NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Masters champion Rory McIlroy took another step toward emerging out of the doldrums with two big shots at the end of his round Saturday that led to a 4-under 66 and gave him a share of the lead with Chris Gotterup in the Scottish Open.
McIlroy kept in range of Gotterup on another gorgeous day of sunshine along the Firth of Forth and then came into everyone’s view in the middle of the back nine at The Renaissance Club.
Following a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 14th, his shot from a greenside pot bunker hit the pin for a tap-in par to keep his momentum. McIlroy was in trouble again on the par-5 16th; in just a horrible lie he could advance it only some 70 yards. With the wind at his back and wispy grass beneath the golf ball, he hit sand wedge from 173 yards to 10 feet for birdie.
Two closing pars put him at 11-under 199. That was enough to catch Gotterup, a big athlete with big power who had gone 34 holes without a bogey until the second hole Saturday. He fell into a tie with a three-putt from 60 feet for bogey on the 14th and failed to birdie the 16th.
Gotterup, who tied the course record with a 61 on Friday, had to settle for a 70. He will be in the last group with McIlroy, a daunting task given McIlroy already won at The Renaissance Club and is the biggest draw in most parts in the world, particularly in Scotland, and particularly with the British Open a week away.
“I think I’m pretty close to being back to the level I was at going into the Masters,” McIlroy said. “I think I’ve had a little bit of a lull, which I feel is understandable. So I’m just getting back to the level that I know that I can play at.”
Wyndham Clark had a 66 and will join McIlroy and Gotterup in the final group. Tee times are being moved up slightly to account for a forecast of heavy fog, which threatened to move in at various times Saturday but stayed offshore.
Clark was at 9-under 201 along with Jake Knapp, who for the longest time was the closest challenger to Gotterup until a wild finish of birdies on the closing par 3s and bogeys on the other holes for a 68.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Marco Penge also were at 201, with both English players posting a 69.
Gotterup and Knapp also are in prime position to extend their stay of links golf. The leading three players not yet eligible will earn a spot at Royal Portrush next week for the British Open.
McIlroy hasn’t looked the same since the great day of his career that Sunday at Augusta National, where he won a playoff to finally claim the Masters green jacket and joined the exclusive group of five other players with the career Grand Slam.
He has not seriously come close to winning since then. He arrived in Scotland off a two-week break and described his game at 80%.
McIlroy had few complaints about it after Saturday.
“Even though I scored better yesterday (a 65), I feel like I played my best golf of the week today,” McIlroy said.
He has not set foot on Royal Portrush since that Friday of the 2019 Open, where he did his best to atone for an opening 79 and wound up missing the cut by one shot. His caddie, Harry Diamond, was at the Northern Ireland links to look at some of the changes, mainly a few holes that have been lengthened.
It’s a big week for McIlroy, who has never won on home soil as a professional. And Sunday would be the perfect time for him to show his game is good as ever.
“When you do something that you’ve been dreaming your whole life to do, it was a huge moment in my life, my career,” he said of his Masters victory.
“I think I just needed that little bit of time. And to be back here for last couple weeks, and feel like I could actually digest all of it, I feel like I came to this tournament with renewed enthusiasm and excitement for the rest of the year.”
Gotterup for the longest time looked collected on Saturday. After a rough start, including a bogey from a fairway bunker on the second hole, Gotterup drove into a bunker on the short par-4 fifth that led to bogey, and then nearly had a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth with a shot that lipped out of the cup.
But that was the last of his birdies. He failed to convert on the two par 5s on the back nine. He ran out of par-saving putts when he three-putted the 14th. But he’s still there with a chance to add to his Myrtle Beach Classic title he won last year.
“I’m pleased, but definitely feel like I left one or two out there that would have been important,” Gotterup said. “After 61, it doesn’t feel as easy. I hung in there tough and put myself in a good spot going into tomorrow.
“I know what I’m capable of. I’ve won before – obviously different tournament. So I know what it takes,” he said. “It’s going to take a good round for sure, and I’m going to go give it my best.”
