2023 Memorial Tournament leaderboard: Rory McIlroy surges into three-way tie for lead heading into Round 4

Rory McIlroy's 70 ties him for lead with David Lipsky and Si Woo Kim at 6 under heading into Sunday at Muirfield Village

One of the weirder days on the PGA Tour in recent memory came to a close with one of the best players in the world co-leading and playing his way into the final pairing Sunday afternoon at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

Rory McIlroy fired a 2-under 70 to get to 6 under for the week and he co-leads with David Lipsky and Si Woo Kim. That's a story. But so is the fact that there are 38 other golfers within five of that 6-under lead. And sure, if one of those top three shoots 68 Sunday, it's probably over, but we've seen a 65 each of the last two days, and it could be lurking Sunday for somebody at 2 under, 3 under or better.

Let's take a look at how all of this went down and what to expect on Sunday afternoon at one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour.

The leaders

1. Rory McIlroy, David Lipsky, Si Woo Kim (-6): This group combined to shoot just 3 under Saturday, and the round was less about what they did and more about what everyone else around them didn't do. Thirty-six hole leader Justin Suh shot 77. Hideki Matsuyama led by three after starting birdie-birdie then played the rest of his round in 5 over. Patrick Cantlay made a triple and shot 74. As everything and everyone around them wilted, these three made up for their mistakes (Kim had two doubles, Lipsky had four bogeys) and didn't kick away opportunities when they had them.

Obviously McIlroy is the primary story here. He was awesome with the putter on Saturday, making several crucial par putts to keep the round together. And while it wasn't a classic "Rory's bouncing around, better call everyone you know" Rory round, it was weighty and important.

It was also emblematic of his year. The first five months of 2023 have been ... fine for McIlroy. They certainly haven't felt extraordinary. And yet, he ranks in the top six in strokes gained tee to green, strokes gained overall, has four top 10s in nine starts and is now 18 holes from his second win in 10 starts with nobody in front of him.

"Just hanging in there," McIlroy said of his play. "As I said, getting the ball in play off the tee is really important for me. Yeah, and embracing it. There was a couple of shots out there when I missed the greens that I was sort of looking forward to hit. I think it's embracing that challenge and embracing the fact that you're probably not going to hit more than 12 or 13 greens out there. And I think with how my short game's been this week it's something I've been able to fall back on, which has been great."

McIlroy added that winning Jack Nicklaus' tournament with Nicklaus in attendance would be "pretty nice." He's the easy favorite.

Other contenders

T4. Denny McCarthy, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark, Lee Hodges, Mark Hubbard (-5)

T9. Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Rodgers, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama (-4)

This is where the fun begins. The following golfers are within five of the co-lead: Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Sam Burns and Xander Schauffle. A laugh-out-loud list of players who could legitimately shoot 64 or 65 and win the golf tournament. 

That will be the story Sunday. Rory vs. the world. That's been Rory's story for the last year or so, albeit in a much different arena than this one. At a place like Muirfield Village, where the variance is wide, it should make for a tremendous Sunday show.

Bradley posts Round of the Day

Keegan Bradley tied Matsuyama for the round of the week Saturday with a 7-under 65 in which he finished in the top five in this field in putting, approach play and tee to green play. Bradley, not necessarily the greatest putter in the world, made putts of 10 feet, 17 feet, 10 feet, 22 feet and 36 feet. It helped bump him into the top 15 on the leaderboard, and — somewhat strangely — he momentarily tied 36-hole leader Justin Suh three holes into Suh's round even though Bradley started the day T61 and 11 back of him. Golf, baby!

"I basically made every putt I looked at today," Bradley said. "But I've been working on this feel the past couple weeks and I've sort of left it on the range and tried to play, and then today I just said, 'Screw it,' and I went out there and I had this -- the feel that I've been working on, and I just hit a lot, a lot more quality iron shots."

Scheffler still struggling 

To say Scottie Scheffler is struggling is to tell a half-truth. He's the No. 1 player in the world, and he has 15 consecutive top 15 finishes. Including this week's Memorial, he has led the field in strokes gained tee to green in each of his last three events. And yet, he hasn't won any of those and won't win this one either. Why? Well, Scheffler is struggling with the putter. Whereas Bradley made five putts of 9 feet or longer Saturday, Scheffler has made one such putt all week. It's a minute stat that tells a bigger story, which is that Scheffler is struggling with the putter, and if he wasn't, he'd be winning every important tournament in the world.

2023 Memorial Tournament updated odds, picks

Odds via Caesars Sportsbook

• Rory McIlroy: 13/5
• Si Woo Kim: 15/2
• Viktor Hovland: 17/2
• Patrick Cantlay: 12-1
• Wyndham Clark: 12-1
• Denny McCarthy: 18-1
• David Lipsky: 18-1
• Collin Morikawa: 18-1
• Hideki Matsuyama: 20-1

Considering how tight the top of this leaderboard is, I would run away from all of this. However, if you forced me to pick somebody at these numbers, I would probably go with Cantlay. He's just two back and is second (behind Scheffler) in strokes gained tee to green. Those numbers tend to be sticky, and he's already won here twice. For somebody with that resume, 12-1 is a good number.

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap moving day at the Memorial Tournament. Low scores early while the leaders battled a tough golf course and windy conditions. Scorecards, storylines and betting favorites from Muirfield Village. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  

[Jun 3, 2023 at 5:17 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Rory Now T2

Somehow, Rory McIlroy is now T2 with a long two-putt opportunity at the last hole to probably (?) get into the final pairing on Sunday afternoon. He hasn't been extraordinary today, but on a day when everyone else faded away, McIlroy's steadiness stood strong, and he might win the tournament because of it. 

[Jun 3, 2023 at 4:24 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Hideki's Collapse

After starting birdie-birdie to open his round, Hideki Matsuyama has played his next 10 holes in 5 over. He just tripled the par-3 12th to drop back to 4 under, one back of Rory and five back of David Lipsky's lead.

[Jun 3, 2023 at 4:08 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Lipsky Makes a Move

All of a sudden, David Lipsky leads the golf tournament by three over Hideki Matsuyama, Lee Hodges and Mark Hubbard. He also has Rory by four. Quite a day for him with three birdies and a bogey so far in Round 3.