Sentry Tournament of Champions: Rory McIlroy chasing Gary Woodland on Hawaii

Rory McIlroy makes his debut in the tournament after having chosen to focus more on the PGA Tour this seasonSentry Tournament of Champions third-round leaderboard-17 G Woodland (USA); -14 R McIlroy (NI); -13 M Leishman (Aus); -12 X Schauffele (US), B DeChambeau (USA); -10 J Thomas (USA), K Tway (United States) Other selected: -9 D Johnson (USA), J Rahm (Spa); -7 P Casey (-6), -6 I Poulter

Rory McIlroy stays in the race to the last round of the champions' Sentry tournament.

The Northern Irishman took the lead in Hawaii in a short time, but remained three shots behind Gary Woodland of America, 34, who had been halfway the leader.

Woodland bogeyed hole 12 to give hope to McIlroy, 29, but came back with an eagle on the 15th with a 64-yard putt.

The front two both went around in a five-under-par 68, leaving Woodland 17 under overall and McIlroy 14 under.

Paul Casey is 10 shots from the lead at seven under, one for the Englishman Ian Poulter.

Only 33 players are present at the event, which consists exclusively of PGA Tour winners.

McIlroy plays for the first time after he has decided to concentrate more on the PGA Tour this season at the expense of his European Tour commitments.