Rory putts new style togooduse
RORY McILROY’S new putting technique continued to pay dividends as he moved into a narrow lead in the third round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship yesterday.
McIlroy had finished third, sixth and 20th in his first three events of 2016 before a missed cut in the Honda Classic last week prompted him to switch to a “crosshanded” putting method he last used in 2008.
The 26-year-old needed 33 putts in his opening 71 but just 25 on Friday in carding eight birdies and one bogey to finish eight under par alongside defending champion Dustin Johnson, two behind former world number one Adam Scott.
And the four-time major winner carried on where he left off on day three at Doral, taking 13 putts in a front nine of 33 to move to the top of the leaderboard in pursuit of a third WGC title.
McIlroy got up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the parfive first and picked up another shot from seven feet on the fifth, before a birdie on the eighth – despite finding two bunkers – took him into the outright lead for the first time.
Scott had bogeyed the difficult fourth and missed from nine feet for eagle on the eighth, although the tapin birdie meant he trailed playing partner McIlroy by a single shot as he looked to claim back-to-back wins on the PGA Tour.
However, a smashing birdie from 17 feet at the 10th put McIlroy on 12 under, two ahead and the putter was working further wonders on the 12th, when after finding himself in bunker trouble on the par-five hole, he holed from nine feet to save par.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson was two shots further back, with India’s Anirban Lahiri and American Charley Hoffman on seven under.
Earlier in the day, the Blue Monster course had lived up to its name, with world No 5 Rickie Fowler starting with a birdie but then taking a quadruple-bogey eight on the third.
Fowler, who won the Abu Dhabi Championship in January, found water off the tee and with his third shot and failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, but fought back with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th plus another 16 to get back to four under.
World No 6 Henrik Stenson had an even worse time, the Swede carding a quadruple bogey on the fourth and double bogey on the fifth after finding the water on both holes.
Stenson also took seven on the parfive 10th before birdies on the 11th, 12th and 16th helped repair some of the damage. However, he ended with another bogey, to finish with a disappointing 76.
Sergio Garcia, who was second to Scott at the Honda Classic, and fellow Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello had set the clubhouse target on five under after matching rounds of 67.
Graeme McDowell was four shots further back after signing for his round of 70, though two bogeys in his final five holes took the gloss off what had been a decent round and he is just outside the top 20.
Shane Lowry has got steadily worse in Miami, carding a 75 yesterday, having shot 71 and 73 in his opening two rounds. That was still way ahead of Steven Bowditch, with the Australia adding a third consecutive round in the 80s to trail the field on 25 over.