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Scheffler shoots 68
His birdie putt never looks like dropping, but Scottie Scheffler doesn’t seem too worried. He tidies up for his par, and at -14 he’ll take a four-shot lead over Haotong Li into tomorrow’s final round. Par for Matt Fitzpatrick, too; a disappointing 71 and he stays where he began the day at -9.
Both Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick find the 18th green in regulation. Neither particularly close, but they’ll have a look at birdie from 30 feet and 25 feet respectively. A warm ovation as they make the walk up to the green. But no golf fever. The gallery wants drama. Scottie Scheffler is just too darn good to deliver it.
Having taken his medicine, Haotong Li arrows his third into the heart of 18. Pin high, and an outside chance of saving his par from 20 feet. He gives it a good run, but it dies to the left just before it can drop. A closing bogey, but still a fine round of 69. He’s -10. Unless Matt Fitzpatrick holes out for eagle from 183 yards, Li will be going round with Scottie Scheffler in the final pairing.
Up on the 18th green, Tyrrell Hatton pars for his second 68 of the week. His playing partner Rasmus Højgaard misses a tiddler and finishes up with bogey. Rasmus is -6 overall; Hatton is a couple of strokes better off at -8, but wears the look of a man who knows he’s got no chance tomorrow unless Scottie Scheffler pulls up lame.
Scottie Scheffler very nearly drains a 35-footer from the front of 17. It looks in all the way before it slides a little to the left a couple of feet from the cup. The rest of the field will have been willing that to stay out. There’s not a great chance of catching Scheffler as it is; another shot would have made their tough task almost impossible. But he might not need it anyway, because Matt Fitzpatrick can’t get up and down to save his par. Meanwhile Haotong Li is forced to take his medicine and chip out from the bunker on 18.
Haotong Li walks in a 20-foot birdie putt on 17. He rises to -11, Scottie’s nearest challenger … but for how long? Because he carves his drive at 18 into a bunker down the right of the fairway. Meanwhile back on 17, Scottie Scheffler finds the front of the green in two, but Matt Fitzpatrick, who had sent his tee shot into the cabbage down the left, thinks he’s powered out into the front of the green as well … but the ball is grabbed by the slope to the right and looks to gather it into the bunker. It stops inches short. He’d have probably preferred that to topple in.
Scottie Scheffler’s drive at 17 looks like heading towards bush-related trouble down the left … but he’s battered it so far that it sails over the bother and into lighter rough past the bank. You make your own luck. Meanwhile up on 18, Harris English can’t convert his fine approach into birdie, and finishes with a round of 68. Bob MacIntyre has to settle for a 70, that eagle on 7 failing to ignite the round he’d have wanted. English is -8, MacIntyre -6. Scotland’s wait for another Open champion, stretching back to Paul Lawrie in 1999, goes on.
Scottie finally makes a birdie putt on the back nine! He smoothly strokes it into the centre of the cup, and unless something weird happens along the closing stretch, the world number one will be taking a big lead into the final round.
-14: Scheffler (16)
-10: Li (16), Fitzpatrick (16)
Scottie Scheffler with one of the shots of the day at the long par-three 16th. A low fade that enters the front door of the green and rolls up to 14 feet. Yet another good birdie chance coming up. Matt Fitzpatrick finds the back right of the green, a fine shot on its own terms, but distinctly average when put up against Scottie’s. Meanwhile Harris English also sets himself up wonderfully: an iron arrowed with precision, straight at the flag on 18 from 200 yards to eight feet. It nearly went in while rolling past, too.
Scottie’s birdie putt on 15 is dead straight. But he’s up and out of it quickly, walking after it in an irritated fashion. A wee pull. Another par, but unlike the ones at 11 and 14, which would have felt like birdie, this one will feel like, if not bogey, then an opportunity missed. He was hitting wedge from the centre of the fairway to an accessible pin. Hey, these are the blades of straw at which the rest of the field have to claw. Birdie for Matt Fitzpatrick, though, the first forward move for the Sheffield star on the back nine.
-13: Scheffler (15)
-10: Li (16), Fitzpatrick (15)
-8: McIlroy (F), Gotterup (F), English (17), Hatton (16)
So then, the “inevitability” of Scottie Scheffler. He’s hitting gap wedge into 15 from 129 yards. A hard bounce, no bite, no spin, and his ball scuttles 23 feet past the hole. Let’s still not rule out birdie, though. Meanwhile up on 16, Tyrrell Hatton sends his tee shot over the back of the green, and he isn’t able to scramble par from there. Back to -8, his first misstep of the day.
Rory McIlroy speaks to Sky Sports. “Absolutely incredible out there … the atmosphere electric … [the eagle putt on 12 was] possibly one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had on a golf course … an absolute pleasure to play in front of my home crowd, my fans … I’ve tried my best … hang in there and stay in it … I played well enough today to think I at least have a chance tomorrow … look, Scottie Scheffler is inevitable … even when he doesn’t have his best stuff … he’s the complete player … it’s going to be tough to catch him if he keeps playing the way he does … if I can get the crowd going, hopefully he feels that a couple of groups behind me … you never know … I need to play a really good round tomorrow and see what happens.”
Scottie Scheffler hits a confident right-to-left sliding putt into the hole. Never missing. Got to say, it’s a par save worthy of a much louder ovation than the one it receives … but then again, if you announce that you don’t get particularly excited about your own achievements, it’s fair enough and only natural if other people decide to opt out as well.
Scottie’s chip into 14 is good, but not great. Straight at the flag, but screeching to a halt nine feet short. Another of those tests. He’s not failed us yet.
McIlroy in for 66
Rory nearly drains his long birdie putt. Perfect pace. The width of a ball wide on the right. He’s back in the hutch at -8, having strained every sinew to change the momentum of a round that looked to be going nowhere between holes 5 and 11. Scottie Scheffler may render it all futile on the closing stretch, but as things stand now, Portrush’s favourite son has at least given himself an outside chance tomorrow.
Rory McIlroy’s tee shot at 18 flirts with a bunker down the right, but stops just to the left of the trap. He’s on an upslope, and can punch the ball into the green off the bank to the right. He’s left with a 47-footer for birdie. Justin Rose Country. So it can be done. Meanwhile back on 14, Scottie Scheffler dumps his tee shot into thick rough down the left of the hole. But it’s just another test for the big man to pass: although the ball’s deep in the oomska, he muscles it out back onto the fairway, advancing it close to the green. A chip and a putt, and he’ll be away with another par. You wouldn’t bet too much against it, would you?
Westwood back in 29, tying Open record
Par for Lee Westwood on 18. Such a shame his birdie putt, which shaved the hole from 15 feet, didn’t drop. Because he’d have broken the Open record for lowest score on the back nine. He took 29 strokes coming home today, tying the record set by Ryan Fox here in 2019. Previously, the record had been held by Eric Brown, who shot 30 on the back nine at Lytham in 1958. Westwood signs for a 69 – he was out in 40, so that’s very much a round of two halves – and he’s -5 overall.
Scottie Scheffler’s birdie putt on 13 shaves the right-hand lip. Three of those missed now. He could easily be six clear. Meanwhile Haotong Li bounces back from the bogey at 13 with birdie at 14. He’s got second spot to himself, because back on 13, Matt Fitzpatrick lips out from three feet. Not the first time he’s done that this week. A costly habit.
-13: Scheffler (13)
-10: Li (14)
-9: Hatton (14), Fitzpatrick (13)
Rory gives his long birdie putt on 17 a good chance. Perfect length. But it’s always staying out on the high side. He taps in for par. But here’s why even that might not be good enough, and why he was so desirous of a big birdie chance: back on the par-three 13th, Scottie Scheffler clips his tee shot to 14 feet. Another huge opportunity for the leader coming up.
-13: Scheffler (12)
-10: Fitzpatrick (12)
-9: Hatton (14), Li (13)
-8: McIlroy (17), Gotterup (16), English (15)
-7: Schauffele (F)
Rory McIlroy carves a wild drive into the gallery down the right of 17. He’s fortunate it’s so bad; a little bit nearer the fairway and he’d be in thick filth. But he’s copped a decent lie, trodden down by the punters. That allows their hero to whip a wedge into the heart of the green. A huge roar. It’s a decent-enough escape from an unpromising position, but it’s hardly a birdie chance, and that’s what McIlroy wanted, if the slightly underwhelming look on his face is anything to go by. His expression is incongruous with the joy of his people, but that’s fandom for you. Still, he’s got two putts for par, and if he makes them, he’ll have got away with a spectacularly awful tee shot. So it’s swings and roundabouts.
Haotong Li makes only his second bogey of the week. And it’s a dismal one, a three-foot putt tugged nervously left, always missing from the moment it leaves the face of the putter. He’s back to -9. Meanwhile how about this late charge from Lee Westwood? Since the turn, he’s made six birdies in eight holes, at 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 and now 17! He’d be onto something here … had he not gone out in 40. Still, he’s two under for his round and -5 overall. Pars meanwhile for Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick at 11.
Bob MacIntyre calms down by the time he reaches the greenside bunker he’s found on 14. That doesn’t stop him hitting a hot one out of it. The ball flies over the green and ends up in a swale on the far side. He nearly makes the putt coming back up, but that’s a bogey that drops Oban’s finest back to -6.
A brilliant up and down from an unpromising position on the par-three 16th by Rory McIlroy. Having carved his tee shot down the rough-strewn bank to the right, it’s all he can do to avoid a flyer and find the centre of the green. Or so you’d think. Instead he elegantly swishes out to a couple of feet, and tides up for his par. He remains at -8. Meanwhile scenes on 18, where Justin Rose tramlines a 50-footer from off the green for a closing birdie! He raises both arms in jubilation and soaks up the love from the crowd. It’s not quite Birkdale in 1997, but it’s another great moment for one of the game’s most popular players. A 68 and last year’s runner-up is -5 overall.
… but it was bogey for Matt Fitzpatrick, who was unable to get up and down from a much easier position, the fringe at the front. The margins are small, and yet so very big. And with Scottie Scheffler unwilling to cede an inch, others in the field are betrayed by their frustration. Bob MacIntyre pulls his approach at 14 into a bunker, and then spikes his iron into the turf with such force that it balloons 10, maybe 15 feet into the sky before coming back down to earth and landing apologetically. Oh Bob. What strength, though!
-13: Scheffler (11)
-10: Li (11), Fitzpatrick (11)
-9: Hatton (13)
-8: McIlroy (15), Gotterup (14)
Scheffler’s up the bank, knee high in grass. He swishes out of the filth beautifully, landing his ball softly on the fringe, rolling it up to nine feet. In goes the putt, a gentle left-to-right slider, and it’s fair to say he’s passed that test. Par. A small pump of the fist. Who says it doesn’t mean anything to him?
A really strange unforced error from Scottie Scheffler. He’s in the semi-rough to the right of the 11th fairway. Just a wedge in from 149 yards … but he seems to lose his rhythm on the downswing, and ends up with just one hand on the club on the follow-through. The ball squirts off to the left of the green, and dunks into some thick oomska. This hole might be in his head; he’s bogeyed it twice already this week. His first big test of the day coming up.
A huge break for Rory McIlroy at 15. He hits a hot one out of some semi-rough down the left of 15. “Aw sit!” he pleads his ball. It doesn’t. But what it does do is hit the flagstick! The ball, stunned, drops dead a couple of feet from the cup, and in goes the birdie putt. Up goes the roar, and the home hero rises to -8 … one shy of Tyrrell Hatton, who comes up just short of the par-five 12th green in two, but chips up to kick-in distance to set up another birdie.
-13: Scheffler (10)
-11: Fitzpatrick (10)
-10: Li (11)
-9: Hatton (12)
-8: Gotterup (13)
-7: Schauffele (F), English (12), MacIntyre (12)
Scottie Scheffler misses another gettable birdie putt, this time at 10. But for a few millimetres here and there, at 9 and 10, he could now be four clear. He’s giving the field a chance, sort of. And up on 11, Haotong Li curls in a left-to-right 20-foot birdie putt to move into double digits for the first time. Li’s been solid and unspectacular so far today, but with two birdies and nine pars, he’s yet to take a backward step. And now he’s only three off the lead at -10.
Harris English has shown some moxie this week. Yesterday he hacked his way up 15 but managed to limit the damage to bogey, getting up and down from a bunker. Two holes later, he claimed the shot back. He’s done something very similar now, making bogey on 11 after whistling his tee shot into a bush and being forced to take a drop, then hooking wide left, before getting up and down to … yes … limit the damage to bogey. And now he’s snatched the shot back with birdie at 12! This is seriously impressive stuff from English, coming in under the radar and flatly refusing to go away. He’s -7.
Schauffele shoots 66
Par for the defending champion Xander Schauffele on 18. He signs for a 66 that’s whisked him from the middle of the pack towards the upper reaches of the leaderboard … and into contention? At -7 for the tournament, he’s probably left it a bit too late, unless Scottie Scheffler does him (and the rest of the field) a big favour at some point. Which simply doesn’t look on the cards … and the world number one’s just thrown another dart at another flag, this time at 10. Anyway, Schauffele is the new clubhouse leader.
-13: Scheffler (9)
-11: Fitzpatrick (9)
-9: Li (10)
-8: Gotterup (12), Hatton (11)
-7: Schauffele (F), McIlroy (14), MacIntyre (11)
BREAKING NEWS: Scottie Scheffler isn’t perfect. His uphill 20-foot birdie putt at 9 looks in all the way, but dies off to the right on the last revolution. He turns in 33 strokes, and remains at -13. Matt Fitzpatrick does well to hang around by getting up and down from off the front for his par. He’s -11. Also not giving up: Chris Gotterup, who eagles 12 to ping back up the leaderboard to -8.
Scottie Scheffler keeps on keepin’ on. Another approach, another iron to 20 feet, another birdie chance. He’s threatening to pull clear of the field. Bob MacIntyre isn’t giving up, though, and sends his second at 11 from 180 yards to 15 feet, before knocking in the birdie putt. He’s -7.
On the subject of slow play … which we were, a few minutes back … here’s Bryson!
Rory McIlroy gives his birdie putt a good rattle, but he hasn’t set it far enough out to the right. It’s always swinging across the front of the cup. He swipes his putter through the air in frustration. He’s piecing together a fine round, but he’s only made one shot on Scottie Scheffler, who is beginning to find some higher gears. Scheffler splits the 9th fairway, and there’s suddenly a bit of air taken from the atmosphere, as the best player in the world hits his straps. That’s not the brilliant Scheffler’s fault, but the gallery’s collective heart is pulling for Rory, and the heart wants what it wants.
Rory’s back on it! He whip-cracks his tee shot at the par-three 13th straight at the flag. A gentle fade, maybe. He sets up a 20-foot birdie chance. But a little bit of energy drains from the gallery as, back on 8, Scottie rolls in his birdie putt without fuss. After a quiet start, the world number one is suddenly making golf look simple. Golf is not usually this simple, like that’s breaking news.
-13: Scheffler (8)
-11: Fitzpatrick (8)
-9: Li (8)
-8: Hatton (9)
-7: Schauffele (16), McIlroy (12), English (10)
Rory’s second into 12 isn’t all that. Ball at the back left of the green, the pin front right. He’s 56 feet away. He sets his putt off down the slope. It’s sliding gently right to left. It looks like stopping, ten feet away. It looks like stopping five feet away, too. But somehow it keeps on going, and going, and going, and in! He raises his right arm, fist clenched, in triumph as the stand behind the green goes ballistic. A roar that could be heard all across the course. Possibly as far as Belfast. An outside chance of Dublin. He’s -7!
Matt Fitzpatrick is a quick player. He doesn’t like hanging about. But he does here, discussing at length his 150-yard approach into 8 with his caddie. Eventually he pulls the trigger. Centre of the green, but nowhere close. Scottie Scheffler by contrast doesn’t hang about, and pings his second pin high. He’ll have a 15-foot look at birdie.
Scottie Scheffler guides in the eagle putt on 7. Fairly straight, a little oscillation en route maybe. Fuss free, though. He wanders off, hand in pocket. Matt Fitzpatrick keeps him within sight by making birdie.
-12: Scheffler (7)
-11: Fitzpatrick (7)
-9: Li (7)
-8: Hatton (9)
-7: Schauffele (15), English (9)
-6: Henley (F), Gotterup (10), MacIntyre (9), Harman (7)
Rory can’t rescue himself on 11 with a long par putt. Bogey, which to be fair he would have taken while watching his tee shot arc towards the bushes in which so many players have come a cropper this week. But he slips back to -5. Meanwhile back on 10, Chris Gotterup misses the green front right, and can’t get up and down to save his par. He’s -6.
Scottie Scheffler has been super-quiet today. [Flicks through book of old movie clichés] Perhaps too quiet. A run of pars up until now. But from the middle of the 7th fairway, he gently swishes his second from 206 yards to ten feet. A soft landing and a serene roll-up. That’s a trademark Scottie approach. Big eagle chance coming up!
No, there’s no problem there. Other than maybe his concentration has snapped, because having come up short of the green, he seriously underhits his chip, which rolls apologetically to a halt, 25 feet from the pin. Meanwhile while all that slapstick drama was unfolding, the defending champion Xander Schauffele guides in a long-range right-to-left swinger on 15 for birdie. That’s off the back of his two-eagle whammy, and from nowhere, the hero of Troon is right in it again! He’s -7.
A big stroke of luck for Rory on 11. He hoicks his tee shot towards the bushes down the right of 11. Quite a few have lost their ball there this week. But he clears the bush and lands on some ground trodden down by the gallery. He’s got a shot in … but then, when he takes it, and the ball disappears off towards the green, another ball pops up from under the grass! An old member’s ball that’s been buried there awhile, under the spot where his ball had ended up! What are the chances? Rory is half-amused, half-confused, and calls for a ruling. Pretty sure he can’t be penalised for playing the wrong ball, but then the rules of golf are notoriously byzantine, so let’s see.
On Sky, Sir Nick Faldo and Razor Riley come to the conclusion that Scottie Scheffler’s 8-iron into 6 might have been a bit fortunate, on account of being nearly bladed. Because otherwise, they surmise, how would he get so much run? So birdie would be quite the bonus. Scheffler rarely looks a gift horse in the mouth, but his putt scoots past on the high side. Just the par. Matt Fitzpatrick can’t make his birdie putt either, and we all move on.
Neither Scottie Scheffler nor Matt Fitzpatrick find the green with their tee shots at the driveable par-four 5th. Unwilling to take the flag on with their chips, OB lurking behind the green, they end up with unremarkable pars. But both players find the back portion of the par-three 6th, the pin tucked away there, and they’ll have a look at birdie from 12 feet. Meanwhile bogey for Bob MacIntyre, the result of an unforced error, missing the green with wedge from close in. That’s clumsy, and he slips back to -6.
Sensational eagle at 7 for Tyrrell Hatton as well! But in a very different fashion to Bob MacIntyre! He wedges from the centre of the fairway from 139 yards. A crisp clip to the front-right of the green. The ball takes one bounce up the green, landing pin, high, before rolling left at a 45-degree angle. It stops on the lip at the front, and for a second refuses to drop, before succumbing to gravity. Hatton spins around and celebrates his move to -8. Quite a few players making their move on the leaders, with the final pair not exactly tearing it up.
Eagle for Bob MacIntyre! He creams his second at the par-five 7th from 245 yards to seven feet, and makes no mistake with his putt. His playing partner Harris English gets on in two as well, albeit nowhere nearly so close. Two putts later and that’s a more-than-acceptable birdie. The quiet, chewing-gum-fixated 35-year-old from Georgia going extremely well this week.
-10: Fitzpatrick (4), Scheffler (4)
-9: Li (5)
-7: Gotterup (8), English (7), MacIntyre (7)
-6: Henley (F), Schauffele (13), McIlroy (9), Finau (8), Hatton (6), Harman (5)
Another shank out of thick rough by Justin Rose! This time on 11. That’s two shanks in four holes! He can’t believe what’s just happened, and holds both arms out, palms up to the sky, the international body-shape for what-the??!!?? With exactly that number of question and exclamation marks. Very strange. Once again he does extremely well to gather his thoughts and limit the damage to bogey, but at -4 his chances of hoisting the Claret Jug are receding. Not least because – and admittedly there are no official R&A stats covering this – I’m not sure how many people have won the Open after two or more hosel rockets during the week.
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