Rory McIlroy posted his first under-par round of the 2017 Masters on Saturday, but he failed to make much headway on the leaderboard with his third-round, one-under 71at Augusta National Golf Club.The four-time major champion entered the day five shots behind the leaders, and by the time Saturday's round ended, he wassixstrokes off the pace in a tie for 11th ateven paroverall:As was the case in his first two rounds, McIlroy struggled to avoid mistakes Saturday. Although he registeredfourbirdies, his one bogeyand one double bogeynearly erased his progress:The Northern Irishman appeared to be making a move early with a birdie on No. 2 after putting his lengthy eagle putt close, as seen in this video courtesy of Masters Highlights:McIlroy then followed that up with his second consecutive birdie on the third by virtue of a well-placed chip to set up a short putt:A big reason for McIlroy's early success was the fact that he was bombing the ball off the tee, as pointed out by the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:With the wind not playing much of a factor in comparison to the first two rounds at Augusta, ESPN.com's Jason Sobel envisioned McIlroy potentially making a run:Just when it seemed like McIlroy was gaining ground, however, he fell back to square one because of a couple of difficult holes.After bogeying the par-four fifth, McIlroy's biggest blunder occurred on No. 7 when he carded a double-bogey six to drop to one over on the day.The 27-year-old did get one back on the eighth, though, after narrowly missing a long-range chip for eagle:The rest of McIlroy's round was completely clean and riddled with pars aside from the par-three 12th.While his tee shot left plenty to be desired, he bailed himself out with the putter by nailing a long birdie putt from the fringe to get to one under for the round and even par for the tournament:Despite turning in his best round of the tournament, McIlroy did little to instill confidence that he will be able to win his first career green jacket.A low score was likely needed, and while the conditions were conducive to that type of day, he failed to take advantage.McIlroy can't be counted out, but with so many golfers between him and the top of the leaderboard, he'll need both a dominant day and a lot of other factors to break his way Sunday.Post-Round ReactionOn the heels of his one-under third round, McIlroy talked about the idea that he may have left some shots on the course, according to David Facey of theSun:I had some great chances on the back nine that I should have converted. I had a birdie opportunities on 11 and 14, and where I hit my drive on 13 and 15, I should be making birdie there.I was just in between clubs on both those holes and took the wrong one on both and left myself in awkward positions. That's the way it is. I think I probably could have shot a 67 or 68 but there were just a few too many wasted opportunities.McIlroy also discussed likely needing his best career round at Augusta in order to have a chance to complete the career Grand Slam:"My best score round here is 65 and I'm going to need something like that if not lower to have a chance tomorrow.I'll be able to tell you better tomorrow night if I think those missed opportunities have ruined my chances, but I just need to go out and play a good round of golf tomorrow."The conditions should allow McIlroy to have a strong final round, but he has yet to show this week that his form is good enough to make a run.
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