GULLANE, Scotland — Well, this would be fitting, wouldn’t it?
A day before Rory McIlroy returns to Royal Liverpool as the presumptive Open Championship favorite, he will enter Sunday at the Scottish Open as the 54-hole leader. For what feels like the umpteenth time this season (and what our records tell us is actually the third time), he will hold the lead heading into the final round of an event, a victory firmly within the realm of possibility — and the ensuing Open Championship hype train following not far behind.
Of course, it would be only fitting for McIlroy to land his first win of the PGA Tour season here at the Scottish. He has played some of the best golf of anyone alive over the last month and has a series of heartbreaks and no wins to show for it.
His game is rounding back into form and, he says, it’s easier for him to “find it” now than at any point in recent memory. He also hasn’t won since a victory in Dubai in January, which marks a surprising cold streak for a golfer of McIlroy’s ability and track record.
It would also be fitting for him to bag that first win of the season hours before he will face the full burden of expectation in Hoylake. He is already the presumptive betting favorite heading into the week — the product of both that recent track record and his first Open win in 2014 also coming at Royal Liverpool.
McIlroy will already be the most talked-about name on-site in the wake of [gestures vaguely at the state of professional golf]. Now it’s entirely possible he will do those things while also having claimed his latest victory less than a day before his arrival. Considering the way his last 18 months (and, to some extent, nine years) have gone, that much would not be surprising.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
It’s just as likely that McIlroy (-13) won’t win on Sunday. He leads by just one heading into the final round at the Renaissance Club, and the leaderboard behind him is stacked. Tom Kim is one back. Tommy Fleetwood is two back. Shane Lowry is three back. Max Homa is four back.
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The good news, if you’re Rory, is that things are supposed to get hard tomorrow. Winds upward of 40 mph are in the forecast, along with steady rain. For the second consecutive day, the DP World Tour has moved up tee times in order to accommodate the weather. But that’s about the end of the good news if you’re Rory. Is it possible the thing you want most is also the worst thing for you?
“Again, I can’t even predict what a good score is going to be because we haven’t seen the conditions yet,” he said. “But I’d say anything in the red numbers tomorrow is going to be a hell of a score.”
There’s a real chance that Rory is fighting the field at the Scottish Open, but on Saturday night in Gullane, it sure feels like he’s fighting the inevitable.
“I remember my first Scottish Open at Loch Lomond in 2005,” he said Saturday. “Eighteen years is too long for me to pick up a trophy.”