Olympic medalist ambitions of Rory McIlroy from Ireland have solidified after an impressive third round score of 66, arriving the final day only four strokes behind the leading duo – Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm with a total of 14-under par. On Saturday, at Le Golf National near Paris, Mcllroy skillfully navigated without any bogeys, earning three birdies on the outbound half and two more during the final stretch. This pushed his total to 10-under par, landing him in a tied sixth position. The same score was achieved by fellow golfers such as USA’s number one ranked Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim hailing from South Korea and Thomas Detry of Belgium.
Often feeling like a local rather than a visitor due to the frequent chants of “Go Rory” by the boisterous crowd of 20,000, Mcllroy reflected that his superior score of 66 could be attributed to lessoning mistakes. He shared that his less than ideal position on the leaderboard in the past couple of days was a result of increased errors and today’s error-free game resulted in a more solid performance, enhancing his chances for a medal.
There was equal applause for Shane Lowry who matched McIlroy’s score of 66, moving his total to 5-under par and jointly positioned at 23rd.
The leader’s board was dominated by Schauffele, the reigning champion who scored 68, and Jon Rahm of Spain. Rahm recently clinched a victory at the LIV Tour in Staffordshire after a prolonged dry spell of 18 months and has shown remarkable form, including seven birdies in this round of 66.
Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain, just a stroke behind the leaders, voiced his excitement about being in the race for the gold medal after a impressive third-round performance of 69. Displaying his competitive edge, Fleetwood shared his firm belief that the thrilling leaderboard represents the competitive nature of the Olympic level.
Elsewhere, following a record-tying round of 62, Nicolai Højgaard of Denmark and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who played par for 71, jointly occupy fourth place, standing two strokes behind Fleetwood.
Great Britain’s Matt Fitzpatrick, however, had to withdraw from the competition on account of a thumb injury following a disastrous score of 81.