If McIlroy didn’t quite deliver, then Royal Portrush — where he shot 61 as a 16-year-old for the course record — certainly did, gaining widespread rave reviews.

Erskine, the club’s then-secretary of 35 years—who many credit with bringing the Open to Portrush—was waiting for a defining moment. Some visual cue from the universe to signify the accomplishment that Portrush, after decades of political turmoil on the island of Ireland before a peace in 1998, had enticed the R&A back to this part of the world.

Rory McIlroy picked up the ball from the thick rough, held it out in front of him and burst out laughing. It was one of the most baffling things to have happened to him on a golf course. Maybe one of the most frustrating,

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy gave the home crowds exactly what they craved on Saturday: He used the traditional third-round “moving day’’ to make a move up the leaderboard. McIlroy, who began the day at 3-under par, seven shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler, activated the huge Portrush crowds with a third-round 5-under-par 66.