McIlroy chasing Lowry; Foley misses out; Leona cut
Rory McIlroy rode a hot putter to card a "scrappy" three-under 67 and keep Shane Lowry and leader Keith Mitchell in his sights in the Truist Championship.
The Masters champion made up for three bogeys with six birdies at a rainy Philadelphia Cricket Club.
He was five shots behind Mitchell, who shot 67 to lead by a shot on 12-under from a brilliant Lowry, who carded a 65.
"I felt like today was another scrappy one," said McIlroy, who believes the course is conducive to a weekend birdie chase and good feelings heading to the US PGA.
"I made what I feel are some uncharacteristic mistakes compared to how I've played the majority of the year.
"I've just got to try to iron that out over the next couple of days and try to shoot a couple of scores without as many bogeys on the card.
"If I can do that and just tidy it up a little bit, I feel like I'll be in a good spot heading into next week."
Lowry does not believe McIlroy will be any less ambitious having won the Masters, though he admitted to struggling after winning The Open in 2019.
"I keep saying to him, no matter what he does now, it doesn't matter, but obviously he's a very driven individual," Lowry said after a six-birdie round.
"I'm sure he doesn't think like that. I'm sure he's very driven to win more."
So, too, is the Offaly man, who believes his maturity as a golfer has led to him enjoying one of the most impressively consistent seasons of his career.
"There are a couple of things missing that have stopped me from really contending most Sundays, but there's a consistency throughout my game, as a whole," he said.
“I'm not doing much differently this year. I just think I'm maturing as a golfer, taking the rough with the smooth.
In the Turkish Airlines Open, France's Martin Couvra shot a five-under 66 to take a two-shot lead over South African Wilco Nienaber on 11-under.
But Conor Purcell missed the cut by five shots after adding a rollercoaster 71 to his opening 75 to finish on four-over.
Leona Maguire also missed the weekend in the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in New Jersey.
She made seven bogeys in three-over 75 to finish on five-over with three of those bogeys coming on par fives.
Andrea Lee shot 68 to lead early on eight-under before being joined on that mark by Somi Lee and defending champion Nelly Korda.
In the HotelPlanner Tour's Challenge de España in Girona, Jonathan Caldwell's one-under 70 left him joint 18th on six-under, five shots behind Sweden's Oliver Gillberg and Spain's Luis Masaveu with Alex Maguire (five-under) and Mark Power (four-under).
But there was no maiden Alps Tour win for Hugh Foley in the Memorial Giorgio Bordoni in Italy, where he closed with a 78 to finish 27th on three-under, 11 strokes behind Spain's Asier Aguirre.
Robert Moran shot four under 66 to finish 12th on eight under with Ronan Mullarney a shot further back after a 68.
Mullarney is ninth in the Order of Merit, Foley 16th and Moran 19th.
