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The top of the 149 Open Championship standings are filled with big championship winners, and a dramatic Saturday set up a much-anticipated final at Royal St. George’s with Louis Oosthuizen holding a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa and three-shot lead on Jordan Spieth. After setting the Open Championship’s 36-hole scoring record, an Oosthuizen’s Under-69 score on moving day gives a golfer the opportunity to go from one end to the next. ‘Open for the first time since Rory McIlroy in 2014.
One of the most significant developments during the third round came in the final hour of action as Spieth, sitting 11 under for the championship and arguably the favorite to win with a three under round, is became bogey-bogey on the 17th and 18th. It was not only the fact that Spieth gave up the shots, but more specifically that he ended his turn by pushing an easy putt offline in a mental error that could resonate in the arrival on Sunday.
Behind Spieth are Corey Conners and Scottie Scheffler at under 8, followed by a group under 7 whose title is reigning US Open champion Jon Rahm. Historically speaking, we should probably consider the hitting distance to be five or six shots of the pellet. Five times since 1997, the Open winner has overcome a deficit of five or more strokes in the final round, including Phil Mickelson coming back from five strokes in 2013 and Ernie Els coming back from six strokes in 2012. The major championship record for a return to the final round remains Paul Lawrie coming back 10 shots down before winning the playoffs at the Open in 1999, but that’s the outlier of our historical precedent.
This is what the standings look like at the end of the third round of the 149th Open Championship.
1. Louis Oosthuizen (-12): For 36 holes, we saw flawless hitting from Oosthuizen for the most part, but there was some regression on Saturday. He missed a few greens in regulation early and his poor shot on the approach shot at No.15 nearly cost him another blow in a day that saw two bogeys out of the last nine. He still had stellar stuff most of the way throughout the round, keeping his lead with a sub-69 round.
2. Collin Morikawa (-11): Two early bogeys were quickly offset by back-to-back birdies on No.7 and No.8 and by the time Morikawa made the turn he was playing with a certain swagger. The confidence is visible, and after putting on a show for Oosthuizen on Saturday, he will be back for a encore performance in the final round on Sunday. Will the 2020 PGA Champion win his second career major before the age of 25?
3. Jordan Spieth (-9): In the end, I’m not too worried about the lost blows because Spieth can still recover them on Sunday. I think the biggest impact of these mistakes was how they changed the game for Oosthuizen and Morikawa. After both playing solid golf together on Saturday, they reconnect on Sunday afternoon and play essentially one-on-one with an eye on the standings. Spieth being more in the mix would have given him the opportunity to play on the pitch as well, but now he has to post a number.
T4. Corey Conners, Scottie Scheffler (-8): Conners had one of the best laps on a tough day with four birdies and no bogey, making him one of the biggest risers among those in the top 10. Scheffler was solid throughout the day with two birdies and a bogey, moving into the 8-under pool with a birdie on the 18th hole.
T6. Jon Rahm, Mackenzie Hughes, Dylan Frittelli (-7): Rahm is clearly the most likely choice of this group to be able to make a run and win it on Sunday. He wasn’t in the final group of the US Open and beat Oosthuizen last month, so there will be a lot of pressure if Rahm can come out and post a number. After the third round, Rahm noted that his position frees him in terms of aggressiveness as it is “all or nothing” in terms of his final position in the standings. Hughes hasn’t been a major screenplay, but this is his third straight tour in the ’60s and perhaps should be a dark horse to watch if he can maintain his current form on Sunday.
T9. Marcel Siem, Justin Harding, Cam Smith (-6): Siem was one of the stars of the tournament, but his round could have been one of the best of the day had it not been for a triple bogey 8 at No.14. until a long and frustrating grind of a hole on a day that had 3 birdies, 14 pars and no other bogeys.
T12. Kevin Streelman, Webb Simpson, Shane Lowry, Daniel Berger, Paul Casey, Andy Sullivan (-5): Streelman was one of four golfers to shoot 66 or better on Saturday, and he improved his position in the standings by 28 spots thanks to the performance of four birds without a bogey. Simpson himself had a good lap with a 67, while Sullivan is the only name in that group to drop in the standings after shooting 71.
T18. Dustin Johnson (-4): Extremely disappointing DJ turn after winning a seven-birdie 65 on Friday. The top nine took a lot of hits off the field today, but his three bogeys in the first eight holes put the two-time major winner off the beat early in his round. Like many on the court, he picked up a few hits but finished with a 73.
T25. Brooks Koepka (-3): As DJ, this ranked as one of the most disappointing developments of move day to the Open. Koepka also had three early bogeys to pull him out of the competition and after a 72 he is essentially playing for better pay on Sunday.
T41. Rory McIlroy (-1): In the end, McIlroy improved his position in the standings with a 69 in the third round, but that was the reverse tale of the field average in terms of Saturday’s scoring setup. The forward played harder on average, but McIlroy had five birdies on the way to a 31 forward nine. Then on the easier back nine (on average) he didn’t get another bogey and shot a three on 38. It doesn’t make sense!
CBS Sports has updated this story with all of the day’s scores and highlights from The Open below. Check out the scores at the top of this story, a more detailed leaderboard, and our comprehensive spectator guide.
Rick Gehman is joined by Mark Immelman in breaking down and reacting to Saturday’s third round action at the Open Championship. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple podcasts and Spotify.
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