New dad Sam Burns steals march on chasing pack to lead Open after third day

After one of the more fiery 24 hours in Open history, how appropriate that a golfer named Burns leads going into the final round at Royal Birkdale.

While Rory McIlroy directed spicy barbs at Bryson DeChambeau, as the row over the American’s behaviour after he was docked two shots for a rules infringement rumbled on, Sam Burns was coolness personified.

On a Saturday where just 12 of the final 40 golfers broke par, the American shot a five-under 65 to finish on 10 under, taking him two shots clear of New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Kim Si-woo of South Korea.

What makes Burns’ performance even more extraordinary is that he wasn’t expecting to be at Royal Birkdale at all – until his daughter, Belle, was born 11 days early and he was able to make it.

“This golf tournament was, honestly, so far off of my radar and expectations of playing,” said Burns. “Caroline’s due date was Tuesday this week. I just didn’t think there was any possible way, but little Belle had different plans for us.

“Ultimately, Caroline’s the one that really encouraged me to come over and play. She basically said ‘I’ve got this’ at home. ‘Go over there and give it your best’, and here we are.”

There is a theory in golf called the “the nappy factor”, about the tendency of fathers of newborns to win tournaments more than you might expect. However, Burns said that was news to him. “If I was aware of that, I’d have like eight kids by now, I think,” he said, smiling.

While Burns topped the leaderboard, it was McIlroy who made the biggest noise when asked about DeChambeau’s two-shot penalty for a rules infringement on the 5th hole of round two.

Still, DeChambeau remains one of the big guns within striking distance at 6 under, after a third-round 69, along with Ludvig Åberg. Tommy Fleetwood is on 5 under, while Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele are on 4 under. They will all believe that if a couple of putts drop, they could yet ride a wave of momentum to victory.

But for the third day in a row Scheffler, last year’s winner, couldn’t buy a putt. If the gods had smiled on him this week, he could easily have been leading this tournament. Instead he will begin the final round praying for a miracle – and that an earlier start could help him close the gap.

“There’s great rounds out there around this golf course, which is good to know,” said Scheffler. “I think it’s incredible how the conditions change from morning to afternoon. You sit there in the morning and you’re watching these scores, and it’s just not possible in the afternoon.”

That is something that Fox certainly knows to his benefit. The 39-year-old was out at 10.30am, five hours and 20 minutes before the leaders, and eight shots back at even par. Yet he took advantage of the sedate morning conditions to score a 62 – the third of this Open – to catapult up the leaderboard.

“I think it’s just the good weather conditions,” Fox said. “The course is brilliant. It’s obviously very firm and fast. In the mornings the greens are a little bit softer. Obviously, we had pretty much no wind until the last couple of holes today.

“You feel like you can shoot a score in the morning and the greens are perfect, that if you do roll it well, you feel like you hole everything.”

And what of the rest of the home challenge? For the most part it fell back. Robert MacIntyre shot level par to finish at 3 under, while Tyrrell Hatton finished with a four-over par 74 to drop back to 1 over. Matt Wallace and Alex Fitzpatrick also fell away.

The one exception was Fleetwood, although he was disappointed to drop two shots late on to finish at 5 under.

“It was a strange day,” he said. “I felt like I played really well but I got nothing on the closing stretch. It’s a bit frustrating but it could have been worse and you never know what could happen tomorrow. The tournament is not in my hands. It’s not like I am going out and it is there on a plate for me. I have to play the best I can, enjoy it, and we’ll see.”

However, Burns, who was seventh in this year’s Masters and second at the US Open, is the man to beat, as his close friend Scheffler acknowledged. “Sam’s a guy that’s been on the last few Ryder Cups, last few Presidents Cups, and he’s a guy that I see all the time,” he said. “He’s got a ton of talent. For me, it’s just a matter of time until he gets it done in one of these.”

The bookmakers concur. A couple of weeks ago, Burns was as high as 35-1 for the Open. Now he is a warm favourite for his first major. But Royal Birkdale – and his rivals – may yet have other ideas.