AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy’s completion of career Grand Slam will most likely have to wait another year.
Though he played a solid round of golf Saturday, shooting a 4-under-par 68, McIlroy is 6-under par, 10 shots behind leader Jordan Spieth entering Sunday’s final round.
McIlroy made it interesting on Saturday with a front-nine charge, shooting 4-under-par 32 by the turn to get to 6-under. When he birdied Nos. 13 and 15, the two par-5s on the back nine, McIlroy got himself to 8-under for the tournament.
But bogeys on 16 and 18 dropped him back to 6-under for the week, dampening his spirits.
McIlroy, as he has done all week, said the pressure and attention that comes with the pursuit of the Grand Slam, something just five players have accomplished, has not adversely affected him. He also has been trying to win his third consecutive major championship.
“I’ve really just tried to treat it like a normal golf tournament or treat it like any other year, any other year that I’ve came to the Masters,’’ McIlroy said. “I’ve done the same things. I wasn’t approaching it like I was trying to win the Grand Slam. I was approaching it like I was trying to win another golf tournament. So I don’t think it’s really had any impact on the way I’ve played this week.’’
One thing McIlroy has accomplished through three rounds is scoring on the par-5s, something that he felt was holding him back in the past. He noted earlier in the week that he was even par on the par-5s last year while eventual winner Bubba Watson was 8-under on them, Watson finished eight shots better.
McIlroy is 11-under par on the par-5s through three rounds this week.
“My game plan is pretty simple around here,’’ McIlroy said. “It’s to try and par the tough holes and pick off your birdies on the more gettable holes, like the par 5s and a couple of the shorter par 4s.’’
McIlroy sounded like he was prepared to get even more aggressive on Sunday because he’s so far back from the lead.
“I’m going to need something basically around 61, 62 to have a real chance,’’ he said. “I’m not sure that’s going to happen but we’ll see.’’
Phil Mickelson said he wore a pink shirt for Saturday’s round specifically as a nod to Arnold Palmer, who often wears pink.
“It’s not my color, it doesn’t look good on me, I don’t wear it well, but I had a premonition after spending time with Arnold Palmer — he likes to wear this color — and I just had a feeling that I needed to make a move,’’ Mickelson said. “I had it in the bag and pulled it out.’’
Mickelson said he will return to his usual black shirt for Sunday’s round — and there is a method to that madness.
“I like to wear dark colors on Sunday,’’ he said. “I’ve won three times here wearing black shirts, so I’ll wear a black shirt [Sunday]. It also helps me get more aggressive. Studies have shown, like NFL teams, when they wear black, they have more penalties. That’s what I need to do [Sunday] is play more aggressive.’’
The quietest twosome on the golf course Saturday was the Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia pairing. Neither is very fond of the other. This most recently stems from an incident at the Players Championship when Garcia accused Woods of intentionally distracting him during a round together.
Garcia, who said “I like talking’’ with his playing partners during rounds, was asked if there was a lot of talk between him and Woods on Saturday.
“Really?’’ he said.
“At the end, we talked a little bit,’’ Garcia said. “On two or three holes, 17 and a couple others. But mainly it was, obviously, saying, “Good shot” and “well done” and “good putt” and “good birdie” and things like that.
“I think that everybody makes a bigger deal than it is for both of us,’’ Garcia said. “I think we’re both fine and we showed it and I knew it was going to be fine. You guys and some of the people think that it’s going to be chaos and it’s not like that. At the end of the day, it’s just a golf game.’’
A year after Augusta National member Jeff Knox, playing as a marker paired with Rory McIlroy in the third round, beat McIlroy by one stroke shooting 70 to McIlroy’s 71, Knox played with Steve Stricker on Saturday. This time, though, Knox shot 77 to Stricker’s 73.
When there are an uneven number of players in the field after the cut has been made and the players are put out in twosomes, a non-competing marker is used to even out the groups. Knox, a multiple-time club champion at Augusta National, is often used as a marker.
“He’s a great guy, a nice player, too,’’ Stricker said. “We had a good time going around. It helps to play with somebody — especially of his caliber. He’s a good player and I could tell he’s been around here a few times. He never misread a putt.’’
The next Ryder Cup is not until 2016, but Ian Poulter gave Europe’s current captain, Darren Clarke, a nice preview as the two were paired together in Saturday’s Masters third round.
Poulter shot a 5-under-par 67, his lowest of 40 career rounds at the Masters and the lowest round of the day.
“It’s probably the best round of golf I’ve ever played at Augusta,’’ Poulter said. “I played pretty flawless golf, putting it in the right position off the tee and had a lot of good birdie looks. I hit 17 greens in regulation. It says a lot about my game right now, that I’m playing really well.’’