Rory McIlroy pulls into tie for lead at Scottish Open

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy shot 4-under-par 66 in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open, pulling into a share of the lead Saturday at North Berwick, Scotland.
McIlroy, bidding to win the tournament for the second time in three years, is tied atop the leaderboard with second-round leader Chris Gotterup at Renaissance Club. Gotterup had a 21-foot putt on the final hole with a chance to become the solo leader, but it was barely off the mark, so he settled for a third-round 70.
The duo goes into Sunday’s final round, which marks the last tune-up prior to next week’s Open Championship, with a two-stroke lead at 11 under 199.
Wyndham Clark made an early charge and posted 66, pulling to 9 under with Jake Knapp (68) and the English duo of Marco Penge (69) and Matt Fitzpatrick (69).
McIlroy, who won the 2023 tournament at 15 under, played the last four holes in a bogey-free 4 under.
Gotterup was coming off Friday’s 61, but he had bogeys on Nos. 2 and 14.
Penge and Fitzpatrick, playing together in the second-to-last pairing, went to the 18th with a chance to pull into a share of the lead and instead they both took bogeys.
Harris English, whose 66 matched McIlroy and Clark for the best score of the third round, is among eight golfers tied for seventh at 7 under.
England’s Harry Hall, who was paired with Gotterup, struggled with a 74 and dropped to 5 under and tied for 20th place.
Defending champion Robert MacIntyre of Scotland made the cut with his 72 on Saturday putting him at 1 over.