World No. 2 Rory McIlroy birdied four times on the back nine for his second straight round of 68 in Saturday’s third round of the Australian Open.

The Northern Irishman is 5-under for the tournament at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, tied with four others in 24th place and nine shots behind leader Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark entering the final round.

McIlroy got off to a rough start with a double bogey at the par-4 second hole. He offset a birdie at No. 3 with a bogey at No 7 before finishing the front nine with another birdie.

After making the turn at 1-over for his round, McIlroy recorded birdies at the 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes to enter Sunday with some momentum after starting the day tied for 57th.

McIlroy is coming off a playoff loss at last month’s DP World Championship and is playing in the Australian Open for the first time since 2014. He won the tournament in 2013.

“I didn’t get off to the greatest of starts, but I felt I responded well,” McIlroy said. “I played the back nine well again, but I just need to figure out how to make some birdies on the front nine.

“Overall, I’m happy with how I responded. I’ll probably be a little too far behind to try to challenge on Sunday, but I will try to end the week on a positive note and shoot my lowest score.”

Neergaard-Peterson collected seven birdies and two bogeys for a 5-under 66 to move to 14-under. Two shots back are South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (65 on Saturday), Australia’s Cam Smith (66) and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (66).

Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester (65) is alone in fifth place at 11-under, one shot clear of Australians Min Woo Lee (69) and Adam Scott (68) and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier (67).

–Field Level Media