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Key occasions
What Bryson DeChambeau would give to play his Thursday spherical once more. A 78 had him nearly actually going residence early, however he’s responded just like the two-time major-winning champion he’s: a 65 to keep away from the minimize with one thing to spare, a 68 yesterday, and now he’s five-under for his spherical at this time via 12 holes! Birdies at 3, 4, 7, 9 and 12. He’s -7 for the championship, and if he’d bought his act collectively like this for his first spherical, he’d be fascinated about breaking Henrik Stenson’s file for lowest successful complete of 264, set at Troon in 2016, and it’d be Scottie Scheffler doing all of the chasing at this time. However he didn’t, so he isn’t, and Scottie gained’t be, so right here we’re. Nonetheless, what a response!
Tommy Fleetwood is just too far again to dream, however he seems to be within the temper to make up as a lot floor as potential anyway. He’s out in 32 after birdies at 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9. The Southport star is -7. In the meantime irritation early doorways for Bob MacIntyre, who almost rolls in a 40-footer for eagle at 2, however his ball stops one dimple shy. His taking part in associate Rasmus Hojgaard in the meantime begins birdie-birdie. They’re -7 and -8 respectively.
The chasing pack want birdies instantly in the event that they’re to trigger Scottie Scheffler any concern. Tyrrell Hatton flies out of the traps with a just about excellent birdie on 1, his tee shot down the center his method caught to 3 ft, the putt straight into the cup. He strikes to -9, although he’s discovered a fairway bunker together with his drive at 2, so there goes any hope of eagle.
Three birdies in a row for the 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. He strikes to -7 after selecting up strokes at 2, 5, 9, 10 and now 11, 5 underneath for his spherical just like the aforementioned Maverick McNealy. Matsuyama tied for sixth on his Open debut at Muirfield in 2013, however hasn’t performed a lot within the Championship since. He’s at present on the right track for simply his second top-ten end.
Not one of the amateurs made the minimize this 12 months, so no person will probably be awarded the Silver Medal. For the file, the best-performing amateurs this 12 months had been Cameron Adam, a 22-year-old from Fife, and Ethan Fang, a 20-year-old Texan who gained the Novice Championship this 12 months and of whom huge issues are anticipated. Each completed their week at +3, a few pictures shy of weekend survival.
Maverick McNealy is the most well liked property out on the course proper now. He’s 5 underneath for his spherical, having adopted up eagle at 2 with birdies at 3, 9, 10, 13 and 14. Bogeys at 4 and seven clearly didn’t derail his momentum. The 29-year-old Californian is lastly starting to ship on all of the early hype, and he’s -6 total.
Lowry shoots 66
Low scoring, then. Effectively, yeah! The massive story of the morning was Shane Lowry, who six years in the past did what Scottie Scheffler is more likely to do at this time: amble round Portrush with the Claret Jug nearly as good as already pocketed. Lowry’s gone out in model, in additional methods than one: he went out in 32 strokes, after which almost holed out from the underside of the large swale to the left of 18. Inches away from a sensational valedictory blow. A 66 to bid farewell, and he ends the week at -2. Not what he was dreaming of, however the 2019 champion golfer will at all times have … er … Portrush.
Rain and potential thunderstorms had been forecast for Sunday firstly of the week. However whereas the forecasters have gotten most issues spot on, this name was manner vast of the mark. It’s sunny and scorching! Low scores ahoy! Not an excessive amount of in the way in which of wind, both, although gusts could choose up a little bit later within the afternoon. The forecasters weren’t that far vast of the mark although: these showers and thunderstorms could heave into view within the night, however by then every thing almost certainly will probably be performed and dusted. A wonderful Open Sunday!
Preamble
Let’s not put too fantastic a degree on it: the 153rd Open Championship is Scottie Scheffler’s to lose, and the ultimate spherical at Portrush will almost certainly grow to be a procession. Greater 54-hole leads have been misplaced prior to now … however Scheffler is of a unique stripe to poor outdated Jean Van de Velde, who went into the ultimate spherical at Carnoustie in 1999 5 clear and so filled with hope. It’s not completely past the realms that one of many chasing pack might overhaul the chief’s four-stroke benefit, however that’d certainly take an ideal storm of a spherical within the mid-to-low 60s whereas the world primary suffers a collection of absurdly dangerous bounces and/or an incomprehensible implosion. Having mentioned all that, that is golf, so.
Right here’s how the highest of the leaderboard sorted the third spherical …
-14: Scheffler
-10: Li
-9: Fitzpatrick
-8: McIlroy, Gotterup, English, Hatton
-7: Schauffele
-6: Henley, N Højgaard, MacIntyre, R Højgaard, Harman
-5: Clark, Wallace, Lindell, Reitan, Åberg, Rose, Corridor, Westwood
… and right here’s at this time’s tee sheet (all occasions BST, GB&I except acknowledged). It’s on!
0830 Matti Schmid, Riki Kawamoto
0840 Dean Burmester, Phil Mickelson
0850 Sebastian Soderberg, Andrew Novak
0900 Shane Lowry, Jacob Skov Olesen
0910 Antoine Rozner, Viktor Hovland
0920 Adrien Saddier, Ryggs Johnston
0930 Romain Langasque, Jordan Spieth
0940 Francesco Molinari, Matthew Jordan
0955 Sergio Garcia, Justin Leonard
1005 Thomas Detry, Sepp Straka
1015 Aaron Rai, Jason Kokrak
1025 Daniel Berger, Jhonattan Vegas
1035 Maverick McNealy, Henrik Stenson
1045 Takumi Kanaya, Jordan Smith
1055 Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler
1110 Akshay Bhatia, Jon Rahm
1120 Jesper Svensson, Thriston Lawrence
1130 Bryson DeChambeau, Nathan Kimsey
1140 Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau
1150 Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
1200 JJ Spaun, John Parry
1210 Keegan Bradley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
1225 Marc Leishman, Lucas Glover
1235 Sungjae Im, Dustin Johnson
1245 Corey Conners, Lee Westwood
1255 Harry Corridor, Justin Rose
1305 Ludvig Åberg, Kristoffer Reitan
1315 Oliver Lindell, Matt Wallace
1325 Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman
1340 Rasmus Højgaard, Robert MacIntyre
1350 Nicolai Højgaard, Russell Henley
1400 Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton
1410 Harris English, Chris Gotterup
1420 Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick
1430 Haotong Li, Scottie Scheffler