Rory McIlroy was on the wrong end of one of the craziest moments you’ll ever see at a major championship on the 11th hole at Royal Portrush on Saturday, when he hit his ball from the rough and dug out a second embedded ball that was below his.
Initially, on TV, it looked like McIlroy had whiffed on his shot as the ball popped straight up in the air and landed at his feet. Replays showed, however, that he dug up a second ball on his followthrough that was embedded in the ground just in front of his golf ball.
McIlroy was as stunned as anyone else over the bizarre sequence, picking up the second ball and having a bit of a laugh at the insanity of the moment. McIlroy’s actual ball ended up landing well short of the green, and he failed to get up-and-down for par, dropping his first shot of the day to go back to 5 under. He was suddenly seven shots off the lead again.
McIlroy got off to a hot start to his third round at the 2025 Open Championship, making three birdies in his first four holes to send the Northern Ireland crowd into a frenzy. From that point, things got a bit scratchy for McIlroy; he missed a few opportunities and had a few wayward tee shots that kept him from continuing his charge up the leaderboard.
The tough break leading to a bogey on No. 11 — which followed what seemed to be a great break to avoid the gorse bushes off a wayward tee shot — seemed to end any real hopes of contending on Sunday. However, the golf gods decided to give him one back on the 12th as he rolled in a long eagle putt to jump to 7 under and create a massive roar from the home crowd.
Be sure to follow along with live leaderboard updates and highlights from Round 3 on Saturday at the 2025 Open Championship.