Genesis Scottish Open Round 3 Leaderboard: McIlroy hopes take major hit after nightmare start

Rory McIlroy's bid for a second Genesis Scottish Open title suffered a major setback after a disappointing start to his third round before heavy fog forced play to be suspended once again at The Renaissance Club.

Saturday's play was heavily disrupted by poor visibility. The third round was first suspended at 10:45am local time before a delay of more than two hours pushed the leading groups back to the course after 6pm. Further fog rolled in shortly before 8pm, bringing play to another halt.

McIlroy, who shared the lead after 36 holes and was playing in the penultimate group alongside Matt Fitzpatrick, managed to complete just eight holes before the suspension, but they proved costly.

The World No.2 carded bogeys at the 3rd, 5th and 7th holes to slip back to six-under par, leaving him five shots off the lead with the remainder of his third round still to play. 

To McIlroy's credit, he holed a 20 footer for par on the 8th just before the horn sounded to suspend play for the day.

Despite the setback, McIlroy remains in contention as he looks to add a second Scottish Open title to the one he claimed in 2023. However, he will need a strong finish to his third round before mounting a charge on Sunday, with tournament organisers still aiming to complete all 72 holes before the end of the day.

While McIlroy struggled, Fitzpatrick moved in the opposite direction. The former U.S. Open champion played his opening eight holes in three-under par and climbed into a share of the lead at 11-under par despite dropping a shot at the 8th.

Michael Thorbjornsen also shared the lead at 11-under par through 13 holes.

Earlier in the day, Johnny Keefer produced the round of the day with a superb six-under 64 to charge into contention at 10-under par.

He was joined on that mark by Kevin Roy (through 16), U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (through 15), defending champion Chris Gotterup (through 10), former Scottish Open winner Min Woo Lee (through eight) and England's Jordan Smith (through seven).

Home favourite and 2024 Scottish Open champion Bob MacIntyre is also in the mix on nine-under par through nine holes.

With improved weather forecast for Sunday, tournament officials remain hopeful of completing both the third and final rounds as scheduled.

The Genesis Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. 

Genesis Scottish Open Third Round Leaderboard - Latest (Play Suspended)