The roar carried past the 18th green, past the driving range and beyond the clubhouse.
Rory McIlroy sank 27-foot birdie putt on the final hole of his third round at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, and a massive gallery reacted appropriately.
But in case he was unaware of his final score, a jubilant fan who ran along the fence as McIlroy strutted away from the green reminded him.
“That’s a 62, Rory!” the fan yelled.
To the delight of thousands of patrons, McIlroy surged on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round. Here are three things we learned from the third round:
WGC-FEDEX ST. JUDE INVITATIONAL: Leaderboard | Tee times
McIlroy has rebounded
McIlroy is not letting last week’s missed cut at the British Open in his home country of Northern Ireland hinder his game.
His scores have gotten progressively better after he started with a 69 and turned in a 67 on Friday, followed by Saturday’s 62, which was the low round of the day.
“We’re very fortunate in golf that there’s always next week,” McIlroy said. “You can respond so quickly from setbacks and failures. The last four missed cuts that I’ve had, I’ve finished first, second, first and 12th. I said I’m a quick learner.”
The four-time major winner carded only one bogey Saturday as he hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation.
“Everything today worked really well,” McIlroy said. “Really happy with the wedges. I think that’s the reason why (I shot) five shots better today.”
Moving day for a reason
Saturday is called moving day on the PGA Tour for a reason. In addition to McIlroy, several others went low to put themselves in contention, including Brooks Koepka.
The world’s No. 1 golfer narrowly avoided disaster on No. 18 when his second shot stopped just short of the water on the bank between the hazard and the green.
Koepka got up an down for a par to complete a round of 64, leaving him at 11-under and one behind McIlroy entering the final round.
“I feel like I putted really good the last couple weeks and nothing’s fallen in and today they finally fell,” Koepka said.
Marc Leishman started the day seven shots off the lead and fired a 7-under 63 to rise to 9-under entering the final round. Tommy Fleetwood and Thorbjorn Olesen each shot 65 to rise from the middle pack into contention.
If not for bogeys on his final two holes, Justin Thomas would have finished the day at 9-under for the tournament. Still, he shot 66 Saturday to give himself a chance in the final round at a course he is playing for the first time.
“It’s definitely firmer,” Thomas said. “Of course it’s still good, it’s all in front of you. There’s nothing hidden, nothing tricky. You just have to go out and play your golf.”
Rockstar pairing
Sunday’s final pairing of Koepka (No. 1) and McIlroy (No. 3) has the makings of an epic showdown between two of the top three in the world rankings.
The two have won a combined eight career majors and both appear dialed in after their best rounds of the week on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a fun day,” McIlroy said. “I’m excited about it. I got to play alongside him the first two days and his game looked awfully impressive. So I need to go out and try and focus on myself and put a sort of thought or target in my head and just try and go for that.”
Even the stoic Koepka admitted he expects “a fun day” playing in a final pairing with McIlroy.
“It will be fun duking it out with him,” Koepka said. “I don’t know the last time we’ve actually gone kind of toe to toe. I can’t think of anything. You know, that’s who you want to go up against, especially if he’s going to be playing this good.”
