TROON, Scotland — Winter paid a brief visit to the West Coast of Scotland on Saturday afternoon and stayed just long enough to cause various wipeouts and crashes along the shores of Troon, making a mess of the leaderboard and setting up a potentially fun final day at the British Open.
It was a day to head for cover and enjoy indoor activities, not try to navigate one’s way around a storied links that turned brutish in windy, rainy conditions that left a bunch of tired, soaked beaten golfers in the gloaming light at Royal Troon.
So it figures that Floridian Billy Horschel leads.
The eight-time PGA Tour winner who has just two top-10 finishes in major championships emerged on top after embracing the conditions to shoot 2-under-par 69 and post 209, 4 under par.
He leads six players who finished at 3 under, including South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence, who teed off 18 groups and 3 hours and 10 minutes ahead of the final pairing of Shane Lowry and Daniel Brown and shot 65. Lawrence might as well have been playing in the Caribbean, such was the difference in conditions.
Sam Burns also shot 65, and he played 15 groups in front of the leaders. They played in far easier conditions and took advantage.
Lowry, the second-round leader at 7 under par, shot 77 to drop to 1 under, but still just three strokes back.
“This is going to take me a couple of hours to get over today,” Lowry said. “Just hard because I felt like I played unbelievable golf today. Missed the first fairway and then didn't miss another fairway until 16. Hit some great iron shots, just didn't hole the putts early on when I had the chances, and then I missed a few par putts.
“On the way in, I felt like I couldn't make a par. Obviously it was hard.”
Tied with Lawrence and Burns at 3 under are Russell Henley, who teed off 12 groups in front of the leaders, and then those who played in the brunt of the conditions: PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele, who shot 69; 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, who shot 73; and Brown, the first-time major participant who had a 73 after going bogey-double bogey on the final two holes.
Masters champion and No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler is another shot back at 2 under after a 71.
"I can think of a couple days with some crazy high winds that may have been more challenging, but overall the back nine, I think that was probably the hardest nine holes that I'll ever play,” Scheffler said. “I shouldn't say ever, but it's definitely the hardest that I've played to this point. ... It was definitely very challenging.”
Scheffler needed a 3-wood off the tee at the par-3 17th which measured 238 yards. Both Lowry and Brown hit drivers. Scheffler said he needed driver, 3-wood to reach the 502-yard par-4 15th. And he came up short.
“I mean, 18 is probably the best example where I hit a good driver and a really hard 3-iron,’’ Scheffler said. “I'm hitting that 3-iron super low and as hard as I can, and yesterday Jordan (Spieth) hit a driver there and had 30, 40 yards to the front edge. It was 160-, 170-yard difference in length off the tee there, from his drive yesterday to my drive today.
“It was pretty wild out there but did a good job of grinding it out.”
It was so wild that players who were seemingly way out of it now have a legitimate chance to win. Lawrence, Burns and Henley are the easiest examples, sitting just a shot back.
But Adam Scott, who shot 77 on Friday, shot 66 and is tied for 10th, only four strokes back. Justin Thomas, who had a first-nine 45 on Friday, shot 67 and is also at even par, four back.
“That was super tough,” said Rose, who like Brown, had to go through final qualifying to make it into the field. “Wasn't really expecting it, if I'm honest. I think I talked the first couple days about how well I was prepared for that southerly wind. I saw it coming. I practiced with that in mind. Today I did not expect that. I kind of saw it was going to be a southwest, maybe a little westerly, a little bit of rain in the afternoon.
“Obviously with the way the guys played this morning, I kind of felt like it was going to be the type of day where you could go out and post a score, and it turned into an absolute survival test out there. I think I did a good job of surviving. All in all I'm delighted to look at that leaderboard and say I'm one back going into tomorrow.”
Horschel, 37, is in the field due to his 2021 victory at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship. After winning the Memorial Tournament in 2022, he fell on hard times a year ago, struggling so bad that he couldn’t break 80 at the tournament he was defending.
He later learned that the lofts on his irons were wrong, and it took him awhile to sort through the issues. He wasn’t in this year’s Masters field. A tie for eighth at the PGA Championship was just his second top-10 in a major, the other being a tie for fourth at the 2013 U.S. Open.
“This was by far my best round in tough conditions at an Open Championship,” said Horschel, who for most of the round went without a rain jacket and wore his cap backwards to avoid rain drops from distracting him.
“We played five par-5s on the back side, and that's not even including No. 16. It was a tough one out there today. Just knew going into the back side that it was going to be a grind no matter what. You have to find a way to grind down and make a score.”
Horschel started his round at 2 under and played th first nine holes with four birdies to shoot 32. He got a share of the lead when Lowry made a double bogey 6 at the postage stamp, the par-3 8th, where he found one of the dreaded bunkers.
That seemed to change the tenor of the tournament. Lowry had gotten to 8 under par with a birdie at the fourth hole but after the double didn’t make another birdie. He made five bogeys on the final nine holes.
“Yeah, this game is just hard,” said Lowry, who won the 2019 Open in rainy conditions. “Honestly, it was brutal.”
Horschel, meanwhile, loved it and was enjoying the opportunity that he faces Sunday.
“I've worked my entire life to be in this position,” Horschel said. “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.
“But I'm excited to be here. I've wanted to be here my entire life. I'm finally here. I'm embracing it.”
Sunday’s weather shouldn’t be so daunting. But a leaderboard filled with players who could post a number is more the issue. There are 12 within four shots of the lead, a beautiful, jumbled occurrence all made possible by a British blast of winter in the middle of summer.
A Claret Jug awaits the one who emerges.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mother Nature Crashed Day 3 of the British Open, But Sunday's Finish Could Be Epic.
