Rory McIlroy stood on the first tee to begin his third round at 2024 Dubai Desert Classic a full 10 strokes off the pace of 36-hole leader Cameron Young. McIlroy, a three-time winner of the event, will now stand on that same tee box tomorrow afternoon just two adrift at 12 under and in the final group alongside the American thanks to a sizzling 9-under 63 on Saturday.
Playing the front nine in a combined 3 over across the first two rounds, McIlroy understood the importance of getting his Moving Day off to a fast start. He did just that with an opening birdie and another on the par-5 3rd. The 34-year-old wasn’t done yet as a turkey of birdies before the turn saw McIlroy’s name rise to 8 under for the tournament.
“I just thought if I could play the front nine better,” McIlroy said referring to his mindset heading into Round 3. “I’ve played the front nine a little scrappily the last couple days. I thought if I could get off to a good start, I was a couple under through three, and I thought if I could pick one or two more up from that tough stretch from 5 through 9, and I ended up picking three up, birdieing 7, 8 and 9, which was fantastic. And then just kept it going into the back nine. I think for me, the key to this golf course is always the front nine because it is the tougher nine, and if you can play that nine well, you give yourself a ton of momentum going into the more scoreable back nine.”
HIs inward half featured less fireworks until he stepped to the par-5 18th. Picking up a pair of birdies on the earlier par 5s on this side, McIlroy reached greenside in two and faced a tricky up-and-down for birdie. Debating with his bagman, Harry Diamond, whether to chip or putt through the fringe, McIlroy ultimately wielded his putter. The decision proved to be a wise one as McIlroy’s third found the bottom of the cup and propelled his name to the top of the leaderboard at 12 under as he walked off the 18th green.
“I was walking up with the putter in my hand, and as I got closer to the ball, I saw that there was a lot of fringe to go through. And I said to Harry, like I sort of want to chip it but the lie wasn’t great. I could just see the club bouncing. I was like, I’ll just sort of, I guess, ride my luck with the putter, and it came out perfectly,” said McIlroy. “And as soon as it got on the green, it actually wasn’t as fast as I thought it was going to be once it got on the green. And it was tracking perfectly. Obviously a huge bonus for something like that to go in. But, you know, for the rest of the day, I played some very, very good golf. Definitely better than I played the last couple of days and nice to get myself right back in the tournament.”
McIlroy’s name drifted down the leaderboard as Young successfully navigated the second nine at Emirates Golf Club but not enough to force him out of the final pair on Sunday. The 26-year-old carded three back-nine birdies to reach 14 under and build his lead back up to two over not only McIlroy but also recently named DP World Tour Player of the Year Adrian Meronk.
Young will eye his first professional win since claiming back-to-back titles on the Korn Ferry Tour in the spring of 2021. Meanwhile, McIlroy hopes to become the first four-time winner of the Dubai Desert Classic and extend a reign of dominance at Emirates GC dating back to 2010.
“Obviously it’s been probably since those Korn Ferry Tour wins since I’ve won anything at all,” said Young. “It would be a nice feeling. It’s one of those times that you feel like kind of at peace with what you’ve done, and it’s something I would love to do tomorrow. But I’ve put myself in another great place to have a chance, and I’m happy with that. So if I go out and go through the process that we’ve kind of set up for tomorrow and see what happens, see what happens.”