CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Webb Simpson hadn't looked at the leaderboard and wasn't hearing much from the gallery ahead of him (where Rory McIlroy was playing), so he figured he must be in pretty good shape. After all, Simpson had just birdied the par-3 13th hole to get to 13 under par.
"I [was] thinking I was probably tied for the lead," Simpson said Saturday.
Then he took a peek at the leaderboard.
"I was surprised. You know, we kind of gave a, 'Oh, really, like, on this golf course?'"
By that point, McIlroy had pulled away from Simpson and everyone else on his way to a Quail Hollow Country Club course record 61.
"You never quite know when you're going to get into the zone," McIlroy said after shooting his lowest PGA Tour round. "But when it happens, you have to realize it, and then that's when you just go with it. I feel like the flow of the golf course, with some of the short par-4s and the par-5s, you can really get some momentum going."
During a 10-hole stretch, from Nos. 7 through 16, McIlroy was flawless. He birdied nine of the 10 holes and narrowly missed a 10th birdie. The Northern Irishman hit every one of those 10 greens in regulation and needed just 12 putts. It might have been the best golf the world's best golfer has ever played.
"I mean it's hard to explain," McIlroy admitted. "Every shot you look at, you visualize it perfectly. You're picturing good shots, you're visualizing the lines on putts, and you're not getting in your own way. It's a cool feeling."
"He's the No. 1 player in the world," said Simpson, who will play with McIlroy on Sunday in the final pairing and start with a 4-shot deficit. "He's won golf tournaments everywhere, so he's certainly comfortable in this position. So, if I don't get off to a good start, it's going to make it easier for him."
Like any perfectionist, McIlroy isn't satisfied. There was the 7-iron on No. 17 that he didn't like very much. And the tee shot on No. 6. And the drive on No. 18. Why celebrate a 61 when there are 59s out there to be had?
"Fifty-nine was in my mind as soon as the putt dropped on 13," the four-time major champion said. "I had two really good chances, I felt like -- two [eagle] chances, really, on 14 and 15 -- so I was a little disappointed with not finishing off the way I wanted to, but, you know, still a great round."
Six weeks ago, playing at the Bear's Club in Jupiter, Florida, McIlroy said he had a putt for 59. He left it short. It still bothers him.
There's always Sunday.