Deep into day three of the Open and Rory McIlroy is still surfing gigantic waves of momentum and goodwill. He has jumped to six under, at this point only four shots off the lead, with each birdie sounding like a sonic boom over Portrush. It is manic, messianic and a lot of fun. And then it gets weird. Twilight Zone weird.
McIlroy has just twirled a drive into the rough at the 11th. For a moment he fears that his ball is lost, only to get the all clear from the marshal. Better still, he will be playing from trampled-down ground. He pauses. Takes aim. And then as his ball flops wearily into air, a member’s Titleist ball, which has been deeply buried under ground, suddenly jumps up beside him.
McIlroy smiles in disbelief before telling his caddy: “I was on a golf ball!”
“It’s never happened to me before,” he says later. “Just a really weird – I had obviously no idea there was a ball anywhere close to my ball.
“It was so, so strange. I thought I was going to get a flier, and I looked up at my ball, and I could see it spinning up against the wind.”
It costs McIlroy a bogey five, and to add further insult he hears the roars signifying that Scottie Scheffler has just moved to 12 under par, seven shots clear of his score. But after the cruel comes the divine.
McIlroy is now on the 12th, about to caress a 56-foot eagle putt down the slope, right to left. It trundles steadily along before appearing to lose pace 10 feet from the hole. “It’s gotta go,” says the man from Golf Digest, crouching just off the green. And it does. Only to slow down again. “It’s gotta go,” he says again.
The roars tell you what happens next. The ball disappears down the hole. And suddenly fans are jumping. Many throw their hands in the air. There are cries of “Rory! Rory!”. He is now seven under and beaming.
“The eagle on 12 was one of the coolest moments of my career – it’s one of the largest roars I’ve ever heard on a golf course,” he says later. “To get those shots back straight away was nice.”
The crowds surrounding McIlroy were so deep throughout the third round that many supporters were forced to rely on secondary senses to work out what was going on. The frequent eruptions from the galleries. The urgent cries of encouragement. And, especially in the first few holes, the smell that something mystical might be in the air.
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No wonder people were getting excited, especially after McIlroy made birdies on the 1st, 2nd and 4th. But then chances went begging. The 375-yard par-four 5th has been one of the easiest holes all week. But after a booming drive into the light rough, McIlroy was unable to get up and down for birdie. While on the par-five 7th, which had a scoring average of 4.53 on the day, another chance slipped by.
Still, another birdie at the 15th left the Northern Irishman signing for a 66 and tied for fourth on eight under. He is six shots behind Scheffler. But he is still hoping for a miracle.
“It was incredible,” he said of the atmosphere. “It was so much fun. I got off to the perfect start, three under [on the day] through 4. Felt like at the end of the front nine there, at least through 11, the par on 7 felt like a bogey, and then the bogey on 11.
“Then to play those last seven holes at three under I thought was a good effort. Yeah, I played well. I rode my luck at times, but it was an incredible atmosphere out there. I feel like I’ve at least given myself half a chance tomorrow.”
The same could not be said for the champion here six years ago, Shane Lowry, who shot a three-over-par 74 and then revealed he had been up most of the night with a stomach bug. “I’m not great,” he says. “I haven’t eaten today yet. I tried to get a protein drink down me after eight holes, and I felt like throwing up all over the place. Yeah, it’s been a tough day, but I’m not going to make excuses. I played poorly today and obviously had a bad finish.”
Lowry, who is now three over for the tournament, adds: “You get home late and have to dust yourself off and wake up at 2.30am with cramps in my stomach. “
McIlroy will hope for a smoother night before the mayhem begins again. “I started Oppenheimer last night,” he says. “Try to get through another hour of it tonight and maybe finish it tomorrow morning.”
He knows, though, that the way Scheffler is playing, it would take something out of a Hollywood movie to defeat him.