His round left him nine strokes behind Danish leader Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who made birdie putts at the 17th and 18th for a 66 and 54-hole total of 14-under 199.
Cam Smith, the 2022 Open champion who ended his streak of seven consecutive cuts this year on Friday, also shot a 66 on Saturday to tie for second, two strokes off the lead.
On the par-4 second hole, McIlroy missed the fairway and his ball landed under a small tree and under a banana peel that had apparently been thrown by a spectator.
Golfers may move loose impediments as long as the player’s ball does not move. If the ball has shifted as a result of an attempt to move a loose object, the player receives a penalty.
So McIlroy tried in vain to hit his ball through the banana peel and branches back and forth into the fairway. But he only traveled about 30 feet and he ended up making a double-bogey 6.
“It was kind of a double whammy: it was in the hard grass and under a banana peel,” McIlroy said. “But I shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
The Northern Irishman birdied the next hole and after another bogey and birdie to complete the front nine, shot a 1-over 35.
On the back nine, often played in a steady drizzle, McIlroy had four birdies, including on the final two holes, as he had done on Friday, when he also shot 68.
“I didn’t get off to a great start, but from then on I played well,” said McIlroy, who made five birdies in his last 10 holes on Saturday.
“I’ll probably be too far behind to challenge tomorrow,” he added. “But I’d like to see the course get firmer and firmer… and if it does, I think I can go out and shoot something really low, 8 or 9 under.”
After all his missed cuts, Smith, with a bit of edge in his comments, said it was “fun to be in the fight.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling, to be honest,” Smith said. “I love that it’s the Australian Open. I couldn’t think of a better place to get back into shape. It would shut a few people up.”
McIlroy, whose pre-tournament press conference included comments that Royal Melbourne was not the best sandbelt course in the city, had a wild opening round on Thursday with six bogeys and five birdies.
McIlroy, the Race to Dubai winner who completed his Grand Slam career when he won the Masters this year, is making his first appearance at the Australian Open since 2015, having won it in 2013.
The winner of the Australian Open, the second event on the European tour’s new tournament schedule for the end of this year and 2026, will receive a Masters exemption next year. And the top three finishers not yet exempt will qualify for The Open in 2026 at Royal Birkdale.
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