British Open: Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods Big Winners Wild Saturday

The British Open is rarely missing. Some days are stable and other rounds are exploding, but this is never a flop. Saturday was an explosion and the last example of why is the most entertaining major to watch. We had just about every name you want on the front page of the leaderboard, including Tiger Woods. There was a stretch where Tiger took the advantage in a real major this weekend that overlapped with Jordan Spieth by throwing big reapers to become the favorite.

It kept coming, superstars and lesser-known players, veterans and … and-come Americans and an international mix. Carnoustie did not play with its normal bite, but tagging days are often the most fun and hardest to follow. After being sucked by Tiger-mania, I tried to distil some of it to the winners and losers of the fast-paced day.

Jordan Spieth

The defending champion is the winner of the day. After watching the first wave go out and display some mid-60 numbers, Spieth stepped down and posted the best score of late tee times. The player under 65 was Spieth's complete experience and started from the first tee, where he decided the strategy was "just send it." The game worked perfectly and he took the opportunity to start with an eagle.

Spieth is now the heavy 3/2 favorite to win the Claret Jug on Sunday. Given his faltering season, few would have guessed that he would be in this position. He has been able to adapt regularly on the fly or to be creative, but playing Open Links golf style seems to draw him even more on him. We often badociate the Masters as his commander, given his absurd antecedents of contention in his first four years. But maybe the Open will be the major where he will reap the most titles. Watching him play on an Open course is about as good as golf and now we find him in the last group on Sunday

Tiger Woods

I've already gone into the details a few times on Tiger's day . He changed his strategy and it paid in a huge way in the middle of his round. That we are here, a year after he was sending strange tweets about his new pool table, is an incredible comeback. Once the mania of his 66 years and his momentary co-advance faded, it became clear that the task of winning would be long Sunday. But it is possible

He has a chance. Whatever happens, it has a late start time on Sunday and a chance and it's something that even the most fervent Tiger fanboys were not expecting this time a year ago .

The X-Man

How good is Xander Schauffele? The rookie of the year saw all the madness around him and went out and posted his own 4-under 68 alongside Rory McIlroy. I followed Schauffele a few years ago at an event on the Web, and he played like a stud, but this success of so much speed is a surprise. He has won several times, a track championship, two caps in the US and a second at The Players.

And now the X-man is in the last group at The Open. Given his background in his fledgling career, do not expect him to disappear from this latter group with Spieth. In addition to a shot on a major, X is also 15th in the current standings of the Ryder Cup. He should get a nice bump and continue playing his way to another 20-something American join the list.

There is a fascinating side competition between Alex, Kisner and ZJ that continues the Ryder Cup race this week. None of them knows or probably cares about it, but it could be a critical week to separate with automatic auctions coming in a few weeks.

Kiz

I must admit that I did not think the Kevin Kisner's experience was sustainable. It's not that he's not a good enough player, it's just that his wagering stats were so out-of-this-world. It was like there had to be some sort of regression. He said that he had not done putt too Saturday, but the rest of his game was pretty good and he is still tied for the lead. This is after playing in some of the most difficult late conditions. Awesome things from Kisner, which I thought would explode in the North Sea.

Rosie

Before the madness of the afternoon, Rose went out and tied a record of goals at Carnoustie with her 64 years old. The English have not done well this championship in recent decades, including Rose. But the world's # 3 player was nailed to the 18th green Friday night just to make the cut and he came back early Saturday to enjoy two more days. He still has five good shots, but he has a late start time Sunday and another opportunity to do something in potentially erratic conditions.

The United States of America

The last five big winners are all Americans. Chances are he'll go to six on Sunday, with the first four places on the chart occupied by stars and scratches. The U.S. have had the most players on the field, so it's not surprising to see the saturated ranking of these names. Three are tied for first at 9 and Kevin Chappell is fourth at 7 under par. Eight of the top 12, the overall most likely to win more than 18 holes, are American. It's like we're heading to a sixth big winner of the United States,

NBC

The network is a big winner. They get two days of Tiger weekend. On Saturday, he organized a race that attracted public attention and drew people to golf. Now he is hunting with a late tee time for the final round, a bargain, no matter how much he plays.

And apart from Tiger, they have a heavy leaderboard with the defending champion playing in the final game. The Open has been late, delivering every weekend since 2012. This ranking is all you could want. Networks, and everyone's watching, are the big winners. Hold Sunday near your chest, grab it with all your might before going to Bellerive for the PGA for our last four rounds of major championship golf this year.

The Ricktator

Only seven players in the field of 79 players posted worse scores than Rickie on Saturday. He was as great as he could, but he was kicked off the standings and TV coverage on the first nine. He started well enough, with two birdies in his first four holes, but a triple eight bogey on the 6th hole just nuked his chances of a single shot.

Photo by Andrew Redington / Getty Images

As usual, there was a ton of Rickie buzz coming in this week. We heard the usual about how he played so well at the Scottish Open, was due, and the wall eventually had to come down. But he will not be a factor Sunday and will once again return to this "fraternal house" by watching his roommates with late departures.

Phil Mickelson

Earlier this week, my colleague Eamon Lynch wrote a lightning play about how Phil kept up to date with nothing but meetings, as opposed to playing on the ground. Figjam stopped on Saturday and you almost forgot that he was there while Tiger was doing his work. He was just another guy. His 70 is disappointing compared to the scores we saw all around him and he will spend another Sunday as a non-factor.

Tommy Fleetwood and Zach Johnson

These two lit in more difficult conditions on Friday morning. They are the only two in the top 10 right now who do not have #liveunder by saturday. At 5 under, both are still in, but they just left one of the easiest days to escape and have not managed to move around like everyone else around. them. It's hard to get along, but given the conditions and the recent form of Fleetwood, it was disappointing. His new interior was a chaotic Russian mountain.

The equipment of Bryson

I am a supporter of Bryson. But that shook me in the wee hours

The Burn Barry

The burn, which has accumulated in this threatening WMD on the show all week, went limp Saturday when that counted. The burn left Tiger on the ground, not jumping and catching his ball as she danced along the ledge. It just did not have the impact you were waiting for. None of the leaders really got sinking while going down the stretch of the house and even a couple made a birdie on the 18th, like Rose and Schauffele. Zander Lombard has been holed up for the eagle. With the wind supposed to blow Sunday, maybe we will have a carnage of Van de Velde-ian

Photo by Stuart Franklin / Getty Images