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McIlroy plays his ill-fated second shot on the 18th.

By Kent Gray
If it’s not another otherworldly addition to his own personal highlights reel on Earth, it’s another moment that makes Rory McIlroy seem, well, almost, mortal.

Mix it all together and the 30-year-old is still very much in the hunt for his fifth win of 2019 and third DP World Tour Championship title in six years. At -13 , the Northern Irishman lurks ominously just two strokes adrift of 54-hole co-leaders Jon Rahm and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

The ‘shot of the year’ 3-wood he hit into 18 Thursday en-route to an opening 64, or the nearly as impressive eagle repeat he conquered up with a 5-wood to the 7th in a Saturday 65 will be hailed if McIlroy does go on to win.

But it could just as easily be several what-ifs that are scrutinised if he falls just short come Sunday evening.

What if McIlroy hadn’t of inexplicably backed up his 64 with a score 10 strokes worse on Friday. Where did that come from? Perhaps even more puzzling was the world No.2’s decision to pull the trigger on a 5-wood from the semi-rough on his 54th hole Saturday when he was in two minds about the risky over water shot. Champions don’t genuinely take those half-hearted risks, not on Saturday evening.

In the end, there was no great harm done with McIlroy gritting out a par after taking a drop from the creek that winds its way up Earth’s closing hole. It also helped that Lorenzo-Vera bogeyed the last after getting wet off the tee to come back to the field and more specifically Rahm and McIlroy. But the decision not to trust his wedge game and impressive putting means McIlroy knows he probably let a birdie slip on the 54th hole. The way he looked ruefully to the heavens after his five-wood bounded into the water hinted at exactly that. You don’t win tournaments on Saturday evening. McIlroy will just hope he didn’t lose this tournament there.

“I wasn’t quite comfortable over the 5-wood on the second shot,” McIlroy said afterwards.

“It was in the semi-rough and I was thinking it could come out with no spin and if it did, the wind wouldn’t touch it and it would go long and that’s tricky, as well. So I was sort of in two minds of how the ball was going to come out and I didn’t really commit to it.

“Great up-and-down, and it was nice to see the ball slide in the right side and go bogey-free today was nice.”

It’s perhaps a little unfair isolating the 18th hole in what was a blemish-free day, on the scorecard if not from a course management standpoint. There was more short game wizardry and stroke-making like this that could have turned out much better:

But it’s not the first time McIlroy, who can make this maddening game look easy at times, has made a mental blopper like the rest of us regularly do. What he clearly does better than most is learn from his mistakes, as he did after Friday’s blowout to a 74 in the wind.

“Sometimes when I hit a lot of shots into the wind, I get a bit too much on my left side on the way down, and my left knee starts to go forward. My arms get too deep in the downswing and then I start missing it left, basically.

“So on the range last night, just trying to really feel like my left knee gets out of the way so my arms can come down in front of me a little bit more and I can start the ball a little bit more online. I just worked on that and thankfully it wasn’t as windy today. Still, I missed a couple of iron shots but I hit some good ones on the way in, which was pleasing.

“I think not just golf, but that’s what life is all about. It’s learning from what you do and being of a present mind so that you can learn as you go. As I said, I sort of figured out what I did wrong yesterday, and I was able to rectify it somewhat today and get myself back in the tournament.”

Perhaps McIlroy will reflect on the 18th overnight as he prepares for his final round of the year.

“It would be really cool, especially with the guys that are up there around the lead. You’ve got Rahmbo is playing great. Tommy, obviously Mike is holding steady up there. I’ve got to play another really good round of golf tomorrow to have a chance, but yeah, it would be awesome to win around here again, and obviously cap off what has been a great 2019.”