Saturday At The 152nd Open
Horschel leads six by one after a brutal evening in Troon. Plus, the Coffin claims 36-hole leader Lowry, Si Woo Kim records a historic ace, Mickelson speaks and better weather news for Sunday.
Round Three By The Numbers
-4: Leading score of Billy Horschel (69)
6: Players tied for second (Lawrence, Burns, Henley, Schauffele, Rose, Brown)
77: Score of second-round leader Shane Lowry
24: Players within six of the Horschel’s lead.
+35: Scores to par of the last six groups out Saturday.
65: Rounds by Thriston Lawrence and Sam Burns, the lowest of the week.
4.66: 11th hole scoring average Saturday, ranking first in difficulty.
2: Birdies at the 11th by 65 shooters Lawrence and Burns.
9: Score of Joaquin Niemann at the 11th.
1st ever: Ace on the 17th in ten Open Championships at Troon.
Holy jeepers, what a zany Saturday at Royal Troon.
You all had Billy Horschel and Thriston Lawrence in the final group of the 152nd Open, correct?
Or Sam Burns—no relation to Ayr’s Robert—going out with Russell Henley second-to-last in a worldwide ratings coup that’ll have Americans changing Sunday plans.
A balmy and calm morning turned rainy mid-afternoon but the heavy stuff never came down hard enough to stop Thriston Lawrence and Sam Burns from posting 65’s. They teed off two-and-a-half hours and three hours before the final pairing of Shane Lowry and Daniel Brown, who cruised to 8-under and 7-under to seemingly leave the 3-under-par firm of Lawrence and Burns in the dust.
Then, the leaders reached the Postage Stamp.
That’s when the unofficial on-site weather experts shifted the day from Lousy to Utter Shite. Troon’s prevailing wind shifted to somewhere from off the now-invisible Firth of Clyde after hiding the last two days. Temperatures plummeted and the final six groups—other than Billy Horschel and Xander Schauffele—started racking up bogeys. The resulting mess had players turning dripping caps backwards, finding drives 150 yards behind where they’d been downwind the day before, and canceling their Saturday night cold plunges.
“Yeah, it was hard,” said second-round leader Lowry, who visited the Coffin Saturday and never recovered. “Yeah, playing a par-3 hitting drivers is not much crack. Roll the ball back, huh? Yeah.”
Too soon Shane, too soon.
On the Open Misery Index, the tipping point was hit when Scots began fleeing once in-demand grandstands, followed by the last six twosomes going +35 within hours of the week’s lowest rounds getting posted.
Because of Saturday’s back nine pile-ups at the Railway and 17th hole, where Si Woo Kim played the hole-in-one using a 3-iron, the 152nd gives us 24 players within six strokes of the lead.
For those wondering if Troon is about to produce another Hall of Famer or the new Todd Hamilton, two winners this century have come from six back (Els in 2012 and Harrington in 2007). The six-way tie for second one back of leader Horschel includes Burns, who was T96 after an opening 76, two Englishmen trying to give England a Champion Golfer of the Year, and PGA Champion Xander Schauffele.
“It's going to be one of those where you just really have to keep your head down and try to worry about yourself,” Schauffele said.
The wide-open shootout should not distract anyone from the wild sight of Billy Horschel teeing off in the final group Sunday.
In 42 major starts Horschel has one top 5 finish. And in nine Opens he’s made three cuts with his best finish—a T21—coming in 2022 at St Andrews.
“I've worked my entire life to be in this position,” the 37-year-old said after a 69 where he hit ten greens. Horschel is eight for eight from Troon’s bunkers and has yet to three-putt this week.
“Listen, I've been in the lead many times going into a final round. Obviously this is a major. It means a little bit more. We all know that. We know what this means to everyone. I know what it means to my legacy in the game of golf and what I want to do and accomplish.”
The Saturday evening punters are putting their money behind this year’s Masters and PGA Champions: Schauffele and Scheffler are the logical betting favorites on an otherwise illogical Saturday in Troon.
Second round leader Lowry has plummeted to over 20-1 while former major champions capable of a low final day can be grabbed for staggering prices, including Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa.
Coffin Buries Lowry
