Saturday at The Open: Lowry sets course record, Fleetwood in the hunt, Xander slams R&A and Stanley fires back at MacIntyre
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All the big talking points from the third round of the Open as Shane Lowry leads by four, Xander Schauffele takes a swipe at The R&A, and Robert MacIntyre’s war of words with Kyle Stanley takes another twist…
The atmosphere was electric around the 18th green as Shane Lowry two-putted his way to a course record of 63, and will head in to the final round at Royal Portrush with a four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood.
Elsewhere, Portrush Head Pro Gary McNeill got his first taste of playing in an Open, Xander Schauffele took a swipe at the R&A after his driver failed their random testing, and Kyle Stanley fired back at Robert MacIntyre for their ‘heated discussion’ over shouting fore in the second round.
Read on below to find out what you missed from the penultimate day of the Open.
Sensational Shane takes control of The Open with course record 63
Shane Lowry will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the 148th Open Championship after shooting a course record, eight-under 63 at Royal Portrush.
Roared on by a buoyant home crowd, Lowry fell just one shot short of tying the lowest round ever in an Open but did set a new 54-hole scoring record (197), previously held by Tom Lehman in 1996.
“I’m still a bit fuzzy. I just really enjoyed today,” said Lowry, who won the Abu Dhabi Championship earlier this year. “Obviously I played great golf, the crowd were incredible and I just felt so comfortable. I know there’s a tough 24 hours ahead of me but there’s no where I’d rather be.”
“I said to my caddie walking off 17 that the next half an hour, we might never experience it again so let’s enjoy it.
“It was one of the most incredible days of my life. I hope I am going to be able to deal with it but I think I’m ready for it.”
Lowry’s bogey-free round was greeted by jubilation in the stands, and was swiftly followed by chants of ‘ole, ole’ as they serenaded the World No.33, just like they did Rory McIlroy 24 hours earlier.
Lowry will have now have the weight of his nation on his shoulders as he bids to win his first-ever major, just three years after squandering a 54-hole lead at the US Open.
His closest challenger, Tommy Fleetwood, also went bogey-free to shoot a five-under-par, 66, and keep alive his hopes of becoming the first Englishman to win the Claret Jug since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992,
Third-round co-leader JB Holmes is two shots further back on 10-under, while major winners Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka need a quick start to have any chance of catching Lowry on nine under par.
Tommy Fleetwood relishing the challenge of a final round pairing Shane Lowry as he searches for his maiden major title at the Open on Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to it, to be honest with you,” Fleetwood said. “It’s going to be another chapter in my career, no matter what happens. And it’s going to be a very special day.”
The World No. 20 is the closest challenger to the Irishman but sits four shots back after Lowry pulled away from the rest of the field with an eight-under course record of 63 during the third round.
His impressive score, which was three-shots better than Fleetwood’s bogey-free 66 on Saturday, was encouraged at every turn by a crowd that buzzed with enthusiasm for the man playing on home soil.
It all came to a head at the 18th where cheers, chants and singing came together for a noise more reminiscent of a Ryder Cup than an Open Championship, and Fleetwood expects more of the same on Sunday afternoon.
“The atmosphere for us as golfer was just great,” he said. “I loved it. For or against you, you can’t help but appreciate and love what today was and what tomorrow is going to be.
“Tomorrow is not going to be any quieter. And for sure tomorrow playing with Shane, last day, that going to have its — it’s going to be more challenging to control yourself in the atmosphere and being in the middle of that. But that’s what we’re here for.
“I know what it’s going to be like. I’ve had my fair share of support for the first three days. Hopefully there will still be some people out there rooting for me. And it’s going to be, for me, especially being in that group, it’s going to be harder than the rest of the field, for sure.
“I’m very, very happy to have that challenge. If you had said at the start of today, at the start of the week, at the start of the year, you’re going into the last round, whether I’m four back, five back, it doesn’t matter, I’m in the last group Sunday at The Open and playing with Shane, and the majority of the crowd might not be with you, I would have said, Yeah, that’s fine.”
Xander Schauffele ‘pissed off’ with R&A after handling of non-conforming driver
Xander Schauffele made it clear he was less than impressed with the governing body after he became the first person pubicly known to have their driver fail their random testing – but it turns out there were others.
As a result, Schauffele was left needing to find a new Callaway driver as of Tuesday evening, and visibly struggled during the opening round from the tee.
“I had a little bit of run-in with them, because they only test 30 players,” he said. “I thought it was a little bit unfair — I would gladly give up my driver if it’s not conforming.
“But there’s still 130 other players in the field that potentially have a nonconforming driver, as well…What’s the fair thing to do? Just test the whole field. It’s plain and simple.
“Other drivers failed. I’ll just say it, I’m pretty sure a (indecipherable) driver failed and a TaylorMade driver failed and the Callaway driver failed. This matter should be private. But R&A didn’t do their job in keeping it private. So I don’t feel like I should — I can tell you right now what happened or what I know.
“The R&A, they pissed me off because they attempted to ruin my image by not keeping this matter private. This is me coming out and treating them the exact way they treated me.”
Have we found a chink in Koepka’s armoury?
He’s been almost unstoppable in the majors, winning four of the last six and not finishing outside the top two in the first three this year. But Brooks Koepka’s got work to do to win his first Claret Jug after he squandered a number of birdie opportunities to fall seven shots off the lead. “I don’t think anyone in the field has hit it better than me, but I can’t make any putts,” he bemoaned.
That might be an exaggeration (he did take just 29 total putts after all) but a trend has emerged which hints at a possible weakness in his game. Before the start of this week, he was ranked 99th in strokes-gained (SG): putting on the PGA Tour, compared to 23rd in SG: off the tee, 13th in SG: approach to green, and 11th in SG: tee to green. His short game stats aren’t much better than his putting either, and considering the importance of both on links courses, that might explain why his best finish in an Open is only tied six.
Kyle Stanley strikes back at Robert MacIntyre over ‘fore’ furore
Kyle Stanley has hit back at comments made by Robert MacIntyre, and refused to apologise for hitting his caddie’s mother on the hand.
The pair were involved in a heated exchange during the second round of The Open after the left-handed Scot called out his playing partner for failing to shout ‘fore’ twice.
Think it’s tough playing again after a three-week break from golf? Try making your comeback in an Open Championship!
Home favourites Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy might have missed the cut, but there was a silver lining for Portrush Head Professional Gary McNeill on the course he has called home for 20 years.
Despite having not played since missing out on Open qualifying just three weeks earlier, McNeill stepped in as a non-competing marker for Paul Waring, and led the field off at 09:35.
“Over the years I’ve been to a lot of Opens, but to actually experience it was unbelievable, it really was,” said McNeill, who only found out he would be playing at 8.30pm the night before.
“I had kind of been preparing for it in the back of my mind for a long time, but when you get the call up its nuts.” McNeill ended up posting a nine-over 80, just five shots worse than his playing partner.
“It’s just an unbelievable experience to be out there playing on the course with these guys at the same time,” he added. “I need to lie down after all that.”
Shot of the day
Danny Willett didn’t need his putter on the par-3 6th, and neither did Tony Finau on his final hole. Both holed out with wedges from the side of the green, and both finished on seven under par through 54 holes.
