Rory McIlroy shot his second 67 of the week on Saturday at the South African Open as he got to 14 under and moved into Sunday's final group. McIlroy currently stands in second place, in front of Jordan Smith (13 under) and Graeme Storm (17 under) of England.
McIlroy's round included five birdies and an eagle. It was also his third-straight sub-69 round of the week.
McIlroy is looking for his first SA Open win in three appearances and first win overall since way back in September when he took home the Tour Championship. He fought through a bad back on Friday to get inside the top five. Then on Saturday, he fought it a bit again as he tried to move up the leaderboard towards Storm (who has not made a bogey all week).
McIlroy bogeyed the final hole for the second-straight day, but he also made an eagle for the second time on the week with this crazy hole-out on the seventh hole.
"That was nice, that was very nice," said McIlroy. "It was a perfect yardage, just a little bit of breeze and it was just a nice sort of controlled nine iron in there. It's always nice when good shots like that end up in the hole. It's a bit of a bonus obviously, it's a bit of luck involved."
"I was in a bit of discomfort early on, and the physio sort of patched me up, got me going and got me out to play," said McIlroy. "I started well. I felt like I drove the ball well today for the most part. I gave myself plenty of chances. I took quite a few of them, especially around the middle of the round."
He has played holes 7-15 in 14 under on the week but played the other nine holes in even par.
"It was a decent score. I felt like it could have been a couple better. The finish was disappointing -- not birdieing 15 and dropping a shot on the way in. I'm still in with a shot going into tomorrow, and that's all I can ask," he said.
The tee times for the final round of the SA Open have been moved up because of weather, so McIlroy will go off with Storm and Jordan at 2 a.m. ET on Sunday.