Rory McIlroy 'excited' to be in medal contention going into the final round of golf at the Paris Olympics

Rory McIlroy is one of the leading contenders for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics golf event. The Irishman is tied for sixth place on 10 under after 54 holes.

The third round was McIlroy's best of the tournament so far. At the end of Saturday's performance, McIlroy spoke to the Irish media outlet RTÉ News, describing the possibility of winning a medal as "very exciting".

This was part of what Rory McIlroy had to say:

"A little better today. Limited the mistakes, which is something I talked about last night not doing over the first two days. To play a bogey-free round and get myself up there in contention for a medal this morning is very exciting." [o:06-0:18]

"I played the front nine in three-under-par again, that's the third day in a row I’ve done that. I said to myself walking to the tenth tee, 'let’s just play a solid nine holes of golf. Hit fairways, hit greens, give yourself chances'. And I did that." [0:31-0:45]

During his interview, Rory McIlroy recalled one of his most spectacular moments of the day when he saved par on the 17th hole:

"I made that big putt for par on 17 which I thought was a huge point in the round and it keeps me one shot closer to the leaders. I don’t know what the lead is going to be at the end of the day, I’ll be three or four behind, depending what the lads do coming in." [0:46-1:05]

On the 478-yard, par-4 17th hole, Rory McIlroy sent his tee shot 309 yards into the right rough. From there, he tried to find the green, but came up short and his ball landed again on the right rough, 85 feet from the hole.

McIlroy chipped the ball onto the green but was 20 feet six inches from the hole, a distance where the Irishman has made just 11 putts in 70 attempts (15.71%) in the current PGA Tour season. On this occasion, however, he made the putt and saved the par.

A look at Rory McIlroy's performance in the third round of the Olympic Golf Tournament

McIlroy started the so-called "Moving Day" at the Olympic golf with a birdie on the first, followed by a par on the second and a birdie on the third. He then parred the next five holes and birdied the ninth to leave the front nine at 3 under.

The Irishman continued to make good progress on the back nine, birdieing the 11th and 14th. McIlroy finished his bogey-free round on five under par to share sixth place with Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and Thomas Detry.

McIlroy shot a first-round 68. His second-round score was a 69.