Rory McIlroy moves up leaderboard with bogey-free 65 at Bay Hill

Rory McIlroy believes his game is heading in the right direction after a much-improved third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The world No 3 looked in danger of missing the cut after an error-strewn 74 on Thursday and a slow start to his second-round 71, but surged up the leaderboard with a birdie-filled 65 on Saturday at Bay Hill.

McIlroy admitted to struggling with both consistency and his fairway woods at the halfway stage in Florida, but started to find his rhythm ahead of next month's opening major of the year at Augusta.

"Today it presented us with an opportunity to go low," McIlroy said. "The golf course played a little bit shorter, so you could take advantage of the par-fives.

"I just played better. I gave myself a lot of looks and holed some putts, which was nice to see. It's sort of a score that I was waiting on.

"I felt like it was in there, it was just a matter of trying to put it all together and today I did."

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Beginning the day 11 strokes adrfit of midway pacesetter Charley Hoffman, McIlroy birdied both of the par-fives on the front nine on his way to reaching the turn 34.

The Northern Irishman then birdied the opening two holes of his back nine, before making it a hat-trick of gains by holing from 20 feet at the par-four 12th.

McIlroy then ended a run of four consecutive pars with a birdie-two from 15 feet at the 17th, before closing his bogey-free round with a two-putt par at the last.

"At least I've given myself a decent chance tomorrow," McIlroy added. "If I get off to a fast start, I'll be right in there. I can take a lot from today.

"I put it in the right position, I drove it better, gave myself a lot of looks, was smart when I needed to be and if I can continue to do that, then I do have a good chance."

Watch the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational live on Sunday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf