After one of the more heated 24 hours in Open Championship history, it was somewhat apposite that a golfer named Sam Burns leads going into the final round at Royal Birkdale.
On a Saturday afternoon where just 12 of the final 40 players broke par, and every one of the 78 scorecards handed in featured at least one bogey, Burns shot a five-under 65 to finish on 10 under, taking him two shots clear of Ryan Fox and Si-woo Kim.
Second round leader Lucas Herbert scrambled a closing par to post a one-over 71 and share fourth with Ryan Gerard, while Bryson DeChambeau, who posted a rage-filled 69 after being penalised two shots on Friday is four back and the only past major champion inside the top 10 heading into an intriguing Sunday on the Southport coast.
What makes Burns’ performance even more extraordinary is that he wasn’t expecting to be at Royal Birkdale at all – until his daughter, Belle, was born 11 days early and he was able to make it.
“This golf tournament was, honestly, so far off of my radar and expectations of playing,” said Burns “Caroline’s due date was Tuesday this week. I just didn’t think there was any possible way, but little Belle had different plans for us. Ultimately, Caroline’s the one that really encouraged me to come over and play. She basically said ‘I’ve got this. Go over there and give it your best’, and here we are.”
DeChambeau, bristling with defiance following his two-shot penalty for being judged to have improved his lie on Friday, remains one within striking distance at 6 under, a score he shares with Ludvig Åberg and first round leader Jackson Suber. Tommy Fleetwood is on 5 under, as is Denmark’s Rasmus Neegaard-Petersen, while major champions Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry are in a group of nine players on 4 under.
For the third day in a row Scheffler, last year’s winner at Portrush, suffered a poor day on Birkdale’s tricky greens. If the putting gods had smiled on him this week, he could easily have been leading this tournament. Instead, he will begin the final round praying that an earlier start on less spikey surfaces could help him close the gap.
“There’s great rounds out there around this golf course, which is good to know,” said Scheffler. “I think it’s incredible how the conditions change from morning to afternoon. You sit there in the morning and you’re watching these scores, and it’s just not possible in the afternoon.”
That is something that Fox certainly knows to his benefit. The 39-year-old was out at 10.30am, five hours and 20 minutes before the leaders, and eight shots back at even par. Yet he took advantage of the sedate morning conditions to score a 62 – the third of this Open – to catapult up the leaderboard.
“I think it’s just the good weather conditions,” Fox said. “The course is brilliant. It’s obviously very firm and fast. In the mornings the greens are a little bit softer. Obviously, we had pretty much no wind until the last couple of holes today. You feel like you can shoot a score in the morning and the greens are perfect, that if you do roll it well, you feel like you hole everything.”
English sports fans already deflated by a heart-breaking World Cup semi-final loss, are also questioning the chances of golf ‘coming home’ after most of the home-grown contingent dropped off the pace. Tyrrell Hatton finished with a four-over 74 to drop back to 1 over, Matt Wallace (72) and Alex Fitzpatrick (73) are further back in 29th and 38th respectively.
The two exceptions were Dan Brown, who fired a 69 to move to -4 into a share of 11th, while home-town hero Tommy Fleetwood sits five off the pace after a frustrating round that featured plenty of birdie chances, but ended in disappointment with dropped shots at 15 and 18 leaving the Southport man on 5 under and relying on a record-breaking round and a lot of players having a bad day on Sunday if he is to lift the Claret Jug.
“It was a strange day,” Fleetwood said. “I felt like I played really well, but I got nothing on the closing stretch. It’s a bit frustrating but it could have been worse and you never know what could happen tomorrow. The tournament is not in my hands. It’s not like I am going out and it is there on a plate for me. I have to play the best I can, enjoy it, and we’ll see.”
Rory McIlroy has an even taller mountain to climb after the 2014 Open champion was strangely becalmed on Saturday. Starting the day on one under and looking for a fast start, bogeys at the third and fourth holes immediately put the world no.2 on the back foot, and despite an eagle-two at the par-4 9th seeing him out in 33, a level-par back nine left him on -2 and eight shots off the lead
“If I go out tomorrow and get to double digits, you never know, but I certainly am not going out tomorrow thinking like I’ve got a great chance to win,” McIlroy admitted. “I played okay for the most part, but it was a little scrappy in areas.”
However, Burns, who was seventh in this year’s Masters and second at the US Open, is the man to beat. The bookmakers agree. A couple of weeks ago he was a generous 35-1 for the Open. Now he is a warm 11/8 favourite to win lift the Claret Jug. But Royal Birkdale – and his rivals – may yet have other ideas.
For the live leaderboard from The Open Championship, click here.