Rory McIlroy is staring at yet another ‘backdoor’ top-10 this season as double Masters winner Bubba Watson  leads the way into the final round of the Memorial.

McIlroy had the chance to shut the door of his rivals following an opening round 63 but has since fallen back into the pack with scores of 78 and 69 to by sharing 14th place on six under par with a day to play in the $US 6.2m event.

On the other hand, Watson is headed for a second PGA Tour success this year with scores of 66, 69 and 69 to move to 12-under par and one clear of fellow American Scott Langley.

McIlroy, who continues to struggle with a troublesome left knee, capped his round with an 11th hole eagle and then finished with back-to-back birdies to be trailing six shots behind Watson.

The Northern Irishman already has seven top-10s in eight stroke-play events this year on the PGA Tour with the last four – Shell Houston Open, Masters, Wells Fargo Championship and Players Championship – all being what McIlroy describes as ‘back door’ top-10s.

Now he’s headed for an eighth in the Jack Nicklaus hosted event.

Here is McIlroy’s interview post his third round.

Q.  Can you talk a little bit about your third round?
RORY MCILROY:  I didn’t get off to the greatest of starts.  Couple over through four holes.  1‑over through nine isn’t really anything too special out there.  And played well on the back nine.  Had that eagle on 11 and then finished the round off really well.  Finished with three 3s, which I think a few guys out there will take this afternoon.
So really happy with the finish and not quite in the mix or in contention.  But I’m pretty close.  And another good score tomorrow, see how it goes.

Q.  Talk about that shot on 18 out of the bunker a little bit?
RORY MCILROY:  It’s funny, I’ve been practicing my fairway bunker play the last couple of weeks because it’s been awful all year.  I’ve been joking that I’m the worst fairway bunker player on TOUR.
So to produce a shot like that on 18 was very nice.  I had 159.  Playing uphill into the wind.  Just tried to throw a 7‑iron up there somewhere up on the green and ended up pretty good.

Q.  Eagle on 11 kind of ignite the back nine there a little bit?
RORY MCILROY:  It did.  Had a great drive up 11, really left myself a 6‑iron in there.  It was nice to take advantage of that.  And a little disappointed not to birdie 14 or 15.  But to birdie the last two sort of made up for that.

Q.  How important was it to have a bit of a bounce back round after yesterday especially?
RORY MCILROY:  It was important.  I didn’t want to shoot two bad rounds in a row.  So I was happy to shoot something in the 60s today and try and do something a little better tomorrow again.

Q.  How is the knee feeling?
RORY MCILROY:  The knee feels okay.  It’s not 100 %, but it’s better than it was on Thursday.  So it’s a good positive sign.

Q.  Getting better every day?
RORY MCILROY:  Yeah.