Rory McIlroy at Deutsche Bank Championship 2016: Sunday Score and Reaction
Rory McIlroy played one of his best rounds of the year Saturday, and the momentum carried over to Sunday, when he fired home a five-under 66 to climb up the Deutsche Bank Championship leaderboard and solidify himself as a contender entering Monday's final round.
After starting the day at four under, the Irish superstar now sits at nine under overall with a real shot at a top-five finish.
Here's a hole-by-hole rundown of McIlroy's performance from Sunday's third round at TPC Boston, which featured six birdies and an eagle:
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| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Overall | -3 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -5 | -6 | -7 | -8 | -8 |
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Score | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Overall | -8 | -8 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -9 |
And here's an overview of the top of the tournament leaderboard, which featured Brian Harman, Kevin Chappell and Paul Casey at the front of the pack following the conclusion of McIlroy's round:
McIlroy started his day in inauspicious fashion with a bogey on No. 1, but that setback didn't hamper him in the slightest.
Rather than lament the early slip-up, he responded with a bevy of birdies on the front nine, including a conversion on the par-five second that pushed him right back to four under for the tournament.
Then, when the fifth hole rolled around, McIlroy got the party started.
The world No. 5 rattled off four straight birdies, and he did so by deploying a reliable driver and some newfound focus on the greens.
PGA Tour on Twitter offered a slow-motion look at the picture-perfect swing that kept McIlroy in rhythm off the tee box:
Most impressive, though, was the way he putted in the early stages of the third round.
Although he's struggled with the flat stick all season long, with a 130th-ranked mark of minus-.135 strokes gained from putting, he was dialed in on the greens for the second day in a row.
"There's a lot of stuff going on but just really trying to simplify the motion as much as I can and I can get it going on sort of a good arc and trying to keep the putter face square at impact," McIlroy said on Saturday after he posted 3.42 strokes gained on the greens, per GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard. "If you can do that, you're going to have a good chance to hole some putts."
McIlroy was particularly sharp on the front nine, where he poured in several makable putts from varying distances to begin his ascent up the leaderboard, as PGATour.com's Mike McAllister noted:
Despite all of those encouraging strides, the 27-year-old couldn't close out his round in blemish-free fashion after he fell victim to the 461-yard par-four 12th for the second time in three days.
After he made a double bogey on No. 12 during Round 1, McIlroy carded a six and dropped two shots to fall back to six under and interrupt an otherwise impressive run.
Pars on Nos. 13 and 14 and a bounce-back birdie on No. 15 settled him back into a groove. He closed out his round in par-par-eagle fashion after he nearly made an albatross on No. 18 to enter Labor Day with a real shot to card his first top-five finish since mid-July.
McIlroy put forth a strong showing at The Open Championship and finished fifth thanks to a final-round 67, but he proceeded to miss the cut at the PGA Championship before logging a 31st-place finish at the Barclays last weekend.
But now that he's started to refine his touch around the greens and putt with a deft hand, McIlroy has a chance to put the finishing touches on a successful weekend with an emphatic effort Monday that can put him back on the right track as the 2016 season draws to a close.
Post-Round Reaction
According to McAllister, McIlroy sounded quite pleased with the way he performed on Sunday:
Looking ahead, Rory has a real chance to continue his climb up the leaderboard even more on Monday if he can start faster. According to the Golf Channel's Justin Ray, McIlroy is four over on the first three holes but has performed well on the remaining holes through three rounds.
Even if he doesn't come away with a title, McIlroy can take solace in the fact that he's gained 4.4 strokes from putting and missed just two putts inside of 10 feet over his last two rounds, according to Ray.
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