Scottie Scheffler plays his second to the last today – image R&A via Getty Images
There is seldom a fait accompli scenario in tournament golf and that may still be the case as the Open Championship heads into tomorrow’s final round at Royal Portrush but that the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, has a four shot lead after today’s third round suggests it will take a powerful final round challenge by his chasers and some help from the leader himself.
Certainly, today’s very impressive scoring by so many of those in contention (ten rounds of 67 or better were recorded) suggests the former is very much on the cards, but whether Scheffler is even capable of allowing potential challengers any sort of hope by assisting their cause is doubtful at best.
Scheffler’s amazing precision this week, more especially in his distance control into the greens and his outstanding putting in which he ranks No 1 in strokes gained, suggests even with his relative inaccuracy from the tee, he can produce a final round enough under par to make the task ‘a bridge too far’ for his chasers.
In his 24 major starts to date, Scheffler has won three times and enjoyed 12 other top-ten finishes.
Scheffler was bogey-free today, and after a run of five pars to get things started, he eagled the 7th hole after an approach from 205 yards finished 10 feet from the hole. He would then birdie the 8th from 16 feet to make the turn in 3 under 33, and although he would add only one further birdie at the 16th, it came at a hole which might have influenced proceedings given its dangers.
Scheffler’s tee shot at the 239-yard par 3 finished 16 feet from the hole, and when converted, he had moved to 14 under. While Haotong Li moved within three when he birdied the 17th, a dropped shot by the Chinese star at the last increased the margin to what appears a near-unassailable four shots.
“I feel good,” said Scheffler perhaps stating the obvious. “I had another good day today. I made a couple of nice par saves. I had a really good par save on 11, really good par save on 14 and I did some good stuff. Like you said, I was pretty patient most of the day, but felt like I was hitting it really nicely. Just sometimes in major championships, it can be tough to make birdies, and today was one of those days where I just had to give myself some looks and was able to hole a few.
“I think the card could look stress-free, but I had two really nice par saves on the back nine that were key. I made a nice eight-ish footer on 11, another one on 14, so two really important putts I felt like.
“I think anytime you can keep a clean card around a major championship, you’re going to be having a pretty good day.
“This is why we work so hard is to have opportunities like this, and I’m excited for the challenge of tomorrow. Winning major championships is not an easy task, and I’ve put myself in a good position.”
Matthew Fitzpatrick is another shot back and alone in 3rd place at 9 under and five from the lead, but at 8 under are three golfers, Rory McIlroy, Tyrell Hatton, Harris English and Chris Gotterup, who might yet have a say in the outcome if they can produce the brilliance they are capable of.
McIlroy was boosted by an undeniably patriotic Northern Ireland crowd as he birdied three of his first four holes and eventually finished with a round of 66. Given how he played today, a fast start tomorrow in the second-to-last group might see him applying the sort of pressure needed to unsettle a seemingly unflappable Scheffler.
Defending champion, Xander Schauffele, is at 7 under after his round of 66 and is not completely without hope tomorrow, but he will likely need a round of 64 or better to have any chance, it seems.
The only Australasian to make it to the weekend, Marc Leishman, recorded a five-birdie round of 68 to be in a share of 22nd place at 4 under and is looking forward to tomorrow.
Felt really good today actually,” said Leishman, who is playing his first major in nearly three years. “Played good, hit good shots into the 1st and then three-putted, but hit two shots exactly where I wanted to hit them, and the putt was actually good.
“But made a lot of birdies and hit a lot of good shots. Nice to see some putts drop in. Hopefully, I can do something silly tomorrow and try to sneak into that top 5 or 10.
“I’m hitting it well enough to be aggressive. Depends what the conditions do. If the wind gets up a little bit, you’ve got to try and give yourself makable birdie putts on every hole. If it’s like it was today, you probably have to be a bit more aggressive and try and make something happen.
It’s one of those things; you just have to hit good shots. If you’re not hitting good shots, whether you’re aggressive or conservative, you’re not going to have a good score. If you are hitting good shots, you can play that way and still have a good score.
I feel like my iron play is really good at the moment, and there might be a few pins that I’ll be able to go at that maybe, depending on the situation, I might otherwise not go at. Yeah, we’ll see what the situation brings.”
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