McIlroy showed composure in hard weather conditions which saw play delayed twice on Saturday at The K Club.
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The Masters champion, playing a group behind McIlroy in the final pairing with Scot Marc Warren, is 2 over on the round and has also played 15 holes.
If he can see out the win, the Irish Open would mark the first win of the season for McIlroy. “I feel like I left a few out there, but at the same time, I can’t complain with a three-shot lead going into tomorrow”.
McIlroy added that he thinks the officials made the right decision to end the third round prematurely.
By that stage McIlroy had assumed pole position after Willet had found life on the course especially tough, and he is +2 on the resumption of play for Sunday morning.
Knox, who was using a driver borrowed from Sweden’s David Lingmerth after cracking the face of his own club on Thursday, missed good birdie chances on the first two holes before holing from 20 feet for eagle on the fourth. I struggled to read my putt on 15 and wasn’t really comfortable to hit the tee shot on 16.
“Today was a day to just hang in there and try not to make too many mistakes and that’s what I said I wanted to do today”, said McIlroy, who has never won the Irish Open and missed the cut in each of the last three years.
Scotland’s Russell Knox and South Africa’s Richard Sterne were four off the lead on five under, with South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl and English pair Tyrrell Hatton and Matthew Southgate a shot further back. I birdied the two par fives that I played and parred everything else, and if I can birdie the other two par in the morning, I’ll be happy with my day’s work.
However, the four-time major victor then missed from two feet for par on the 11th to see his lead cut in half and keep the destiny of the title – and the first prize of £515,000 – firmly in the balance.
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He got one back and then parred the rest before time was called for the day with three holes still to complete.
