Rory McIlroy chasing Canadian Open three-peat with Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood in rivalry

CT Pan holds a two-shot lead on the RBC Canadian Open, with Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose all within the group sharing second; Watch the ultimate spherical stay on Sunday from 5pm on Sky Sports activities Golf

Rory McIlroy has set his sights on a historic third consecutive RBC Canadian Open title after shifting inside two strokes of the lead heading into the ultimate spherical in Toronto.

The world No 3, who has gained the final two editions of the occasion in 2019 and 2022, fired six birdies in an excellent bogey-free 66 at Oakdale Golf & Nation Membership on Saturday to remain in contact with 54-hole chief CT Pan.

McIlroy quickly jumped into the solo lead when he adopted a front-nine 33 by firing three consecutive birdies from the eleventh, though a three-putt par on the final leaves him in a six-way tie for second on 12 below.

Rory McIlroy has carded rounds of 71, 67 and 66 over the primary three days

“It is nice to place myself in with a shot tomorrow,” McIlroy mentioned. “I by no means gained a match thrice in a row. I felt like final yr the win wasn’t only for me it was for a number of different issues. However this one, this yr, if I have been in a position to recover from the road, will likely be solely for me.”

Pan birdied his last two holes to shut a third-round 66 and transfer prime of a congested leaderboard on 14 below, whereas McIlroy is joined two strokes again by Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Mark Hubbard, Andrew Novak and Harry Higgs.

Justin Rose is chasing a second win of the yr, following on from February’s AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am success

Rose charged into rivalry by birdieing six of his final seven holes to card a six-under 66, as Fleetwood recovered from a sluggish begin to make a hat-trick of birdies from the seventh and add 5 extra on his again 9 to register a third-round 64.

“I felt just like the leaderboard’s been very, very bunched up, so simply staying hanging round type of over these first two days was necessary,” Fleetwood mentioned. “An excellent spherical going right this moment and also you simply must exit and revel in these days after they come.”

England’s Aaron Rai birdied the par-five final to maneuver to 11 below and into tied-eighth alongside Canada’s Nick Taylor, who charged into rivalry earlier within the day with a round-of-the-day 62, whereas Corey Conners completes the top-10 and is 4 again on ten below.

Tyrrell Hatton fell six off the tempo after solely making a level-par 72 on a low-scoring day, whereas US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is contained in the top-20 and eight behind after a three-under 69.

Who will win the RBC Canadian Open? Watch early protection of the ultimate spherical on Sunday from 5pm on Sky Sports activities Golf, forward of full protection from 6pm.