McIlroy Extends Lead to Eight

Rory McIlroy showed more maturity beyond his years as a third round 68 extended his lead at the top of the US Open leaderboard to eight shots. The 22-year-old found fewer fairways than in the previous two dazzling days but more stupendous iron play and rock solid putting took him to the previously unscaled heights of 14 under par and the lowest ever 54-hole total in the 111-year history of this event. Just another milestone, as records continue to tumble for the runaway leader who is now just 1/14 with Boylesports for the title.

In any other year Lee Westwood would have grabbed his fair share of the headlines as a back nine charge pushed him to five under par after a round of 65. The world number two is now second favourite - a mammoth 25/1 hopeful with bet365. The Englishman’s efforts were matched on Saturday by Australian Jason Day who is also five under, but 50/1 with the same firm. Y E Yang is one shot better than them, and the nearest challenger still after a round of 70 made him a 30/1 shot with Bluesquare.

But this tournament has only been about one man and several firms have now jumped on the ‘McIlroy winning margin’ market. VictorChandler go 8/11 on the man from Northern Ireland winning by 6 shots or less. A triumph by 5-9 strokes is 5/4 with skybet while StanJames go 9/1 on McIlroy not winning - a blow that would surely be almost impossible to fully recover from. On a more positive note, the same firm offer 16/1 on a margin of 13 shots or more. That would take us into the realms of Tiger Woods’s finest hour.