Rory McIlroy hoping to stay ‘within touching distance’ of Canadian Open leaders as Tom McKibbin clocks European Open birdie run

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy pulls a club before hitting his shot from the seventh tee during the third round of the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The Northern Irishman moved back into the top 10 on seven under after a front-nine scoring blitz at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

McIlroy, a two-time champion, began the day eight off the pace after managing just one birdie in a two-over round of 72 on Friday.

However, he set about rectifying that at the par-five fourth where he holed an 19-foot eagle putt, and then followed up with three birdies – all from inside nine feet – to turn in 30.

His momentum stalled with a bogey at the 10th and he undid the good work of two more birdies at 12 and 15 by making a complete mess of the 577-yard 17th.

Having driven into a bunker he got too ambitious with his escape attempt and advanced his ball only a few yards into the rough, from where he failed to reach the green and left himself with a 27ft par putt which he missed.

He left a 13-footer birdie attempt short and while he was happy to be back in the reckoning McIlroy felt he could have done better.

“There are still some low scores out there. It felt like it could’ve been better but I got myself back into the tournament and hopefully within touching distance of the guys going into tomorrow,” he said in his post-round interview.

“I had a quick range session last night and felt that reset me. I just felt like my swing was a little out of sync with everything so I just worked on a little bit of tempo and rhythm.”

Also, Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin will have the chance to defend his European Tour title after four birdies in a row on the back nine got him within four of the lead after a 71 on Saturday.