Skip to navigation Skip to main content

McIlroy Chases Title Defense At CJ Cup

McIlroy will take his 17th career lead/co-lead through 54 holes where he has converted nine wins. The Northern Irishman, who has a chance to become World No. 1 with a win, hit only 11 greens in regulations but his cause was aided by two superb eagles on the fourth and  12th holes. “I think the eagle on 12 was the most fun just after how far I hit the tee shot,” said McIlroy of his 376-yard drive. “It was sort of you take away those two holes and I was even par for the rest of the round. Felt like it was a little scrappy coming in, but did enough to hang in there and shoot a solid score.”

A win could push McIlroy back into the World No. 1 ranking past Scottie Scheffler for the ninth time in his career. “You know, the ranking will just take care of itself if I do what I want to do. Ultimately, I just want to win this golf tournament. So for me, tomorrow I need to go out there, sort of set myself a score that I want to shoot, try to do that. Again, focusing on that, hope that that ends up with a couple of things, a trophy and getting back to the top of the world rankings. But all I can focus on is going out and shooting a good golf score and if I can do that, I guess that's all I can ask of myself.”

 

Third-Round Notes – Saturday, October 22, 2022

 

Weather: Sunny. High of 74. Wind NE 6-12 mph.

 

Third-Round Leaderboard

Rory McIlroy                       66-67-67—200 (-13)

K.H. Lee                                68-67-66—201 (-12)

Kurt Kitayama                     66-65-70—201 (-12)

Jon Rahm                            69-62-70—201 (-12)

Two players                        203 (-10)

 

Things to Know

  • Rory McIlroy makes two eagles and posts his second consecutive 67 to take his 17th career 54-hole lead/co-lead
  • McIlroy looks to reclaim World No. 1 and earn the second successful title defense of his career
  • Jon Rahm birdies three of his final seven holes to sit one stroke back
  • K.H. Lee seeks to become first player from Korea to win THE CJ CUP
  • With two career runner-up finishes, Kurt Kitayama looks to claim his first TOUR title
  • THE CJ CUP was launched in 2017 as Korea’s first official PGA TOUR event and has been played in the U.S. since 2020 due to the challenges of COVID-19

Image: Getty Images

More on Air