McIlroy sets another Open record, enters Sunday at 14-under

Entering Sunday’s final round, McIlroy has the lowest 54-hole score in Open history (199), the lowest score ever in an Open relative to par (14-under), and an eight-stroke lead on Y.E. Yang of Korea.

“I tried to set myself a little target, little goals,” McIlroy said. “That really kept me in the present.”

On a day of uncharacteristically low scores, Jason Day of Australia and Lee Westwood of England shot 65 each and are nine strokes back at 5-under. In all 26 of 72 players broke par.

“I saw Webb Simpson walk through nine holes at 4-under-par,” Day said. “If you could play well, you could go out and shoot a low score.”

“It was more getable than any U.S. Open I’ve ever played,” Westwood added.

The ease with which McIlroy, 22, is dominating the Open is testament to his skill set, in particular, his ability to hit the ball long and high, the perfect recipe for success at Congressional.

But his record-smashing performance also can be attributed to a course softened by this week’s rain and muted by last week’s heat, which stunted growth of the rough. The Blue Course has fallen far short of the Open ideal – firm and fast.

“The greens are soaking wet and so are the fairways,” defending champion Graeme McDowell said. “It’s target golf. It’s not really a U.S. Open.”

On a target course, McIlroy is taking dead aim at his first major championship after contending in the last three. Last summer, he finished tied for third in both the British Open and PGA. Two months ago, he blew a four-shot lead in the Masters collapsing with a final-round 80. This year, he has held the lead after six of seven major championship rounds.

“The more I put myself in this position, the more and more comfortable I’m becoming,” McIlroy said. “I thought today would be a really good indication on how I was going to fare over the whole weekend because [of] going out in the last group with the lead.”

This lead may be too big to lose, especially on this course.

“He’s free swinging it and aiming at every pin, like he’s supposed to shoot 65,” McDowell said of his countryman from Northern Ireland. “The setup has allowed him to do that.”

McIlroy wobbled early on Saturday, driving into the deep rough on No. 3 and hitting his approach into a bunker at No. 4. But on both occasions, he saved par. At the third hole, McIlroy chopped out from under a tree, then hit a wedge to within two feet. At the fourth, he exploded from the sand to within a foot.

“I think the up and down at three from 90 yards was huge,” McIlroy said. “I sort of found my rhythm quite quickly after that.”

At No. 5, when McIlroy drained a 10-foot birdie putt, he took an eight-stroke lead. A routine two-putt birdie came later at No. 9, where he ripped a 4-iron, 224 yards to the back of the green.

After a bogey from the sand at No. 10, McIlroy got it right back on the toughest hole on the course, No. 11, a monstrous 496-yard par 4, where he curled in a 15-foot downhiller, after a brilliant 7-iron from the rough, from 188 yards out. A birdie at No. 14 from six feet expanded his lead to nine, before Yang birdied No. 16 to inch closer.

McDowell spoke to Phil Mickelson’s caddie, Bones Mackay, who walked with McIlroy in the first two rounds. Mackay described a player with no fear of Congressional.

“He said Rory has pretty much hit at every pin. That’s not what you’re supposed to do at a U.S. Open,” McDowell said. “Bones said he’s played out there the last few rounds like it’s the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.”

But McIlroy knows exactly what tournament this is and how much it would mean to make his major breakthrough in America’s national championship.

“From the experience that I had at Augusta, I know now how to approach tomorrow,” McIlroy said. “At Augusta it was all a little bit new to me, going into the final round with the lead. I didn’t know whether to be defensive, aggressive, got for it, not go for it. But now I know what I need to do, which is a great thing to have.”

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