my color, it doesn’t look good on me and I don’t wear it well. But I had a premonition after spending time with Arnold Palmer,” said Mickelson, who shot a 67 and is five shots back. “He likes to wear this color. I just had a feeling that I needed to make a move, and I had it in the bag and pulled it out.”
DOUBLE TROUBLE
A double bogey on 12 cost Dustin Johnson. He hit an awful chip shot into the bunker in front of him and failed to get up and down.
“Yeah, I mean, 12 was bad,” he said. “I got fortunate it hung up there on the bunker, just right of the bunker. But it was a tough little chip. And it just rolled up the face and then went in the bunker, which is no good. And then I didn’t hit a great putt.”
Johnson finished with a bogey on 18 to fall back into a tie for fifth.
HOFFMAN HAPPY
Charley Hoffman hung in there with a 1-under 71 that left him six shots out. “I felt good all day,” he said. “I hit the ball good and gave myself a lot of chances. Speed of the putts, I never had it down. I had a lot of good opportunities out there and didn’t make any of them, really, and so all in all pretty happy with 1-under. For my emotions and everything like that, it felt great.”
STREAK IN DANGER
Rickie Fowler started out well but couldn’t keep it going. A 1-over back side left him with a round of 70, 1-under for the tournament, tied for 25th. It will be hard for him to finish in the top five at a fifth straight major.
“Going into the last six today I felt like I was in a good position to get a good solid round, whether I got the par-5s or not. I wasn’t really expecting to make any bogeys or anything coming in,” he said. “I was hoping to get to at least 5-under today, maybe 6-under, and post a score and be able to go out tomorrow and have a chance of getting a really good finish here.
“Now I’m going to need to put a good round together tomorrow to have a chance to finish in the top 10 and it’s going to have to be a really good one to get to the top five. It’s not out of the question, but we’ll see what we can do.”
POULTER NEVER BETTER
Ian Poulter called it the best round he’s ever played at Augusta, hitting 17 of 18 greens. Still . . .
“As nice as it was shooting 67, I still walk off the golf course thinking I could have had a couple less,” said Poulter, who is 12 shots back. “But it’s been the same over the first two days. Making simple mistakes costs you around this golf course, and I did that on the first two days. I played exceptionally well today and obviously (made) no mistakes.”