Rory McIlroy at Players Championship 2015: Sunday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
Entering the day as one of 25 players within four shots of the lead, Rory McIlroy was 18 strong holes away from earning back-to-back victories. The world No. 1 didn't quite get there, but he continued his positive momentum heading into the year's second major with a solid round.
McIlroy carded a two-under score of 70, leaving him three shots behind leader Sergio Garcia in a tie for sixth place entering the clubhouse. He had three birdies against one bogey for the round, which included a solid 34 score in the back nine.
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 70 |
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Long and accurate off the tee all day, McIlroy arguably could have put himself in a better position to take the tournament. He left eight birdie putts on the table, a few of which were very makeable. A two-putt on the par-five ninth and a narrow miss on a lengthy putt on the par-three eighth were among the closest calls he had on the round.
Those putts were particularly painful because they came on the front nine, a place where McIlroy struggled to get it together all week. He played the first nine holes one-over for the week and was 10 under on the back nine. Speaking to reporters after the third round, McIlroy noted his front-nine struggles were mostly mental:
"I think a lot of holes on the front nine are very straight away, where there's a lot of doglegs on the back nine and it sort of, you can visualize shots better, I feel. I feel on the front nine, like even holes like 2 it's, obviously you need to hit a draw there, but even 4 and 5 and 6 and 7, they're all like pretty straight holes and I sort of get up there and I've got about six shots in my head that I can hit. And I just need to try and pick one of them and commit to them and sometimes, of the six shots, I don't hit any of them.
"
The good thing for McIlroy is that he was fantastic on the back nine. The unfortunate thing is he wasn't fantastic enough. After posting an even-par 36 on the front, which featured a birdie on No. 2 and a bogey on No. 5, McIlroy again righted the ship once he made the turn.
McIlroy birdied No. 11 and No. 12 after a par on No. 10, one-putting both holes after a series of close calls on the front nine. A critical missed opportunity reared its head on No. 13, as McIlroy hit his tee shot within seven feet before rolling his birdie putt three feet past the hole for a tap-in par. He came within inches of another birdie on No. 14, albeit on a far more difficult putt.
A pair of errant approaches on No. 16 left him with par on a par five, and another oh-so-close miss on No. 17 forced McIlroy to par out and close with a 70.
The tournament overall will be McIlroy's fifth-strongest finish in six PGA Tour appearances this season. Since being cut at February's Honda Classic, McIlroy has placed no worse than 11th in his subsequent five appearances. He got his first win of the season last week at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship and has four top 10s overall.
The Players Championship is part of a sustained run of golf for McIlroy heading into the summer. He is scheduled for Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, the BMW Championship in England and his foundation's tournament in Northern Ireland in the coming three weeks.
"This is sort of the middle of a long stretch here,” McIlroy told reporters earlier this week. “I got three events in a row after this, so it's all about trying to conserve as much energy as possible and putting all that energy into the 18 holes that I'm going to play that day.”
That busy schedule should allow us to get the best possible representation of the player McIlroy will be heading into the U.S. Open. To many, his 2011 championship began his ascent to the top of the rankings, but he's been wildly inconsistent stateside since. McIlroy is yet to finish better than a tie for 23rd in his three U.S. Opens since the win.
There is still more than a month remaining until the tour hits Chambers Bay; anything can happen in the meantime. But if McIlroy continues his streak of strong performances heading into the year's second major, it'll be hard to pick anyone else as the favorite.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.
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