Troon, Scotland. Those who played in the early sunshine for Saturday’s 3rd round of the 152nd Open Championship were blessed to escape the carnage that would simply swallow up the afternoon leaders. Opening the door for what looks to be one of the most unpredictable conclusions in recent history for golf’s oldest major event.
When Sunday’s final round commences 23 players are now within six shots of the lead. Billy Horschel sits atop with a one-shot lead over five players (Justin Rose, Daniel Brown, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele).
Second round- leader Shane Lowry was a victim of the cold biting rain and wind and is three shots from the lead courtesy of a six-over-par round of 77. But nonetheless, the Irishman is still in the mix for taking home the title.
Those who played in the AM period had the benefit of sunshine, light winds and overall, rather benign conditions. American Sam Burns and South African Thriston Lawrence made the biggest moves each scoring a six-under-par 65 – the low score for the round.
All told – the two golfers who had started the day eleven shots back are now only one shot off the lead. Lawrence will play in the final pairing with Horschel.
Those nearest to the lead faced an afternoon round that had them fending off constant moisture necessitating wiping off of water that dripped in every conceivable place.
Adding to the difficulty the wind direction – which uncharacteristically had been from the southerly direction for the first two rounds – flipped to the prevailing north and that meant facing the inward half of holes with a headwind that would not abate.
Players were routinely hitting fairway medals for second shots on a number of the longer par-4 holes. The penultimate 17th – a par-3 at 235 yards actually played more as a short par-4. The most impressive play came from world-number-one player Scottie Scheffler as his 3-metal approach came near to being an ace.
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“The Railway” The par-4 11th was touted as the most challenging hole at Royal Troon coming into the championship and its reputation has certainly been validated at this year’s Open. The stroke average is the highest among the 18 holes at 4.418 and remarkably the hole has inflicted the most scorecard damage with 27 double-bogeys and 43 “others.” The listed scorecard distance is 495 yards but the effective yardage was far greater during Saturday afternoon when the leaders were fighting to keep their scorecards from imploding. The demand starts from the tee. The namesake of the hole is immediately to one’s right as a rail line is in constant usage. The hole features a blind tee shot and the fairway works to the right in the landing zone for the tee shot. At the 300-yard distance the fairway width narrows from 35 to 28 yards and accentues the need for uncanny accuracy. Out-of-bounds hugs the entire right as closely as a toddler holds his mother’s skirt on the first day of school. Those going too far left will find gorse bushes providing an equal level of punishment. Even when finding the fairway, the approach is daunting as a solitary pot bunker is situated just left of the green and the aforementioned out-of-bounds is only a few steps from the right edge of the putting surface. Jack Nicklaus has stated the hole is the most fearsome he has played and the Golden Bear speaks with experience after scoring a 10 during one of his rounds during the 1962 Open Championship. |
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To his credit Horschel displayed a brilliant short game in being able to recover time after time until a final bogey at the closing hole dropped his edge to one-shot over five others.
The final round storylines are plentiful.
Horschel has had a quality professional career but Sunday’s position in the lead with just 18 holes left in a major event is new territory for him.
Coming into this week the eight-time PGA Tour winner has played in 42 majors and finished in the top five only once.
Daniel Brown, the 29-year-old remains in the hunt and should the Englishman win, he would do so in his debut outing in a major – replicating what Ben Curtis did at the ’06 Open and Keegan Bradley accomplished at the 2011 PGA Championship.
Should Justin Rose win the Claret Jug he would eclipse the longest span of time between majors – 11 years plus one month – since winning the 2013 US Open at Merion.
Sam Burns and Russell Henley have both never won a major event although Burns has finished in the top ten once and Henley twice.
Among the prime pre-championship favorites — Schauffele and Scheffler are just one and two shots behind respectively and if either wins they will have won two majors in a calendar year – the first time this would be accomplished since Brooks Koepka in 2018.
Adam Scott and Justin Thomas both returned from near dead status after carding scores of 77 and 78 in the second round and then followed-up with 3rd round scores of 66 and 67 respectively.
In short, the 152nd Open Championship is heading into a final round where any possible outcome is still present. Interestingly, this is the same links in which Henrik Stenton claimed the 2016 Claret Jug with the lowest 72-hole score in the championship’s history – 264. The final cumulative score for this year’s event will not be remotely near that.
Links golf has once again shown the unpredictability element that lies at its core. Successful adjustments will be the test for all the contenders to demonstrate.
The battle to become the “Champion golfer of the year” will be a true donnybrook with ebbs and flows throughout the final 18 holes.
The approaching drama for the final major year of 2024 is now set.
As the acclaimed actress Bette Davis famously said in the award-winning movie, “All about Eve,” – “fasten your seat belts.”
Selected tee times
1335 – Matthew Jordan, Justin Thomas
1345 – Adam Scott, Shane Lowry
1355 – Scottie Scheffler, Daniel Brown
1405 – Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele
1415 – Russell Henley, Sam Burns
1425 – Thriston Lawrence, Billy Horschel
Weather forecast
Dry with some brighter spells developing and only a very slight chance of a light shower. Winds gusting between 18-22mph from 10am onwards.
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