Rory McIlroy was on the wrong end of one of the crazier moments you’ll ever see at a major on the 11th hole of the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush on Saturday. Hitting his ball from the rough, McIlroy somehow dug out a second, embedded ball that was below his in the grass.
It initially appeared as if McIlroy had whiffed on the shot as the ball popped straight up in the air and landed at his feet. However, replays showed he actually dug up a second ball on his followthrough that was embedded yet hidden jus tin front of his 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. His 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. McIlroy was suddenly seven shots off the lead again.
“I honestly don’t know [what happened]. It is the most weird, ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” McIlroy said after the round. “And then my ball came out really weird and spinny. it’s just so strange. I knew it wasn’t [mine], but it was just so weird.”
McIlroy got off to a hot start to his third round at The Open, making three birdies in his first four holes to send the Northern Ireland crowd into a frenzy. A long birdie putt on the first set the tone and he backed that up with two more on No. 2 and No. 4 to have the fans buzzing before Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick even teed off in the final game.
From that point, it got a bit scratchy for McIlroy; he missed a few opportunities and had a couple 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. “This could be one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had on a golf course,” said McIlroy later.
That putt and the ensuing roar from the crowd brought McIlroy’s bounce back and he rode that energy to another birdie on the 15th and kept it on the tracks down the difficult close at Royal Portrush to card a 5-under 66. That was one shot off the low round of Saturday and moved him into the top 5 on the leaderboard going into Sunday’s final round.
As he walked off the 18th green, he was just two shots behind Haotong Li in second place, but five back of Scheffler, who put some distance between himself and the field on Saturday. McIlroy hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, his most in a single Open round at a course other than St. Andrews.
“I’ve come here really just trying to embrace it,” McIlroy said of the fan support he’s received at his home course. “If I hadn’t won a major this year, if I hadn’t won the Masters, I would have felt differently. It’s almost a celebration of what I’ve been able to accomplish, and I want to celebrate with them, too. I’m really just trying to embrace everything this week. I’m having an incredible time. I’m really enjoying myself. I feel like I’ve given myself half a chance, and I’m excited for that tomorrow.”
Barring a late stumble from the world No. 1, McIlroy will need something even better than his third-round 66 to get the win in front of his home crowd that he so desperately desires. Still, after the heartbreak of 2019 where he missed the cut in this setting, Saturday’s walk around Royal Portrush where he finally treated his adoring Northern Irish fans to 18 holes of his A-game has to rank near the top of the most fun rounds of his career.