PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Scottie Scheffler moved within one round of claiming the third leg of the Grand Slam on Saturday when he made an eagle and two big par saves for a 4-under 67 in the British Open that gave him a four-shot lead at Royal Portrush.
The roars belonged to Rory McIlroy, who had seemingly all of Northern Ireland on his side, the most raucous cheer coming on a 55-foot eagle putt.
But this championship is now in the hands of Scheffler, who has won his last 10 times when he had the 54-hole lead and didn't show anything on a stunning day at Royal Portrush to indicate he was going to come back to his challengers.
“I’m just trying to execute, not overthinking things,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I’ve been doing the right thing so far, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow.”
Tied with Matt Fitzpatrick for the lead, Scheffler judged 6-iron perfectly to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. In deep trouble behind the 11th green, he hacked out to 10 feet to save par, then saved another par from the deep grass left of the 14th fairway.
Royal Portrush has a nasty par 3 at No. 16 known as “Calamity Corner.” Scheffler made birdie for the third straight day, this time a 3-iron that settled 15 feet below the cup.
Each shot helped him pull away from the field. Each shot moved him closer to the claret jug, to go along with the PGA Championship he won in May and the two Masters green jackets he has won in two in the last four years.
Scheffler was at 14-under 199, four shots clear of Li Haotong of China (69) and five ahead of Fitzpatrick, who missed two short par putts and fell back with a 71.
McIlroy, who revved up the enormous crowd with three birdies in four holes at the start, had the most bizarre moment of the championship when he went to gouge out a shot from the rough right of the 11th fairway and a second ball emerged from the turf.
“It's never happened to me before,” McIlroy said after his 66. “It could never on any other course but a links course.”
It led to his lone bogey. He responded with that eagle putt that elicited a roar that rocked Royal Portrush. But he was six shots behind, and likely needing a round even better on Sunday.
“Scottie is ... it's inevitable,” McIlroy said. “Even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he's become a complete player. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to catch him tomorrow if he keeps playing the way he does. But if I can get out tomorrow and get off to a similar start to what I did today, get the crowd going ... you never know.”
This is what McIlroy noticed last year, when Scheffler won nine times around the world. What impressed him was that Scheffler played so many bogey-free rounds.
Scheffler picked a great time for another one. He led by one shot to start the day and couldn't seem to get anything going — his first three-putt of the championship on the par-5 second to settle for par, and a 10-foot par save on the par-3 third.
Fitzpatrick, who missed a short par putt on the first hole and made bogey, atoned for that quickly by chipping in for eagle on the next hole. He did his best to keep pace even after Scheffler went eagle-birdie toward the end of the back nine.
But he missed a 4-foot par putt on the 13th, got a bad bounce on the 17th that led to another bogey and wound up five shots behind.
“Just didn’t make any putts. I didn’t hit it close enough,” Fitzpatrick said. “Drove it well enough, didn’t hit it close enough. Just made way less putts than Scottie.”
Scheffler will be paired in the last group with Li, who made history in 2020 at the PGA Championship when he held the 36-hole lead, the first player from China to lead in a major. Li didn't make his first bogey until the 13th hole, and he dropped another shot on the 18th by driving into a pot bunker.
Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup, in his first appearance in the British Open, had a 68 and joined the group at 8-under 205 that included McIlroy, Harris English (68) and Tyrrell Hatton (68).
This is Scheffler's largest 54-hole lead in a major — he was up by three shots at the PGA Championship and three shots in the 2022 Masters.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press
