Key events
… so yes, there are birdies out there. Plenty of birdies. Especially on the front nine. But a word of warning. A couple of words, actually. First up, they’re expecting some rain soon, and it could get heavier and more persistent as the afternoon progresses. Not great news for the later starters. However, the tide changes at around 5.30pm, and that may have a bearing on the wind. A chance of a switcheroo that may help the later starters on the back nine. How this all pans out remains to be seen, it’s Scotland, after all, and it’s the Open. Either way: entertainment and drama ahoy!
… but the hottest early starter is Thriston Lawrence. The 27-year-old South African has just completed the front nine in 30 strokes, six under par, with birdies at 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. He’s -3 overall. Meanwhile Sam Burns, who won the last-ever World Match Play last year, fancies another big title for his resumé, and after opening his third round with a bogey, has since birdied 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 to move into contention. Time to get our first leaderboard on!
-7: Lowry
-5: Brown, Rose
-3: Lawrence (10)
-2: Horschel, Burmester, Scheffler
-1: Thomas (13), Burns (8), MK Kim (6), Conners, Day, Schauffele, Cantlay
E: A Scott (F), Henley (5), Straka (3), Jordan, Niemann
Onto Justin Thomas, who stumbled through the first nine holes yesterday in 45 strokes. He’s played the same holes, in admittedly very different conditions, in 31 today. Birdies at 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, then another after a glorious long rake across 12. But he’s just dropped his first stroke of his third round, having flown the 13th green and failed to get up and down from the thick rough behind. Still, he’s -1 overall, having shot up 30 places since the start of play.
The 2012 nearly man Adam Scott is next up. The genial Aussie went out in 32, with birdies at 1, 2, 5 and 7. He came back in 34, birdies at 14 and 16 sandwiching his only bogey at 15. A 66 and Scott finishes the day at level par for the championship. Consider both Scott and Im’s cards, and it’s clear that Troon is offering up birdies to those who want them, with the not-insignificant exception of that stretch immediately after the turn between 10 and 15.
That was good fun, and it illustrates the party atmosphere around Troon this morning and early afternoon. The conditions have been benign, and the field have been making hay, especially on the front nine. The first case in point: Im Sung-jae, who birdied 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 to go out in 31 strokes. Coming back, with the wind not so favourable, was more of a war of attrition: a bogey at 14 was cancelled out by birdie at 18, and Im signs for a 66. He’s +1, and there is more of this to report.
Kim aces 17!
Shall we start the day with a sugar rush? Go on, then! It’s Kim Si-woo at the 238-yard 17th. He’s +7 and so we wouldn’t normally go straight to the 29-year-old Korean … only he sends a long iron fading gently into the green. It lands front edge, takes a couple of skips, then rolls out serenely into the cup! For a second he looks around as though he can’t believe what’s just happened, before breaking into a huge smile, high-fiving his caddie, and miming the gentle left-to-right flight of his ball with his arm! That’s the longest hole-in-one in Open history, and the first at the 17th at Troon since the R&A’s detailed records begun in 1981.
Preamble
Welcome to Moving Day at the 152nd Open Championship! After 36 holes, the top of the leaderboard looked like this …
-7: Lowry
-5: Brown, Rose
-2: Horschel, Burmester, Scheffler
-1: Conners, Day, Schauffele, Cantlay
E: Jordan, Niemann
+1: D Johnson, Koepka, Morikawa, Hughes, Rahm
… while these (selected) big names missed the cut …
Akshay Bhatia, Keegan Bradley, Will Zalatoris, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen, Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee, Francesco Molinari, Zach Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy, Cameron Smith, Sahith Theegala and Tiger Woods
… and that left us with a tee sheet that looked like this (all times BST, GB&I unless stated). It’s on!
0855 Darren Fichardt (SA), Tommy Morrison -a- (US)
0905 Guido Migliozzi (Ita), Max Homa (US)
0915 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Sungjae Im (Kor)
0925 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Luis Masaveu -a- (Spa)
0935 Matt Fitzpatrick, Darren Clarke
0945 Rickie Fowler (US), Jorge Campillo (Spa)
0955 Harris English (US), Robert MacIntyre
1005 Aaron Rai, Matt Wallace
1020 Adam Scott (Aus), Daniel Hillier (Aus)
1030 Younghan Song (Kor), Andy Ogletree (US)
1040 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
1050 Davis Thompson (US), Phil Mickelson (US)
1100 Alex Cejka (Ger), Jacob Skov Olesen -a- (Den)
1110 Ewen Ferguson, John Catlin (US)
1120 Sean Crocker (US), Brian Harman (US)
1130 Chris Kirk (US), Austin Eckroat (US)
1145 Matteo Manassero (Ita), Justin Thomas (US)
1155 Calum Scott -a-, Joe Dean
1205 Cameron Young (US), Kurt Kitayama (US)
1215 Ben An (Kor), Brendon Todd (US)
1225 Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Ryan Fox (NZ)
1235 Richard Mansell, Thriston Lawrence (SA)
1245 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Laurie Canter
1255 Tom McKibbin , Emiliano Grillo (Arg)
1310 Jordan Spieth (US), Sam Burns (US)
1320 Padraig Harrington , Eric Cole (US)
1330 Adrian Meronk (Pol), MK Kim (Kor)
1340 Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Russell Henley (US)
1350 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Alex Noren (Swe)
1400 Jeung-Hun Wang (Kor), Tom Hoge (US)
1410 Sepp Straka (Aut), Gary Woodland (US)
1420 Marcel Siem (Ger), Jon Rahm (Spa)
1435 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Collin Morikawa (US)
1445 Brooks Koepka (US), Dustin Johnson (US)
1455 Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Matthew Jordan
1505 Patrick Cantlay (US), Xander Schauffele (US)
1515 Jason Day (Aus), Corey Conners (Can)
1525 Scottie Scheffler (US), Dean Burmester (SA)
1535 Billy Horschel (US), Justin Rose
1545 Dan Brown, Shane Lowry
