Rory McIlroy on verge of PGA Tour history Steve Stricker can relate to

The Northern Irishman has yet to win since the calendar flipped to 2023, but he has a chance at history north of the border.

Rory McIlroy has won two straight RBC Canadian Opens. He now has his eyes set on a third.

The Northern Irishman shot a 6-under par 66 in Saturday’s third round to rocket up the leaderboard.

McIlroy sits at 12-under par for the tournament, two strokes behind leader C.T. Pan of Taiwan, going into Sunday’s final round.

Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Harry Higgs, Andrew Novak and Mark Hubbard also sit at 12-under par through 54 holes.

If McIlroy goes on to win, he will become the first PGA Tour player to win a tournament three straight times since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic three consecutive years in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

McIlroy would also become the first player to win the RBC Canadian Open three consecutive times.

Granted, the RBC Canadian Open did not occur in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. But McIlroy, the 2019 and 2022 Champion, has never won at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf & Country Club.

St. George’s Golf & Country Club hosted last year’s edition in Etobicoke, while the 2019 RBC Canadian Open was contested at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

“I feel like the key to [Oakdale] is getting off to a good start,” McIlroy told CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner following his third round. “I was able to do that today, and I kept it going through the middle of the round there.”

McIlroy made birdies on the 3rd, 5th, and 8th holes to go out with a 33.

That includes the bad break he suffered at the par-5 7th hole, where his third shot rifled off the flag stick and spun all the way to the front of the green.

Instead of having an easy birdie chance there, he went on to make a five.

“I feel like I could have squeezed a couple more shots out of this round,” McIlroy admitted afterwards.

On the back nine, McIlroy made three straight birdies at 11, 12, and 13.

He rolled in a 15-footer on the 202-yard par-3 11th to get the birdie train rolling.

But he could not get lower than 12-under par over his final five holes. He three-putted the easy par-5 18th to wrap up his third round.

“Overall, I am really pleased with how I played,” McIlroy added. “I felt like I hit my irons better. I got the ball off the tee pretty well. Once you do that, there are tons of scoring opportunities out there.”

McIlroy is tied for second in strokes gained overall through three rounds. He has hit the ball superbly from tee to green all week, as he has not made a bogey since his 16th hole in Thursday’s opening round.

Pretty impressive stuff from McIlroy, considering the bombshell news that dropped earlier this week.

Maybe the “sacrificial lamb” can rally behind the Canadian crowd and silence the naysayers Sunday afternoon in Canada.

A win would also set himself up beautifully for next week’s U.S. Open.