– Rory McIlroy (-11) has caught up with Chris Gotterup (-11) at the top of the Scottish Open leaderboard after the third round, so there is no choice but to seriously consider the possibility that the Northern Irishman could tomorrow secure his fourth victory of the year, finally confirming his return from that no man’s land where he found himself after making history at Augusta National.
– The Northern Irishman has recorded, no less, the best score of the day, a highly valuable 66 at this Renaissance Golf which increasingly resembles an old links, one of the good ones. It didn’t even need much wind for more than half of the players to fail to beat the course. Rory has now strung together eleven consecutive competitive rounds under par at this course. The first eight earned him the tournament win in 2023 and a fourth place in 2024; the next three, this week’s, have so far placed him in the leading group on Sunday alongside Gotterup, the young American with a tremendous drive (what a duel tomorrow from the tee…) who today carded a round at par. Rory worked his round slowly today, building up, with the patience and calm demeanour that characterised him in the early months of the year, when he had a firm grip on world golf and ended up breaking down the door of the most exclusive club in the world of golf, that of the superheroes with the Grand Slam Career.
– Alongside McIlroy and Gotterup will also be Wyndham Clark (-9) in the final group, as tomorrow Sunday the starts are brought forward and will be played from both tees, in groups of three. Clark, by the way, also recorded a 66 and he should be considered, because with him you never really know. This year he has barely been seen, but this week he is doing very well in Scottish lands, as has happened in previous editions. He says that coming to play the links motivates and even relaxes him. So: watch out for him. Today he was among the best playing in the group with the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-6), who did not have his best day, despite playing under par (69). The Texan has been struggling on the greens for two days, as he is sinking very few. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be his week, but with him five shots off the lead, it would be better not to write him off.
– There are other world top ten players who have also hinted at giving up. Ludvig Aberg (-7), Sepp Straka (-7), and Xander Schauffele (-5), for instance, were in the last groups and were unable to beat the course. The Swede, who was pushing and eyeing the lead, was undone by a triple bogey on the 13th hole, after missing the second shot from the centre of the fairway, sending the ball far to the left, to an impossible and rough area separating the course from the sea.
– The effort of Jorge Campillo (-4) should be appreciated, starting in the early groups of the morning and recording an excellent round of 67 strokes. The Extremaduran has a very difficult task to grab one of the three Open spots that will be awarded tomorrow to the top three on the leaderboard who are not already qualified. But the goal is not impossible: to give an idea, let’s point out that right now the last of those three spots would be held by the German Matti Schmid (-7), who will start with a three-shot advantage over Campillo. The standings are still going to change significantly, and evidently, it’s about making a great final round and sitting back to wait. Something similar would apply to Alejandro del Rey (-3), although the Madrid native complicated things a lot today with a card of 73 strokes in a round where he paid dearly for almost every mistake.
