Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa, and Jordan Spieth Sit Atop The Open Leaderboard

Royal St. George’s Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England — July 17, 2021

Sandwich, England is becoming the ideal summer vacation spot for the British Isles. For the 3rd day in a row sunshine and the lack of wind have allowed the world’s best professional golfers to capitalize on the playing conditions to post record low scores in The Open golf championship. However, greenskeepers added some teeth to the course with some difficult pin placements.

“Moving Day” saw players climbing up and sliding down the leaderboard. With the 3rd Round complete, eight players are within five strokes of the lead still held by Louis Oosthuizen at 12 under par. With 1 round left to play, 43 of the 77 golfers still competing held scores under par.

Oosthuizen Still in the Lead

After recording only one bogey in his first 45 holes, Oosthuizen carded two on the back nine today. Three birdies on his round allowed him to lower his tournament total to 12 under.

Collin Morikawa closed to within a stroke of the lead at -11, despite making bogey on two of the first five holes. Back-to-back birdies on 7 and 8, as well as 13 and 14, and Collin will again play with Louis during tomorrow’s final round.

Jordan Spieth(-9) and Corey Conners(-8) will have a chance to put some pressure on the Top 2 as they tee off in the next-to-last pairing. John Rahm is tied for 6th at 7 under par, if his name rises to the top of the leaderboard early the anxiety of those in the chase will certainly intensify.

Robert MacIntyre earned the honor of shooting the low round of the day posting a 65 to move to 4 under par for the tournament.

Blowing Up

Dustin Johnson went from contender to pretender with a 3rd Round score of 73, likely taking him out of contention for the win on Sunday.

Brooks Koepka’s 2 over par 72 ended his run at the Claret Jug, he sits at -3, nine strokes out of the lead. Rory McIlroy finally got into red numbers with a 69 that followed two rounds of even-par 70. Unfortunately, too little and too late to be in contention.

Sergio Garcia moved in the opposite direction. His 3-over score of 73 left him at even par heading into the final round. Bryson DeChambeau still does not have a round in red numbers, following his scores of 71 and 70 with a 72 on Saturday for a tournament total of 3 over par.

Highlights

Full Leaderboard After 3 Rounds of the 149th Open Championship