Catch him if you can, Rory – with Scottie Scheffler leading the way, few will believe the world No 1 can be caught during the final round at Royal Portrush
ROYAL PORTRUSH — Rory McIlroy loaded the afternoon with fire and brimstone, holing improbable putts and even unearthing a buried golf ball whilst hitting his own.
If any had the capacity to raise a ball from the dead it would have to be McIlroy, yet for all his powers of resurrection it is unlikely to be enough to halt the march of the inexorable Scottie Scheffler.
McIlroy gave it everything to secure at least some purchase on The Open Championship in front of his home crowd, but accepted the inevitability of an outcome being shaped by the world’s best golfer.
“The only thing that I can hope for is I get off to the same start that I got off to today, get the crowd really going, and then hopefully he might be able to hear that a couple groups back and maybe feel some pressure,” said McIlroy.
“But Scottie is an amazing player. He’s proved over the past two to three years that consistently he’s the best player in the world, and he’s going to be tough to catch.”
Hear, hear. McIlroy birdied three of the first four holes and ripped an eagle at the 12th with a 56ft putt that detonated the loudest noise he has heard on a golf course.
Yet whilst McIlroy was conjuring moments of magic, Scheffler was grinding the field into the Portrush dust with a flawless round of 67, a score than included 15 pars, two birdies and an eagle.
When he found trouble, twice in the long stuff, he calmly rescued the round with pitiless escapes to break the hearts of the chasing pack.
He starts the final day with a four-shot lead over China’s Haotong Li, with Matt Fitzpatrick one further back and McIlroy six back in a group of four.
Three years ago playing in the final group with Victor Hovland at St Andrews, McIlroy surrendered a four-shot advantage to let Cameron Smith walk away with the Claret Jug.
No lead on the final day of a major is under lock and key, of course. However, none since peak Tiger Woods has gone about the business of winning with such bloodless resolve.
All that existential, pre-tournament angst that set the agenda earlier in the week amounted to zip when the whistle blew. Not knowing what the point of victory might be is clearly no impediment to achieving it.
His very inevitability is Woods-like in its power to crush the opposition, good golfers who are beaten before they go to the first tee.
“I’m just trying to execute, not overthinking things,” Scheffler said of his round. “I feel like I’ve been doing the right things so far, and I’m looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”
That was pretty much it, no philosophical musings, no metaphysical tangents, just routine reasoning before a quiet night’s reflection and a pot of tea, caffeine free probably, before bed.