Golf:Ireland's Rory McIlroy will take a two shot lead into the final round of The Honda Classic after a sublime back nine at Palm Beach Gardens helped him to a 66 and 11-under-par. If the 22-year-old wins, he will be crowned world number one and on today's evidence it will take something very special to stop him.
The Holywood golfer did card two bogeys at six and seven, immediately after three consecutive birdies from the third, to reach the turn in a one-under-par 34, but he barely put a foot wrong on the way in. When he did, on the 11th and 18th, he still managed to pick up shots with superb putts from the fringes of the green.
It all adds up to another Sunday chasing top spot, after he fell just short against Hunter Mahan last week, in the final of the WGC Match Play in Arizona. However, McIlroy says the two aren’t comparable.
“It’s a different format, the approach is slightly different,” he told The Golf Channel after his round. “I didn’t really have much time to think about it last week. I went from the semi-final straight into the final.
“I just got to approach this like any other tournament and try and go out there and win tomorrow. That’s all I can focus on.”
McIlroy will be the second youngest number one in the history of the game, behind Tiger Woods, if he wins tomorrow, but he insists the dizzying heights he has reached so early in his career do not faze him.
“This is where I want to be, this is why I play golf, to put myself in contention to win big tournaments and try and be the best player in the world. Hopefully tomorrow I can go out with the same mindset, and the same strategy and hit some great golf shots and hopefully win my first tournament of the season.”
McIlroy's two closest challengers - Americans Tom Gillis and Harris English, ranked 269th and 216th respectively - will be his playing partners tomorrow. Gillis is a 43-year-old self-confessed journeyman, English a 22-year-old rookie professional.
England's Justin Rose had shared the halfway lead with Gillis, but had to scramble for all he was worth for a one over 71 that left him in joint fourth place and four behind.
With television commentator Johnny Miller purring "that's as good as you can swing", McIlroy looked a class act as he hit back from a sticky patch midway through the front nine.
His hat-trick of birdies began at the long third, where he two-putted, before going to hole from 22 and 10 feet. He was two clear at that point, but promptly bogeyed the next two, coming up short of the green on the sixth and three-putting the short seventh.
That gave Gillis the lead again and he stayed there with a remarkable run around the turn. On the eighth he took a shoe and sock off and rolled up his trouser leg to play his ball out of the edge of the water and holed from 33 feet for par.
He followed that with a 28-footer for another par, birdied the 10th from five feet and then rescued a further par from 33 feet again on the next.
McIlroy had birdied the 11th from 45 feet after his approach from the rough only just carried the lake and a glorious nine-iron to five feet at the 15th led to him regaining top spot on his own when Gillis failed to get up and down from sand there.
Bunkered in two at the par five last, McIlroy splashed out 12 feet past the flag, but made it to complete another fine day's work.
Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, move to four under with a 69, but Pádraig Harrington dropped back to level par with a 72
With the possibility of thunderstorms in the area tomorrow afternoon, tournament organisers have moved tee-times forward. McIlroy is due to tee off at 3.30 pm, Irish time. Winds as high as 25 mph are also expected.
