Rory McIlroy Has Embraced the Challenge, and He Just Might Win This Memorial

McIlroy said afterward that it would mean a lot to shake Jack Nicklaus's hand behind the 18th green if he were able to win his first Memorial Tournament on Sunday.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Rory McIlroy would love nothing better than to win Jack Nicklaus’ tournament and have the Golden Bear there to greet him just off the 18^th green on Sunday at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

To do so is going to require McIlroy to overcome his own golf swing issues that have plagued him for months and a leaderboard filled with challengers.

McIlroy found himself tied for the lead and in the final twosome at the Memorial Tournament after shooting a 2-under-par 70. David Lipsky bogeyed his last two holes to fall into a tie with McIlroy.

“It’s a big tournament and I’ve got quite a bit of experience and you would like to think that gives you a little bit of an advantage,’’ said McIlroy, third in the Official World Golf Ranking, eighth in the SI World Golf Rankings and winner of 23 PGA Tour events.

“So everyone’s going to go out there tomorrow and regardless of where you are in the tournament, this golf course makes you a little uncomfortable anyway. With the way the leaderboard is and how bunched it is, it’s going to come down to who can sort of hold their head the most coming down the stretch.’’

McIlroy is far from a lock to win, given his own assessment of his game, which has seen him struggle to bring swing changes from the driving range to the golf course and an inability to hit fairways and greens. He hit just seven greens in regulation during the third round.

He’s tied with South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, a former Players Championship winner who won the Sony Open earlier this year, and Lipsky, who has played all over the world but never won on the PGA Tour.

Viktor Hovland is among five players tied for fourth, a shot back, with five more players tied for ninth, two shots back.

There are 31 players at or within four shots of the lead including Patrick Cantlay, Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama, who fell back after a third-round 75.

Last year, Billy Horschel held a five-shot third-round lead and cruised to a four-shot victory. This tournament has 41 players under par who are all within five shots of the lead.

“I was just focused on playing my game,’’ said Lipsky, 34, who has victories on the DP World Tour, the Asian Tour, the Sunshine Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. “It’s too hard out there to focus on anything but your game.’’

Lipsky got as low as 9 under par through the 12^th hole but bogeyed three of his last six holes to to shoot 72 and finish at 210, 6 under par. Kim shot 71. Bradley fired the low round of the tournament, a 65 that lifted him to within two shots of the lead.

Many eyes will undoubtedly be on McIlroy, who won earlier this year on the DP World Tour in Dubai, tied for second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but missed the cut at both the Players Championship and the Masters.

After a controversial withdrawal from the RBC Heritage – costing him $3 million in bonus money – McIlroy acknowledged some mental struggles and played poorly at the Wells Fargo Championship. He tied for seventh at the PGA Championship two weeks ago despite never “feeling comfortable over the ball.’’

Even here, McIlroy acknowledged that he’s not comfortable with his golf swing. Through three rounds, he’s hit just 26 of 42 fairways and only 30 of 54 greens.

“The big thing for me around here with how penal it is off the tee is just getting the ball in play,’’ McIlroy said. “So throttling back, hitting a lot of 3-woods, irons off tees. Using the driver sort of sporadically. That's been the game plan and that's what's really worked over the last three days.

“Just hanging in there,’’ he added. “As I said, getting the ball in play off the tee is really important for me. And embracing it. There was a couple of shots out there when I missed the greens that I was sort of looking forward to it. I think it's embracing that challenge and embracing the fact that you're probably not going to hit more than 12 or 13 greens out there. And I think with how my short game's been this week it's something I've been able to fall back on, which has been great.’’

At 34, McIlroy is playing the Memorial for the 12^th time, missing the tournament just once going back to 2010. He has four top-10 finishes but he’s never really been a back-nine contender on Sunday.

“It would mean a ton to me to win this tournament,’’ he said. “I've played pretty well here over the years without really having a realistic chance to win. So to be able to walk up that hill from 18 and get that handshake from Jack would be pretty nice. I won Arnold's (the Arnold Palmer Invitational) tournament a few years ago (2018), but he had already passed by the time. So it would be so nice to be able to do it and have Jack be there. It would be really cool.’’