McIlroy looking for 24th win at the Memorial; Zhang leads in Jersey
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy reckons his greater experience could be key as he seeks his 24th PGA Tour win and the chance to shake Jack Nicklaus' hand by winning the Memorial Tournament in Ohio today.
On a day when Holywood Golf Club's Tom McKibbin grabbed a share of the lead in the European Open in Hamburg, fellow clubman McIlroy scrapped his way around Muirfield Village and chiselled out a two-under 70 to share the lead with Korea's Si Woo Kim and David Lipsky on six-under-par.
They're one clear of a five-man group featuring the likes of Viktor Hovland with another five players, including Major winners Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley and Hideki Matsuyama, just two shots behind.
And yet McIlroy feels he's got a slight edge in experience after battling for three days to hit the top of the leaderboard.
"It's a big tournament, and I've got quite a bit of experience, and you would like to think that gives you a little bit of an advantage,'' said McIlroy, who is not yet hitting the ball as he'd want after an inconsistent run but has still found a way to get it in the hole.
"So everyone's going to go out there tomorrow, and regardless of where you are in the tournament, this golf course makes you a little uncomfortable anyway.
"With the way the leaderboard is and how bunched it is, it's going to come down to who can sort of hold their head the most coming down the stretch.''
There are 31 players within four shots of the lead, and McIlroy knows that with the course playing hard and the early starters likely to get the best of the conditions, someone could come from the middle of the pack to set a formidable target.
Masters champion Jon Rahm is tied 23rd on two-under while world number one Scottie Scheffler is alongside Shane Lowry in 32nd on one-under par.
McIlroy has the advantage that he doesn't have to go low to get to the winning number, and after winning the Dubai Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year and finishing tied second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he'll be hoping that player turns up today and not the man who missed the cut at both the Players Championship and the Masters.
Mental struggles caused him to skip the RBC Heritage, costing him $3 million in bonus money. And having played poorly at the Wells Fargo Championship and tied for seventh at the PGA Championship two weeks ago despite never "feeling comfortable over the ball", it will not be easy to keep all his demons at bay.
He's admitted all week in Ohio that he's still uncomfortable over the ball.
"The big thing for me around here with how penal it is off the tee is just getting the ball in play,'' McIlroy said. "So throttling back, hitting a lot of three-woods, irons off tees. Using the driver sort of sporadically. That's been the game plan and that's what's really worked over the last three days."
He added that he's been "just hanging in there."
"As I said, getting the ball in play off the tee is really important for me. And embracing it. There was a couple of shots out there when I missed the greens that I was sort of looking forward to it.
"I think it's embracing that challenge and embracing the fact that you're probably not going to hit more than 12 or 13 greens out there. And I think with how my short game's been this week it's something I've been able to fall back on, which has been great.''
He'd certainly love to win in his 12th visit to the tournament, where he has never had a chance to win.
"It would mean a ton to me to win this tournament,'' he said. "I've played pretty well here over the years without really having a realistic chance to win.
"So to be able to walk up that hill from 18 and get that handshake from Jack would be pretty nice. I won Arnold's (the Arnold Palmer Invitational) tournament a few years ago (2018), but he had already passed by the time. So it would be so nice to be able to do it and have Jack be there. It would be really cool.''
Lowry has an outside chance after a third-round 70 left him tied 32nd on two-under though it might have been far better.
He was four-under par with two holes to play but finished with back-to-back bogeys to slip back into the pack.
Seamus Power is tied for 50th on three-over after a 75, hitting just six fairways and as a result, only nine greens.
On the LPGA Tour, rookie Rose Zhang has a chance to win on her professional debut in the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.
The 20-year-old former world amateur number one shot a six-under 66 to lead by two strokes on 11-under par from Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul, India's Aditi Ashok and Cheyenne Knight.
If she wins, she will be the first player to do so while making their professional debut on the LPGA Tour since Beverly Hanson in 1951.
Leona Maguire is 10 shots behind Zhang after closing with a double-bogey to post a third-round 74, while Stephanie Meadow also shot 74 to share 49th on three-over.
