Despite ‘frustrating’ 4-under round, Rory McIlroy lurks at Irish Open

It was a good round and a bogey-free one, but Rory McIlroy says it could have been so much better.

McIlroy shot a four-under 68 on Saturday at the K Club and is now in contention to claim his second Irish Open title, as he’ll head to Sunday four shots behind 54-hole leader Adrien Saddier.

“I was walking off the 18th green, I said to Harry this is probably the most frustrating four-under-par round of golf I’ve played in a while,” McIlroy said Saturday. “I had plenty of chances. It got gusty at the end. I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances, hit some good putts that didn’t go in. Had a nice one that sort of dropped at 14.

“I feel like all day I was just trying to keep myself in close position to the leads. I feel like I could be a couple of shots better, but overall still in a decent position going into tomorrow.”

McIlroy made birdies on 4 and 5, added another on 14 and made his final one on 18, the third time he birdied that hole this week.

He made four bogeys and opened with 71 on Thursday, although he’s yet to make a bogey in his last two rounds. He shot 66 on Friday to vault back up the leaderboard and has stayed within striking distance after his Saturday round.

“I felt like I hit it good,” he said. “I hit it good off the tee again. But, yeah, the wind caught me out a couple of times. Whenever it was, I think what’s hard as well is the greens are so soft, so you’re trying to take balls out of the air so they don’t spin as much. But then if it’s dying wind, you’re not getting the effect of the wind, so you’re playing for wind but it’s not really effective. It was hard to judge a little bit today. I did my best. The wind caught me out a couple of times, but, yeah, if I can hit it the same again like I’ve done the last couple of days, maybe see a couple more putts go in tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be right there.”

McIlroy won the Irish Open in 2016 but has yet to win another. He’s still searching for his first victory since completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters in April. He also has another important event he’s prepping for later this month — winning an away Ryder Cup in New York.

But for now, he’s focused on one more round in Ireland.

“If I can get off to a fast start tomorrow and put a little bit of pressure on the guys behind, hopefully I’ll be at the back nine in contention,” he said.

You can watch the final round of the Irish Open from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday on Golf Channel.