FedEx St. Jude Invitational 2019: Rory McIlroy Leads Brooks Koepka After Round 3

Sunday's final round at the 2019 St. Jude Invitational will be must-see television.

There are 13 golfers within five strokes of the lead, which is held by former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy at 12 under. He is followed close behind by current world No. 1 Brooks Koepka. McIlroy fired off a score of eight under 62, tied for the best round of the tournament, to shoot up the leaderboard and into contention at the year's final World Golf Championship event.

Koepka will play alongside McIlroy in the final pairing Sunday after shooting a six-under-64. Matthew Fitzpatrick, Marc Leishman and Alex Noren round out the top five. Fitzpatrick led after 36 holes but fell two spots after shooting a 69, putting him at 10 under for the tournament.

McIlroy played by far his best round of the tournament despite struggling off the tee, thanks in large part to a strong performance on the short grass. He knocked down three birdie putts outside 15 feet, including a sensational 27-footer on No. 18 to close out his round.

The 2019 season has been one of reassertion for McIlroy, who gave up his European Tour card to focus on the PGA. Aside from the majors, which continue to elude him, McIlroy has been remarkably consistent. He has finished in the top 10 in every non-major he entered this season aside from a missed cut at The Memorial.

"I guess the pressure's off a little bit," McIlroy said of his play after missing the cut at The Open, per Rex Hoggard of Golf Channel. "You've had a bad week and you go to the next week and you say, OK, I didn't do this well, I didn't do this well. So, you're sort of trying to focus on that rather than winning the tournament."

Koepka has been by far the best player in major golf tournaments, finishing fourth or better in six of the last seven majors, including all four in 2019. He had himself nearly as strong of a day as McIlroy, hitting all but one of his greens in regulation. 

"It will be fun," Koepka said. "Rory's playing some good golf, especially with the start he got off to. I played with him the first two days. The way he struck it was really impressive. He's putting well and you know he's going to be tough to beat."

Bubba Watson and Justin Thomas are both among the contingent of golfers sitting at seven under with a chance to make a run Sunday. Thomas is the reigning champion of the event.