McIlroy under pressure at rain-hit Open

HOYLAKE, July 19 (AFP): Rory McIlroy was struggling to hold on to his lead in a rain-hit third round of the British Open on Saturday.
The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland began the day with a four-stroke lead over nearest challenger Dustin Johnson of the United States, but after just one hole that was cut in half.
McIlroy only just made it out of a greenside bunker and bogeyed, while Johnson had a birdie.
Earlier, torrential rain drenched the players as they arrived for third round action at Royal Liverpool.
The atrocious weather had been forecast long in advance and, in an unprcedented move, tournament organisers the R&A decided to bring forward the start of play to earlier in the day at 9:00am and to use groupings of three going off from the first and 10th tees instead of everyone going off from the first in pairs as usually is the case at the weekend.
The idea was to cut in half the time needed to complete the third round, thus clearing the way for an on-time finish Sunday when the forecast was better.
The tricky conditions gave hope to some in the field who have watched an imperious McIlroy dominate the first two rounds of an Open.
Two rounds of 66 have left the 25-year-old Irishman at 12 under and four strokes clear of Johnson, whose 65 on Friday was the best of the tournament so far.
The rest of the field were at least six strokes back as McIlroy honed in on what would be his third major title, but first on British soil.
The world number seven said that he was unperturbed by the prospect of bad weather and that he had practiced for Hoylake with a links-type of golf in mind.
"I've practiced the shots that I might need in windy conditions or wet conditions or whatever it is," he said.
"And in a way having that four-shot lead isn't a bad thing, because it makes it tougher for the guys to catch you.