:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QNGIZZSPUTPUDTCSWESPXDNPKE.jpg)
Rory McIlroy missed the 54-hole cut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California on Saturday, but he almost went out in spectacular fashion with what would have been an astonishing eagle at the par-five 18th.
After pulling his drive into a water hazard – the Pacific Ocean – McIlroy took a penalty stroke and then hit a brilliant third shot from 220 yards.
His ball clattered against the pin but did not drop, a birdie only minor consolation as he signed for a level-par 72 at Pebble Beach to finish on one under, two shots off the cut mark.
The former world number one, however, did not sound too worried about the state of his game.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PWMKGMCARKTR7C4N6QZ7PEMATE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/FEBSK6NFKM3QMUFTUCXZTAUETQ.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/M3EVANWP6QS4QY57L5U7ZJCHJU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YC5NDFGZMIGSI7G2DYOPNHM774.jpg)
“I just need a few putts to fall,” he said. “I let the greens yesterday get into my head and it was hard to get out of that mindset.”
Shane Lowry will be the only Irishman involved in the final day after he carded a four-under 68 at Spyglass Hills to move to seven under and a tie for 16th position.
Paul Dunne, Pádraig Harrington, Séamus Power and Graeme McDowell all went out at the third-round cut stage.
World number one Dustin Johnson stayed on track for a second successive victory on the PGA Tour but was joined in the lead by journeyman Ted Potter Jr.
While Johnson compiled a ho-hum two-under-par 70 at Pebble Beach, Potter flirted with a sub-60 round at nearby Monterey Peninsula, one of three courses used for the event.
The left-hander picked up 11 strokes through 15 holes, only to bogey his final two holes for a nine-under 62.
The somewhat deflating finish left Potter, whose lone PGA Tour victory was in 2012, locked with fellow American Johnson at 14-under 201, two strokes clear of Australian Jason Day and American Troy Merritt.
The leaders will be able to keep an eye on each other on Sunday when everyone plays the final round on the Pebble Beach host course.
Johnson missed a chance to put some distance between himself and the pack when he negotiated the inward half in two over, but seemed unfazed.
“The couple of bogeys I made the wind was a little bit tricky and I just got on wrong side of the holes, which I knew better,” he said in a greenside interview.
“All in all I felt good about the game, feeling really good about tomorrow.”
Johnson, who won the Tournament of Champions by nine strokes in January, is chasing a third Pebble Beach victory, after previous successes in 2009 and 2010.
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Pebble Beach GC, Pebble Beach, California, United States of America (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, Par 72):
Monterey Peninsula Country Club Course
201 Ted Potter, Jr. 68 71 62
203 Troy Merritt 67 67 69
205 Chez Reavie 67 72 66
206 Beau Hossler 65 67 74
207 Paul Casey (Eng) 67 70 70
208 Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 68 71 69, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 71 69 68
209 Scott Stallings 72 69 68, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 68 72 69, Sam Ryder 73 69 67, Ryan Armour 70 70 69, Scott Piercy 71 71 67, Cameron Tringale 70 68 71
210 Ricky Barnes 70 71 69
211 Grayson Murray 74 68 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 68 72 71, Brice Garnett 71 72 68, Johnson Wagner 73 69 69
212 JT Poston 71 69 72, Joel Dahmen 71 72 69, Denny McCarthy 72 66 74, Derek Fathauer 69 72 71, Rob Oppenheim 67 73 72, Zecheng Dou (Chn) 67 74 71, Jonathan Byrd 73 71 68
The following players did not make the cut:
213 J.B. Holmes 71 69 73, Patrick Reed 75 66 72
214 George McNeill 70 74 70, Robert Garrigus 70 69 75, Robert Streb 71 72 71, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 72 74 68
215 Brendon De Jonge (Zim) 69 73 73, Scott Brown 73 71 71, J.J. Henry 71 72 72, Tom Hoge 75 72 68
216 Ben Crane 68 72 76, Nick Taylor (Can) 75 69 72, Lanto Griffin 76 69 71
217 Cameron Davis (Aus) 73 72 72
218 Stewart Cink 73 77 68, Brett Stegmaier 72 71 75
219 Billy Hurley III 74 70 75, Rick Lamb 74 74 71
220 Vijay Singh (Fij) 75 69 76, Tim Herron 75 74 71, Matt Jones (Aus) 74 73 73
221 Austin Cook 72 74 75, David Hearn (Can) 71 77 73, Tyler Duncan 72 74 75
222 Conrad Shindler 75 75 72
225 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 80 74
Spyglass Hill GC Course
204 Jon Rahm (Spa) 67 67 70
207 Pat Perez 68 70 69
208 Peter Malnati 67 69 72, Shane Lowry (Irl) 67 73 68, Aaron Wise 65 69 74, Russell Henley 68 70 70, Kyung Ju Choi (Kor) 69 70 69, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 67 68 73, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 69 69 70
209 Ben Martin 68 75 66, Ryan Blaum 68 71 70, Bryson DeChambeau 70 69 70, Bubba Watson 68 71 70
210 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 74 68, Eric Axley 69 67 74, Patrick Cantlay 66 72 72
211 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 69 72, Bronson Burgoon 70 70 71
212 Sean O’Hair 69 70 73, Vaughn Taylor 70 70 72, Rod Pampling (Aus) 69 73 70, Chesson Hadley 68 74 70, Brandon Harkins 68 71 73
The following players did not make the cut:
213 Cameron Percy (Aus) 66 72 75, Chris Kirk 67 74 72, Matt Atkins 72 67 74, Nate Lashley 70 70 73, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 67 71 75
214 Nicholas Lindheim 68 75 71
215 Richy Werenski 73 73 69, Talor Gooch 67 74 74
216 Andrew Putnam 70 73 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 75 71
217 Adam Schenk 71 70 76, Martin Piller 68 73 76, Matt Every 70 76 71, Steve Wheatcroft 71 73 73, Dominic Bozzelli 69 72 76
218 Corey Conners (Can) 68 75 75
219 Benjamin Silverman (Can) 70 74 75, Jim Herman 70 74 75
220 Brian Stuard 72 70 78
222 Derek Ernst 69 80 73, Charlie Beljan 72 74 76, Seamus Power (Irl) 72 72 78, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 75 76 71
223 Roberto Diaz (Mex) 75 74 74
228 Ethan Tracy 76 80 72
229 Jason Bohn 71 79 79
234 David Solomon 74 79 81
236 David Duval 79 76 81
Pebble Beach GC Course
201 Dustin Johnson 67 64 70
203 Jason Day (Aus) 69 65 69
204 Steve Stricker 69 65 70, Patrick Rodgers 70 65 69
206 Phil Mickelson 69 65 72, Brian Gay 69 69 68, Kevin Streelman 65 69 72
207 Kevin Na 70 68 69
208 William McGirt 73 69 66, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 70 67, Daniel Summerhays 70 68 70, Jordan Spieth 72 66 70
209 Julian Suri 66 67 76, Will Zalatoris 67 69 73
210 Jimmy Walker 68 69 73, Sam Saunders 72 66 72, Jonathan Randolph 69 69 72, Kevin Chappell 73 68 69, Brandt Snedeker 71 70 69
211 Trey Mullinax 72 67 72, Nick Watney 70 69 72, Chris Stroud 68 68 75, Jason Kokrak 70 67 74
212 James Hahn 74 68 70, Matt Kuchar 66 71 75, Keith Mitchell 67 73 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 72 71
The following players did not make the cut:
213 Tom Lovelady 72 68 73, Mike Weir (Can) 77 67 69
214 Maverick McNealy 74 70 70, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 74 72, Gary Woodland 69 72 73
215 Hunter Mahan 71 73 71, D.A. Points 70 71 74, Billy Horschel 71 69 75, Zac Blair 69 72 74
216 Ernie Els (Rsa) 77 68 71, Luke Donald (Eng) 75 70 71, Kevin Kisner 71 75 70
217 Adam Scott (Aus) 77 70 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 71 73
218 Jerry Kelly 72 76 70
219 Colt Knost 76 69 74, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 74 74
220 Shawn Stefani 72 73 75, Paul Dunne (Irl) 71 72 77, Ken Duke 79 70 71
223 Kyle Thompson 72 75 76
226 Kelly Kraft 73 72 81
228 Cody Gribble 75 73 80
229 Andrew Yun 75 73 81
231 Peter Jacobsen 78 75 78
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)