Rory McIlroy at HSBC Champions 2015: Saturday Leaderboard Score and Reaction
Rory McIlroy bounced back with a solid round of four under during Saturday's HSBC Champions 2015, but the Race to Dubai leader is unlikely to challenge for the title during the final round, as he still chases the leaders by a big score. After three days, he sits on eight under.
Russell Knox and Kevin Kisner were still out on the course at the time of writing, but both were on pace to finish ahead of Jordan Spieth, whose round of 63 has him sitting five shots ahead of McIlroy.
Here's a look at the Northern Irishman's scorecard from the third round:
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| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 34 |
| Overall | -4 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -5 | -6 | -6 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 34 |
| Overall | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -8 |
McIlroy had opened his HSBC Champions account with a solid round of 68 before a poor showing on Friday seemed to all but ruin his chances of winning. The Northern Irishman shot level par to stay under four on the leaderboard, tying him with Spieth in the standings, 10 shots behind Kisner.
According to the European Tour's official Twitter account, it was going to take a monumental effort for either to win:
Spieth did everything in his power to rise up the leaderboard on Saturday. A bogey on the second hole saw McIlroy again fall behind the pace, but he bounced back immediately with a birdie on the third.
Compared to Friday, McIlroy's play from the tee looked a little smoother, and his trademark power seemed to be back. The European Tour shared this nice shot of one of his drives:
He parred the rest of the holes until finding back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth, giving him a score of two under after the front nine. It marked the third consecutive day McIlroy finished with that score in China.
The back nine doomed his chances of winning on Friday, and he once again looked a little shaky at times on Saturday. McIlroy had a great start with a birdie on the 10th, but he would play par the rest of the way, excluding one more birdie on the 16th.
His score of four under is impressive considering his struggles on Friday and the food poisoning he suffered from earlier this week, which he admitted was sapping so much of his energy it was making him feel “disinterested,” via MailOnline's Derek Lawrenson.
McIlroy's driving distance improved improved compared to Friday's outing but still fell well short of his performance on Thursday, where he averaged over 300 yards. Per the European Tour's official website, he averaged 289.5 yards on Saturday.
His putting once again let him down, however, as he needed 32 to complete the course on Saturday, three more than on Thursday, when he finished the day with the same score.
McIlroy seems unlikely to challenge for the title on Sunday, but with the BMW Masters and the all-important DP World Tour Championship right around the corner, a solid final round may be exactly what the Race to Dubai leader needs to find some momentum.
If he can get the small kinks out of his game and fully recover from the food poisoning that ruined his preparation, the HSBC Champions may have been a solid warm-up tournament for the final two major events on the European Tour's calendar.
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