Scott hot as wind eases for British Open ‘moving day’

Glenn Moore | July 21, 2024

Saturdays at golf’s majors are known as ‘moving day’ and Adam Scott has taken the aphorism to heart to take the clubhouse lead in the British Open third round at Royal Troon.

Scott started at five over par, 12 shots behind overnight leader Shane Lowry, but birdied the first two holes as he set the tone for a four-under 32 to surge 41 places by the turn. 

The back nine was a stiffer test, but he finished with a five-under-par 66 to head the early finishers.

That gave hope to the chasing pack behind Lowry, which includes Scott’s fellow Australian former world No.1 Jason Day on one under.

So did the outward nine of Sungjae Im, who made five birdies in his first nine holes to record 31, the best score for the front nine this week. The South Korean also found it harder on the way back, recording one birdie and one par to finish a stroke behind Scott.

While conditions were significantly easier than on the opening two days as the treacherous wind dropped Scott and Im were the clear pick of the early field. More than half of the first 20 finishers failed to make par for the round underlining the trickiness of Troon, even in relatively benign weather.

With rain due to hit Scotland’s Ayrshire coast on Saturday afternoon, worsening during the leaders’ rounds, the possibility of the field closing up kept those behind interested.

Scott rolled in a birdie putt from 14 foot at the first and dropped a near 17-footer at the second. He then scrambled well to par the fourth after landing in a fairway bunker and having to chip out sideways. 

A superb tee shot to within five feet at the par-3 fifth delivered a second birdie and the 44-year-old took advantage of a free drop at the seventh to land another, via an 18-foot putt.

Another fine tee shot brought a successful 11-foot birdie two at the 14th while the South Australian also birdied the undemanding 16th. Unfortunately sandwiched in-between he dropped a shot at the 15th missing a par putt from less than four feet, the only putt he missed from less than 10 feet during the round.  

Day was due out at 15.15 local time (0015 Sunday AEST) with Lowry and Dan Brown (five under) the last pair out half an hour later.