Rory McIlroy at PGA Championship 2015: Saturday Leaderboard Score and Reaction

Rory McIlroy posted his best score of the 2015 PGA Championship thus far in Saturday's third round at Whistling Straits, but the odds are stacked against him when it comes to contending for a victory.

The two-time PGA Championship winner fired a four-under 68, which put him at six under overall. He was seven strokes behind leader Matt Jones when he entered the clubhouse. With McIlroy's third round officially in the books, here is a look at where things currently stand on the leaderboard, courtesy of PGATour.com:

Although he hit a few rough patches throughout the round, the Northern Irish star earned mostly positive results in the form of one eagle, six birdies and seven pars. Here is a rundown of his third-round scorecard with one day of play remaining:

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	5	3	4	5	4	3	4	4	36
Round 2	4	4	3	3	3	5	3	5	4	34
Overall	-2	-3	-3	-4	-6	-5	-5	-4	-4	-4
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	5	3	4	36
Round 2	3	5	4	3	4	5	4	3	3	34
Overall	-5	-5	-4	-5	-5	-4	-5	-5	-6	-6

As pointed out by ESPN.com's Jason Sobel, McIlroy's third round was feast or famine for the most part:

Rory was steady in each of his first two rounds, as he twice carded a one-under 71 but wasn't exactly thrilled with himself entering Saturday. He believed he squandered some golden opportunities, according to Sky Sports:

"

I felt like I played better than what the score reflected, so I'm a little bit annoyed. I felt like I should have got that ball up and down on seven and then I had a great chance on eight for birdie and didn't take that. A couple of days in a row where I haven't finished the round of golf the way I wanted to. I don't know if it's rust or I just didn't putt well, so maybe just work on that a little bit before I tee off (Saturday) and it would be great to hole a few more putts, because I feel like I'm giving myself plenty of chances.

"

McIlroy improved somewhat in that regard during the third round, as he made more of the putts he needed for birdie and even eagle but remained inconsistent, as some of his good holes were canceled out by poor play around the greens that resulted in bogeys.

The world's No. 1 golfer came flying out of the gates with birdies on Nos. 2 and 4 along with an eagle on the par-five fifth.

As seen in this video from the PGA Tour's official Twitter account, the four-time major champion's putter was locked in early, as he knocked down a 64-footer to move to six under for the tournament:

After McIlroy momentarily pushed his way into the top 10, Sobel joked about the soccer-related ankle injury McIlroy returned from after missing The Open Championship:

It didn't appear as though McIlroy's ankle was bothering him, but his hot start was cooled on the par-four sixth with a bogey. He posted another bogey two holes later on the eighth when his tee shot betrayed him, per Brian Wacker of PGATour.com:

McIlroy made the turn at two under for the day, which was somewhat disappointing considering his opening five holes.

Rory's uneven play continued on the back nine, as he got a stroke back with a birdie on the 10th before bogeying the 12th and bouncing back with another birdie on No. 13.

After a par on the 14th, McIlroy once again gave a stroke back on No. 15 with a bogey. That hole was notable since his second shot struck a spectator, which sent the ball into a green-side bunker.

Rory was unable to recover after the wayward shot, but his up-and-down day continued with a birdie on the par-five 16th, which marked his fifth of the day.

The 26-year-old star then closed out his round positively with a par on the 17th and a birdie on No. 18 to put himself at six under par for the tournament.

Despite the strong finish, McIlroy will need an incredible final round in addition to some help from the leaders coming back to him a bit to get near the top of the leaderboard.

That was to be expected, though, considering the situation he found himself in entering the third round, according to Justin Ray of Golf Channel:

Per Ray, nobody in McIlroy's position prior to Saturday's round has come back to win a major in the final 36 holes over the past two decades:

The third round was another example of McIlroy playing fairly well but also letting himself down in certain situations. Despite his nice array of birdies or better, Rory didn't make as much progress as he should have because of some untimely bogeys.

One can only assume rust has been a factor after missing about a month because of the previously mentioned ankle injury. His pure talent has allowed him to excel off the tee and on approaches, but his feel with regard to the short game has suffered.

McIlroy simply being out there for the final round of a major shortly after suffering an injury is impressive, and even if he falls short of his fifth major title, the performance he has turned in should set him up nicely for the FedExCup events coming up in 2015.

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