Scottie Scheffler nears British Open win after masterful third round

Scottie Scheffler, once again, is inevitable.

The world’s top-ranked player was masterful again Saturday, firing a bogey-free, 4-under-par 67 to take a four-shot advantage into the final round. Scheffler will enter championship Sunday on a run of 25 consecutive holes without a bogey. He’s in search of his fourth major and first Claret Jug.

Scheffler hit seven fairways, 15 greens in regulation and made seemingly every critical putt in the most ho-hum, casual flawless golf one could conjure up. The brilliance of Scheffler’s ball striking is a given, as he’s dominated every key tee-to-green metric in the sport over the past three years. But Scheffler has had the most criticized club in his bag match the other 13 this week: he leads the Open field in strokes gained putting with one round to play.

Consider this: On the PGA Tour this season, players make putts of 5 to 10 feet at a clip of right around 56%. Two seasons ago, Scheffler was ranked 155th on the tour in make rate from that range. He is 9-of-10 putting from 5 to 10 feet this week.

Just one week ago, Scheffler was among the worst putters in the field at the Scottish Open. Now, inexplicably, it could be his biggest strength on the road to an Open victory.

While the putter will get plenty of credit, it’s not like Scheffler’s irons have been slacking. Scheffler is tied for fifth

in the field in greens in regulation and second in strokes gained approach this week. Elite figures that, at this point, serve as the minimal expectation for him. Scheffler has hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation in each of the last two rounds, just the second time he has done that in back-to-back days in a major (he also did it at St. Andrews in 2022).

Scheffler was the only player in the field to birdie the difficult par-3 16th hole in the first two rounds and he went ahead and did it Saturday, too. Scheffler is 6 under on the par-3 holes this week, three shots better than any other player.

The numbers don’t lend much oxygen to the hopes of a comeback winner. Scheffler has successfully converted all three of his previous 54-hole leads in major championships: the 2022 Masters, 2024 Masters and 2025 PGA Championship. Across all tour events, he has gone on to win each of the last nine times he has held the outright 54-hole lead.

While the golf world might have some of its perspective on finishing tournaments skewed by the career of Tiger Woods, that kind of Mariano Rivera-like closing rate isn’t normal. Over the past 50 years, players with an outright 54-hole lead in majors have gone on to win 46% of the time. In all PGA Tour events over the past decade, players to lead outright entering the final round win at a clip of just 47%.

Woods was famously 14 of 15 closing out majors, and that included instances when he shared the 54-hole lead. Woods’ dominance is impossible to equal, but what Scheffler is building is the closest facsimile in the years since.

With a victory, Scheffler would be just the fourth player in golf history to win the Masters, PGA and Open all before age 30. The other three are Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

Scheffler is trying to become the eighth man to win a fourth major before turning 30 – four of the previous seven to do it went on to complete the career Grand Slam. A year ago, Xander Schauffele became the sixth player to win a PGA and Open in the same season. If Scheffler closes out the victory Sunday, it will mark the first time that has happened in consecutive seasons.

Li Haotong will be in the final pairing with Scheffler, facing steep odds in his attempt to become the first male from China to win a major championship. Li, who leads the DP World Tour this season in strokes gained approach per round, has hit three more greens in regulation than any other player through three days. He ran off a streak of 23 consecutive GIR within the first two rounds, the longest such streak in the past two Opens held at Portrush.

Eight years ago, Li capped off his Open debut at Royal Birkdale with 63. He will likely need something close to that to catch Scheffler.

Rory McIlroy made an eagle and four birdies Saturday to shoot 66, tying his lowest weekend round in an Open Championship. He will headline a Sunday quartet of players at 8 under, six shots behind Scheffler to begin the final round.

Despite hitting just 14 fairways this week – fewest of any player to make the cut – McIlroy is tied for third in the field in greens in regulation (77.8%).

The reigning Masters champ has been excellent on the greens at Royal Portrush this week, ranking firmly in the top 10 in strokes gained putting per round.

While McIlroy has never won a major when trailing entering the final round, he has more PGA Tour titles when trailing through 54 holes than any other player since joining in 2010. His largest come-from-behind win as a pro is seven shots at the 2014 BMW PGA Championship.