Rory McIlroy at Frys.com Open 2015: Saturday Leaderboard Score and Reaction
Rory McIlroy continues to show off his inconsistent play at this year's Frys.com Open. The 11-time PGA Tour winner fired a 71 on Saturday to lower his three-round score to six under par with 18 holes to play.
After getting off to a solid start with a 34 on the front nine, three bogeys in a four-hole stretch from Nos. 11 through 14 negated that work. It's been the story of his performance this week, as he hasn't been able to build momentum.
Here's the leaderboard after McIlroy walked off the course in Napa, California:
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This is what McIlroy's scorecard from Saturday looked like:
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 34 |
| Total | -6 | -6 | -7 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -7 | -7 | -7 |
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 37 |
| Total | -7 | -6 | -5 | -5 | -4 | -5 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 |
An unusual moment occurred late in McIlroy's round, per ESPN's Jason Sobel:
Fortunately, nothing happened, and McIlroy was able to finish off the round unscathed with a par on No. 18. After the round, per Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner, the 26-year-old was able to laugh it off:
The big story for McIlroy coming out of Friday's second round, which saw him fire a 71, was putting. He was good at getting near the hole, reaching 10 greens in regulation, but needed 28 total putts to get through the round.
Speaking after the second round, per Brian Wacker of PGATour.com, McIlroy admitted that his short game has been problematic for a while:
"Just very frustrating. It's sort of been like this since I've been back. … Just need to see some putts going in the hole, get some confidence. … I think it's more mental than anything else. Whenever you don't see anything go in, it makes it harder and harder each and every hole that goes by.
"
Putting continued to be a problem for McIlroy on Saturday. He continues to hit greens in regulation, connecting nearly 75 percent of the time in Round 3, but he is losing 1.439 strokes with his putter.
Looking at McIlroy's three-round score, per Golf Channel, there are a lot of parallels to examine:
As McIlroy was winding down the 2014-15 PGA Tour season, which ended with him finishing in 16th at the Tour Championship, he often performed worse on the weekends, with four of his last six weekend rounds featuring scores of at least 70.
At his best, McIlroy is able to close, shooting 130 over the final two rounds at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship, for example. But that ability hasn't been there for him lately, with the results showing it.
If the 2015-16 season is going to be more fruitful for McIlroy, his ability to finish will be telling. He isn't in a slump, per se, but a strong Sunday would be an encouraging sign for the former top-ranked player.
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