PORTRUSH, Northern Eire — Scottie Scheffler moved inside one spherical of claiming the third leg of the Grand Slam on Saturday when he made an eagle and two huge par saves for a 4-under 67 in The Open that gave him a four-shot lead at Royal Portrush.
The roars belonged to Rory McIlroy, who had seemingly all of Northern Eire on his facet, essentially the most raucous cheer approaching a 55-foot eagle putt.
However this championship is now within the palms of Scheffler, who has gained his final 10 occasions when he had the 54-hole lead and didn’t present something on a shocking day at Royal Portrush to point he was going to come back again to his challengers.
“I’m simply attempting to execute, not overthinking issues,” Scheffler mentioned. “I really feel like I’ve been doing the fitting factor thus far, and I’m wanting ahead to the problem of tomorrow.”
Tied with Matt Fitzpatrick for the lead, Scheffler judged 6-iron completely to 10 ft for eagle on the par-5 seventh gap. In serious trouble behind the eleventh inexperienced, he hacked out to 10 ft to avoid wasting par, then saved one other par from the deep grass left of the 14th fairway.
Royal Portrush has a nasty par 3 at No. 16 often called “Calamity Nook.” Scheffler made birdie for the third straight day, this time a 3-iron that settled 15 ft beneath the cup .
Every shot helped him draw back from the sector. Every shot moved him nearer to the claret jug, to associate with the PGA Championship he gained in Could and the 2 Masters inexperienced jackets he has gained in two within the final 4 years.
Scheffler was at 14-under 199, 4 photographs away from Li Haotong of China (69) and 5 forward of Fitzpatrick, who missed two brief par putts and fell again with a 71.
McIlroy, who revved up the big crowd with three birdies in 4 holes initially, had essentially the most weird second of the championship when he went to gouge out a shot from the tough proper of the eleventh fairway and a second ball emerged from the turf.
“It’s by no means occurred to me earlier than,” McIlroy mentioned after his 66. “It may by no means on some other course however a hyperlinks course.”
It led to his lone bogey. He responded with that eagle putt that elicited a roar that rocked Royal Portrush. However he was six photographs behind, and certain needing a spherical even higher on Sunday.
“Scottie is … it’s inevitable,” McIlroy mentioned. “Even when he doesn’t have his finest stuff, he’s turn out to be a whole participant. Yeah, it’s going to be robust to catch him tomorrow if he retains enjoying the way in which he does. But when I can get out tomorrow and get off to the same begin to what I did in the present day, get the gang going … you by no means know.”
That is what McIlroy seen final 12 months, when Scheffler gained 9 occasions all over the world. What impressed him was that Scheffler performed so many bogey-free rounds.
Scheffler picked a good time for one more one. He led by one shot to start out the day and couldn’t appear to get something going — his first three-putt of the championship on the par-5 second to accept par, and a 10-foot par save on the par-3 third.
Fitzpatrick, who missed a brief par putt on the primary gap and made bogey, atoned for that shortly by chipping in for eagle on the following gap. He did his finest to maintain tempo even after Scheffler went eagle-birdie towards the top of the again 9.
However he missed a 4-foot par putt on the thirteenth, acquired a foul bounce on the seventeenth that led to a different bogey and wound up 5 photographs behind.
“Simply didn’t make any putts. I didn’t hit it shut sufficient,” Fitzpatrick mentioned. “Drove it nicely sufficient, didn’t hit it shut sufficient. Simply made manner much less putts than Scottie.”
Right here’s a take a look at the final-round tee occasions and featured teams for the 153rd Open Championship.
Scheffler might be paired within the final group with Li, who made historical past in 2020 on the PGA Championship when he held the 36-hole lead, the primary participant from China to steer in a significant. Li didn’t make his first bogey till the thirteenth gap, and he dropped one other shot on the 18th by driving right into a pot bunker.
Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup, in his first look in The Open, had a 68 and joined the group at 8-under 205 that included McIlroy, Harris English (68) and Tyrrell Hatton (68).
That is Scheffler’s largest 54-hole lead in a significant — he was up by three photographs on the PGA Championship and three photographs within the 2022 Masters.
