WATCH: Rory McIlroy eagles at the Irish Open to climb to T1

Rory McIlroy fired an early eagle during the third round of the DP World Tour's Irish Open. The eagle helped him jump to the joint lead early in the day.

On Saturday, September 14, McIlroy entered the third round at T4. By the time he teed off, he was in sixth place and two shots back. However, he didn’t waste much time taking the lead as he holed an eagle on the first hole of the day.

On the par-5 first hole, McIlroy's shot went 340 yards off the tee but landed in the rough on the right. His second shot was precise, landing on the green near the hole and stopping just five feet from the pin.

From there, he made an easy putt to make his second eagle of the week. Notably, the first one also came on the same hole on Friday, September 13.

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Rory McIlroy holds the lead at the Irish Open after seven holes

Rory McIlroy during the third round of the Irish Open Golf Championship 2024 (Image Source: Getty)

At the time of writing the article, Rory McIlroy was still on lead at the Irish Open. Following the birdie on hole 1, he made one bogey and a birdie to aggregate at 6-under after seven holes.

Matteo Manassero was at par for the day but aggregated on 6-under for the week. The Italian golfer has made two bogeys and two birdies so far.

Here's the leaderboard for the Irish Open (At the time of writing the article):

• T1. Rory McIlroy (NIR): -6
• T1. Matteo Manassero (ITA): -6
• T3. Calum Hill (SCO): -5
• T3. Laurie Canter (ENG): -5
• T5. Jordan Smith (ENG): -4
• T5. Alejandro Del Rey (ESP): -4
• T7. Robert MacIntyre (SCO): -3
• T7. Aaron Cockerill (CAN): -3
• T9. Adrian Otaegui (ESP): -2
• T9. Jaco Prinsloo (RSA): -2
• T9. Erik van Rooyen (RSA): -2
• T9. Rasmus Højgaard (DEN): -2
• T13. Jens Dantorp (SWE): -1
• T13. Filippo Celli (ITA): -1
• T13. Todd Clements (ENG): -1
• T16. Matthew Baldwin (ENG): PAR
• T16. Tom McKibbin (NIR): PAR
• T16. Rikuya Hoshino (JPN): PAR
• T16. Aaron Rai (ENG): PAR
• T16. James Morrison (ENG): PAR
• T16. Freddy Schott (GER): PAR
• T16. Sami Välimäki (FIN): PAR
• T16. Jannik De Bruyn (GER): PAR
• T16. Marcus Armitage (ENG): PAR
• T16. Shane Lowry (IRL): PAR
• T16. Shubhankar Sharma (IND): PAR