CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Rory McIlroy shot a bogey-free 4–under 67 on Saturday to pull within a stroke of leader Xander Schauffele with a round left in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Schauffele, who entered the day four shots ahead of McIlroy and Jason Day, had a 70 to get to 12–under 201 as he looks to hold on and snap a 38-tournament victory drought.
Sungjae Im was four shots strokes back after holing out from bunker on No. 18 to save par and shoot 69.
Sepp Straka matched McIlroy’s low round of 67 and was alone in fourth at 7 under, while Day was fifth at 5 under—making five bogeys in a 73.
McIlroy birdied Nos. 9 and 10 to pull within two shots, then got to one when Schauffele bogeyed the 12th.
The crowd began chanting “Rory! Rory!” as the star from Northern Ireland tepped to the 13th tee.
Seizing the momentum, McIlroy rolled in another birdie putt on No. 14 to move into a tie, but Schauffele matched that with a long birdie putt of his own moments later. Schauffele fought off McIlroy the rest of the way to maintain the lead.
McIlroy caught a break on the difficult par-4 18th when his tee shot somehow avoided the creek on the left side of the fairway and came to rest sitting up in the tall grass.
With a good lie, he found the edge of the green and two-putted for par to become the only player to not have a bogey Saturday.
Schauffele maintained the lead on the 18th when he got up-and-down from a bunker.
Straka has been a big surprise.
He’s had an inconsistent season that includes four missed cuts and four top-25 finishes. But he’s playing his best golf of the season following a fifth-place finish at the RBC Heritage Classic at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Day started the day with hopes to challenge for the lead, but was 5 over for the day through the first 13 holes before rallying with three birdies in the final five holes.
