Rory McIlroy makes priority clear after Truist revival | Golf | Sport

Rory McIlroy finished four shots off the lead going into the third round at the Truist Championship in North Carolina, and made it clear what he’s concentrating on as his career progresses. The two-time Masters champion sits tied for ninth going into the penultimate day’s action with Im Sung-jae leading the field.

McIlroy will have to leapfrog Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood, who finished the day second after an impressive 67 and four under for the round, and Alex Fitzpatrick in third – tied with American Justin Thomas. The Quail Hollow Club was the first competitive course for McIlroy since his famous win to retain the Green Jacket at Augusta National last month. The 37-year-old left himself with it all to do as he couldn’t save par after a visit to the bunker on the 18th. McIlroy had the highest percentage of greens in regulation across the opening two days.

McIlroy went into Friday’s action one under par and after a slow start, he pushed up the leaderboard having returned this week after a month away following his win at Augusta. Following his triumph 12 months ago, McIlroy admitted that he didn’t quite have the sense of fulfilment after the Career Grand Slam but this week, he looks in form ahead of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club next week.

The Masters champion told Sky Sports: “I do, and I feel like I got that hunger back in the middle of last year, you know going into Portrush in the Open at home, I think gave me a spark. And then after that it was looking towards the Ryder Cup. And then winning that at home in Ireland was an amazing thing to make sure that my game was in a really good spot for the team and to get as many points on the board for Europe as I could.

“There’s things that I have to look forward to, and I always have to see light at the end of the tunnel. You know, I think I’ve made everyone aware of what my goals are for the rest of my career, and making the majors a priority.

“That’s sort of what drives me forward. Obviously, I still need to play events and stay sharp. Any event that I turn up to I want to win. But the majors are my priority, and it’s making sure that I’m ready to go for them and try to add to the six that I have.”

One player that McIlroy will have to halt or hope loses momentum, as well as the leader Im, is Fleetwood. After eight under in the first two rounds, the Englishman said: “These greens are tough, especially the practice with how fast they were, they caught everyone by surprise which was nice to hear. They’ve been more forgiving since the rain over the last two days.

“You can do everything well and feel like it but the ball has to go in the hole and sometimes it doesn’t. You just have to get your eye in feeling like the ball is going in, that makes the world of difference.

“So far over the last two days, it’s been nice to hole out well. I didn’t feel like I hit it very well today, I felt like I played very, very well yesterday. I felt like I struggled but scored really well and made the most of it, never hit myself into any trouble. I think it’s a hard course to hit greens so I think it’s a greens in regulation course, you’re going to have a lot of ups and downs. I think being patient, understand what a good shot is and go from there really.”