ANCASTER, Ont. — When Rory McIlroy first announced that he was going to play in the RBC Canadian Open, he said he was looking forward to winning another national championship.
After firing a 6-under 64 on Saturday to split a three-way tie for first at the event, he's just 18 holes away from accomplishing that goal.
"National championships are very important. They're the oldest championships in our game for the most part," said McIlroy. "If someone said to me earlier 'Do you know how many national opens you've won?' I could count them and I've won five.
"If I were able to win tomorrow that would be my sixth and that would be something I would be very proud of."
McIlroy has already won the U.S., British, Irish, Australian and Hong Kong Opens. He's also made it clear that the Canadian Open can serve as a good tune-up event for next week's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
"I think the best preparation for tournaments ahead is to get yourself into contention and feel the heat of battle, and going down the stretch hitting the shots when you need to," said McIlroy. "If you can do that then I don't think there is anything else in the game that will give you more confidence than that."
Webb Simpson shot a 3-under 67 and Matt Kuchar had a 1-under 69 on Saturday to join McIlroy at 13 under overall.
The key to Simpson's success at the Canadian Open has been unerring consistency, playing 54 holes without a single bogey.
"I think the times when it's a guess this week I've guessed correctly," said Simpson. "And I've been putting well, especially inside 10 feet. I've had to make a few six-, seven-footers, but so far they've gone in and haven't made a blemish yet."
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was the low Canadian with a 3-under round, putting him into a three-way tie for fourth with Shane Lowry and Brandt Snedeker at 12 under.
"We'll see what happens by the time 2:00 (p.m. ET) rolls around tomorrow afternoon with what the wind is doing and how firm everything has gotten," said Hadwin. "The nice thing about this place, because it's a little bit shorter, if you hit it well you can post a 5-, 6-under pretty solidly, like Rory today, or it can get you."
Although he's still in contention, Snedeker was disappointed in his 1-under performance having matched a tournament record with a 10-under 60 on Friday.
"It's always hard to follow up a low round like I did yesterday," said Snedeker. "Today was a tough day. Wind was blowing, hard to put the ball in the fairway, and then the greens are firm and bouncing so really hard to get them close."
McIlroy's round was tied for best on the day with Jonathan Byrd, who was tied for ninth at 8 under. Kuchar was co-leader with Scott Brown after two rounds at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.
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John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
