Golf

The Open: Jon Rahm storms up leaderboard into contention on moving day with 63

Pádraig Harrington struggles to 73 in tied 71st place at Royal Liverpool

Spain's Jon Rahm celebrates a birdie on the 18th during day three of The Open at Royal Liverpool. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Spain's Jon Rahm celebrates a birdie on the 18th during day three of The Open at Royal Liverpool. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Sat Jul 22 2023 - 16:06

Masters champion Jon Rahm surged into contention for his third major title with a stunning third round in the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Rahm only made the cut with a shot to spare following rounds of 74 and 70, but took advantage of unexpectedly benign conditions on Saturday to card eight birdies in a flawless 63, just one shot outside the lowest score in major championship history.

The world number three is the first player to shoot lower than 65 in an Open at Hoylake and closed to within four shots of halfway leader Brian Harman just two minutes before the American got his round under way.

“That is the best round I have played on a links course ever,” said Rahm, who followed a birdie on the fifth with four in succession from the ninth before picking up further shots on the 15th, 16th and 18th in a back nine of 30.

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“Starting on 11 everything became downwind and it got easier.

“It is my lowest round on a links course and it is in the Open Championship. It’s the lowest round shot on this course.

“It feels really good but there is a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Americans Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay completed flawless 67s to move to one under par but world number one Scottie Scheffler continued to struggle, picking up two late birdies to complete a 72 and finish at four over alongside compatriot Brooks Koepka.

There was no joy in climbing the leaderboard, however, for Pádraig Harrington as he shot a two-over-par 73 on Saturday, a round particularly spoilt by being four over on the five holes from the 10th to the 14th.

A stunning second round of 65 had given Harman a halfway total of 10 under par and made him the ninth player in the last 40 years to hold a 36-hole lead of five strokes or more in a major, with each of the previous eight going on to win.

Scottie Scheffler was the most recent to do so in last year’s Masters, while Louis Oosthuizen was the last to achieve the feat in the Open; the South African led by five at St Andrews in 2010 and won by seven.