Golf – The 149th Open Championship – Royal St George’s, Sandwich, Britain – July 17, 2021 South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in action during the third round REUTERS/Paul Childs
July 17, 2021
By Ed Osmond
SANDWICH, England (Reuters) -South African Louis Oosthuizen started his third round at the British Open in bright sunshine at Royal St George’s on Saturday two shots clear at the top of the leaderboard.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, and American Collin Morikawa found the thin rough lining the fairway with their tee shots as both eye a second major title.
American Jordan Spieth, three shots behind Oosthuizen overnight, parred the first hole along with South African Dylan Frittelli.
American world number one Dustin Johnson and his compatriot Scottie Scheffler also remained at seven under after opening pars.
U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm picked up a shot to get to six under but four-times major winner Brooks Koepka made a poor start with three bogeys to drop back to two under.
Australian Cameron Smith collected three early birdies to get to seven under, level with Johnson, Frittelli and South African Justin Harding.
Among the early starters, Rory McIlroy, a four-times major champion, took advantage of the benign conditions to pick up five birdies on the front nine but the Northern Irishman struggled over the closing holes on the way to a 69 that left him one under par.
“Sort of a tale of two nines,” McIlroy told reporters. “I played great on the front nine, hit some really good iron shots and converted some putts and really got it going.
McIlroy, 32, won his last major in 2014.
“It’s just a matter of trying to keep that going and try to turn those nine-hole stretches into 18-hole stretches, and then those 18-hole stretches into whole tournaments,” he said.
Bryson DeChambeau made a double-bogey six at the ninth hole and although he collected two birdies on the back nine, the long-hitting American signed for a 72 to drop back to three over par.
(Reporting by Ed Osmond; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
