Locals left frustrated at Irish Open
Last updated 7th Jul 2018
Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will go into the final day of the Irish Open at Ballyliffin unlikely to make any impact on the top of the leaderboard.
Tournament host McIlroy made the cut after a solid opening couple of rounds - something he failed to do last year at Portstewart.
But he’ll go into the final round one under, having carded a level-par 72 on day three in Donegal.
“With that little bit of rain coming in the middle of the round I felt like the greens must have slowed up a little bit. I struggled to get the ball to the last few holes. I’m stuck in neutral but hopefully I can finish the week with a good one tomorrow,” said McIlroy.
For McDowell, it was another day of frustration and failure to get to grips with the challenging course.
He finished up one over for the day to leave himself at the same score going into the final round.
However, he spoke of fatigue and the effects of his packed schedule.
“I’ve just got so much golf to play. Something’s got to give. I haven’t seen my family much at all. It’s been a really hard run the last 2 months. Gotta be honest, I’m really ready for a proper week off,” said McDowell.
Meanwhile a resurgent John Rahm enjoyed a much improved third round as he continued the defence of his title.
A superb front nine preceded a change in the weather, which appeared to affect his game.
The frustrated Spaniard parred the entire back 9, to finish 5 under for the day, 6 under overall.
“I would have taken 5 under before teeing off, no doubt. But I wouldn’t have at the tenth tee, based on how good I played on the front nine. I just couldn’t get a couple of birdie putts in the back 9 that would have given me the superb round I thought I was going to have,” said Rahm.