After shooting four over par in his opening round, Rory McIlroy had gradually climbed his way back up the leaderboard heading into Sunday.
He’s three shots off the leading Alex Smalley, and just one shot behind the chasing pack, as six players are tied for second on this jam-packed leaderboard.
McIlroy knew he needed to mount a charge on Saturday to give himself any shot at winning, and he did exactly that, shooting a 66 to rocket up the leaderboard.
To complete the comeback, McIlroy needs one more exceptional round, and Golf Channel analyst Rex Hoggard detailed exactly what he must do to give himself a good shot at winning on Sunday.
The front nine at Aronimink proved more gettable than the back nine on Saturday, so players were able to mount an early charge and threaten the leaders. That’s exactly what Hoggard thinks McIlroy must do in order to win his third PGA Championship.
Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav, he said, “I think when you look at what he has done since Thursday, when clearly he got on the bogey train, and he was aggravated, and he did use the foul language, he has gotten better in every aspect of his game since then.
“Certainly driving, and that’s the one area that probably aggravated him the most. Even at the Masters, we talked about how he did not drive the ball very well. He putted really well on his way to his second green jacket. Everything has sort of landed in place.
“So when you look at it, I think I had to ask you to make sure this is right. After the first round, he was seven shots off the lead. After the second round, he was five, and now I think he’s three.
“So that’s the kind of progress a player like Rory McIlroy wants to see at a major championship because he knows all he needs to do is get to number 10 tomorrow within one or two strokes of the lead. And you, you know, he has to love his opportunities, love his chances.”
McIlroy would likely have bitten your hand off if you offered him a leaderboard like this going into Sunday, so all he has to do now is play his best golf.
McIlroy was four-under at one point in his round, but a bogey on the 17th hole dropped him back to three-under, and three back of the lead.
That was a big swing, and one that stopped him from being the favorite to win the tournament. After his round, McIlroy said if he did what he set out to do on Saturday.
The Masters champion said, “Yeah, honestly, I felt like if I went out and — I had a chance to do this. If I had to play the last three holes at 1-under instead of 1-over, I would have got to 5.
“And I sort of thought if I could go out today and get to that, it would make the leaders shoot under par to either be with me or ahead of me. So I didn’t get there. I made, I guess, a couple of mistakes the last three holes.
“I feel like I still did enough to think I have a chance going into tomorrow.”
There’s no such thing as the perfect round, and because the leaders didn’t run too far ahead of him, McIlroy has a great chance of winning his third Wannamaker Trophy.
