By Martyn Herman
SOUTHPORT, England, July 18 (Reuters) – American Sam Burns seized a two-stroke lead in the third round of the British Open but compatriot Bryson DeChambeau shrugged off the furore over his two-stroke penalty with another well-crafted round at Royal Birkdale to stay in the hunt on Saturday.
Ryan Fox rocketed into contention with the third record-equalling 62 in 24 hours on the bone-dry links before Burns emerged from an attritional afternoon to lead the pack.
U.S. Open runner-up Burns followed his sizzling 62 on Friday with a five-under 65 to reach 10 under heading into Sunday’s climax when he will try to bag his first major.
When Burns bogeyed the last three holes in his first round 73 it seemed he might be heading home sooner than expected to be with his wife Caroline and new-born daughter Belle.
But the 29-year-old has caught fire since then.
“I’m going to have to go out and execute,” Burns said of Sunday’s final round. “I know that I can accept the outcome, and life’s going to move on. I’ll get to go home and see my family.
“I hope I’m taking some hardware with me, but if I’m not, that’s fine too.”
New Zealand’s Fox was on eight under along with South Korean Kim Si-woo while American Ryan Gerard and Australian halfway leader Lucas Herbert were on seven under.
DeChambeau, who was punished after an inadvertent breach of R&A rules late on Friday following a second-round 66 and whose participation on Saturday appeared in doubt, again showed his new-found links course discipline.
The polarising American said that Friday’s controversy would ‘fire him up’ and he was cheered by the crowds as he carded a sixth successive sub-70 round in the Open.
However, a careless bogey at 18 left him four strokes off playing partner Burns.
“Props to him,” Burns said. “He came out and played a really nice round of golf today, and that takes a lot of grit to be able to come out and do that. So I was impressed.”
PUTTING GREMLINS
World number one Scottie Scheffler suffered a frustrating day and made only one birdie in a level-par 70 that left the defending champion six shots off the pace.
His putting gremlins continued and unless he does something incredible on Sunday, the Claret Jug is likely to be lifted by a 13th successive first-time champion.
“A little bit frustrating, but if I hole some putts tomorrow, I could shoot a really low round and move my way up the leaderboard,” Scheffler said.
Local favourite Tommy Fleetwood led the home challenge in front of packed galleries as the Englishman was tied for ninth on five under after a round of 69.
Prior to the 154th Open, only five rounds as low as 62 had been carded in the history of men’s majors with Branden Grace’s effort at the 2017 Open, also at Birkdale, and those of Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele at the 2023 U.S. Open and Schauffele and Shane Lowry at the 2024 PGA Championship.
That number has now been swelled to eight with Fox taking advantage of tranquil early conditions to emulate the feats of Burns and Herbert the previous day.
Like Herbert, he had a putt for a history-making 61 on the 18th but it did not drop.
“Standing on the last tee, I’m going if I can get one on the fairway here, you can get a wedge or a 9-iron in and have a putt for 61,” Fox said. “If you execute, you can score around here. If you don’t, it will bite you pretty quickly.”
Despite the 62 and conditions Scheffler describes as more like California than north west England, tough pin positions gave the course some teeth on moving day.
But Burns plotted his way round in magnificent fashion.
With all eyes on playing partner DeChambeau, Burns got the ball rolling with a stunning approach setting up a birdie at the second before draining a 14-foot putt on the par-three fourth.
He also birdied the par-three seventh before a laser-like approach to the eighth earned him another shot.
When a long birdie putt disappeared on the 14th he topped the leaderboard alone for the first time and as others faltered, he turned the screws with a beautiful wedge into the 17th.
It proved a disappointing day for Herbert with a round nine shots worse than his Friday effort when he missed a five-foot putt to card the first-ever 61 in a men’s major.
“Sam Burns is going to be a man possessed. Given his results in majors and him not winning one, I think he’s going to be very tough to beat,” Herbert said of Sunday’s battle.
“I’m not thrilled about giving him a three-shot head start, but we are where we are.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Ed Osmond and Christian Radnedge)
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