Defending champion Rory McIlroy plans to carry on swinging and keep “his foot on the gas” rather than trying to protect a record-breaking 36-hole Masters lead.
Six birdies in his last seven holes saw the Northern Irishman post a 65 and a 12-under-par total, his six-stroke halfway advantage the best in the tournament’s history.
McIlroy has memories, albeit distant now, of losing a four-shot lead on the final day of the 2011 Masters but he bounced back two months later by maintaining an eight-shot 56-hole advantage to win the US Open.
“I’ve built up a nice cushion at this point. I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas,” said the world number two, whose bid to become only the fourth man to win back-to-back green jackets is well on track.
“Don’t protect it. Go out and play freely, keep swinging. A big part of the lesson from the 2011 Masters to the 2011 US Open was don’t get protective.
“Go out there and keep playing, keep trying to make birdies, stay as trusting and as committed as possible.”
If McIlroy wanted to send out a message to his rivals – the closest being 2018 champion Patrick Reed and Sam Burns – it was the way he turned up the heat on the back nine in a dominant display.
However, he rejected the suggestion that in this mood he intimidated opponents.
“No. That’s not me, that’s not what I want to do. Honestly, I don’t care,” he added.
On the eve of the tournament McIlroy had said, considering the hard and fast conditions, double digits under par “would be an amazing score”. He was referring to Sunday.
In that respect he is two days ahead of schedule but light years ahead of a stacked leaderboard which had four other major winners trailing in his wake.
After reeling off three successive birdies from the second to get to eight under he responded to two bogeys mid-round with five birdies in six holes from the 12th.
His brilliant approach, trickling down the slope to three feet at the 16th, put a third two on his card and he could seemingly do no wrong as, having punched out from under the trees, he chipped in at the next.
As if to underline his dominance he struck his approach to the last to six feet for a ninth birdie of the day.
Reed had to settle for a second-successive 69 after dropping his only shot at the 18th, which meant he missed out on a third-round final pairing with McIlroy.
That dubious honour went to Burns, who finished with three birdies in his last four holes much earlier in the day for a 71.
Justin Rose was five under after four birdies in five holes from the seventh boosted a round that was going nowhere.
The Englishman said last year’s near miss in a play-off had no bearing on his current approach.
“Of course I want to win this tournament. I don’t really need to try any harder,” he said.
Ryder Cup team-mate Shane Lowry joined him on that score after a 69, with the Irishman saying; “If you gave me this position yesterday morning I would have taken your hand off.”
But at seven shots back, and with McIlroy in such commanding form, Fleetwood admitted they were already up against it.
“Rory has a pretty commanding lead, in which case it’s up to him what happens,” he said.
