WATCH: Eagle putt ‘last thing on my mind’ - Rory McIlroy enjoys big finish after 90-minute New Orleans delay
A 90-minute weather delay aware his first shot back was a 30-foot eagle putt failed to faze Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy in Louisiana on Saturday.
Now heading into the final round on Sunday trailing leaders Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin by five in pursuit of back-to-back Zurich Classic of New Orleans title triumphs, Masters champion McIlroy closed out in style with an eagle putt for a 22-under overall tally and 61 score on the day alongside Shane Lowry.
The putt arrived after a 90-minute delay due to lightning, with McIlroy confirming the horn calling time as they walked up to the 18th green.
Upon the resumption of play, McIlroy made his moment count – after the major grand slam hero made a point of using the break to think of everything but that forthcoming putt.
“I think the secret is not thinking about it in those 90 minutes,” said McIlroy after the third round. “We had a bit of lunch and we were watching some highlights from last year...talking about where we're going to go for dinner tonight.
"The last thing on my mind during the delay was the putt - and then once I got back out there, I sort of concentrated on it and made sure I did what I needed to do and just a bonus for it to go in.”
He added on judging the putt: “I knew I'd hit it with the right speed...it always felt like it was the right speed.
"It was just a matter of...as long as it didn't take too much of the right-to-left at the end, which it didn't, it was perfect.
“I'd say the first two-thirds of the putt was sort of downhill, so there was never really concern of getting the ball to the hole.
"It was just a matter of picking the right line and just starting it on that.
“It was sort of quite a comfortable putt, a little bit of left to right early, a bit of right to left at the end, overall not a ton of swing in it.
"Obviously a great way to finish.”
McIlroy highlighted the need to “keep having fun out there” ahead of closing out the New Orleans defence on Sunday with another foursomes format (6.33pm start, UK time).
"We're just trying to have fun...as long as we keep having fun out there, that'll be the best way for us to get the best out of ourselves,” said McIlroy.
Novak and Griffin hold a three-stroke lead – thanks to two closing birdies – over Jake Knapp and Frankie Capan III plus the pairing of Ryo Hisatsune and Takumi Kanaya.
Lowry produced an eagle on the par-five seventh as the holders picked up six shots across the outward nine before four additional birdies over the back stretch then a bogey on the 17th ahead of McIlroy’s strong final say.
"I was pretty happy to have Rory go out and eagle the last there,” said Lowry. “It makes dinner taste nicer and kind of puts us in a great position going into tomorrow.”
Lowry highlighted how “we're staying in a different hotel” compared to last year and that “we've eaten in a couple of the same restaurants...but, no, it's just another week”.
McIlroy confirmed Gautreau's and Arnaud's as the same restaurants as last year’s successful run.
"I feel like we played pretty well today, I think,” said Lowry. “A lot of holes where both of us had chances...we went out and we did what we had to do.
“We knew we were going to have to go out and shoot a really low score today...there's not much wind out there and the course is fairly gettable and in fourballs you want to be shooting at least 10-under.”