Masters champion Rory McIlroy took another step toward emerging out of the doldrums with two big shots at the end of his round Saturday that led to a 4-under 66 and gave him a share of the lead with Chris Gotterup in the Scottish Open.

McIlroy kept in range of Gotterup on another gorgeous day of sunshine along the Firth of Forth and then came into everyone’s view in the middle of the back nine at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick.

Following a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 14th, his shot from a greenside pot bunker hit the pin for a tap-in par to keep his momentum. McIlroy was in trouble again on the par-5 16th; in just a horrible lie he could advance it only some 70 yards. With the wind at his back and wispy grass beneath the golf ball, he hit sand wedge from 173 yards to 10 feet for birdie.

Two closing pars put him at 11-under 199. That was enough to catch Gotterup, a big athlete with big power who had gone 34 holes without a bogey until the second hole Saturday. He fell into a tie with a three-putt from 60 feet for bogey on the 14th and failed to birdie the 16th.

Gotterup, who tied the course record with a 61 on Friday, had to settle for a 70. He will be in the last group with McIlroy, a daunting task given McIlroy already won at The Renaissance Club and is the biggest draw in most parts in the world, particularly in Scotland, and particularly with the British Open a week away.

“I think I’m pretty close to being back to the level I was at going into the Masters,” McIlroy said. “I think I’ve had a little bit of a lull, which I feel is understandable. So I’m just getting back to the level that I know that I can play at.”

Wyndham Clark had a 66 and will join McIlroy and Gotterup in the final group.

Clark was at 9-under 201 along with Jake Knapp, who for the longest time was the closest challenger to Gotterup until a wild finish of birdies on the closing par 3s and bogeys on the other holes for a 68. Matt Fitzpatrick and Marco Penge also were at 201, with both English players posting a 69.

Paul Peterson had a one-shot lead with three holes to play when third-round play in the lightning-delayed ISCO Championship was suspended because of darkness.

Peterson was 5 under for the round and 10 under overall. The 37-year-old PGA Tour rookie was making his 20th career PGA Tour start.

Chan Kim, five shots ahead entering the round, was second.

LPGA, Ladies European tours

Golf wasn’t the first love of Cara Gainer or Gabriela Ruffels, who grew up wanting to be pro tennis players and came close to making it.

Now they’re in sight of becoming an unlikely major winner in their adopted sport.

Gainer, a No. 129th-ranked Brit, and Ruffels, a 71st-ranked Aussie, will be in the final group at the Evian Championship today after powering through the field in the third round of the fourth major of the year in women’s golf.

Gainer shot 7-under 64 to move to 11 under for the week and was soon joined in the lead by Ruffels, who shot 66 at Evian Resort Golf Club.

Sixth-ranked Minjee Lee, the recent winner of the Women’s PGA Championship, shot 66 and was a stroke off the co-leaders in her bid to become the first woman since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture back-to-back major titles.