Spieth leads the parade as American stars fly the flag

The Open: round four
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Jordan Spieth kept his nose in front after the third round of the Open Championship and was just 1-3 on Saturday night to land his third Major on Sunday afternoon.

Several big names made charges at the long-time pacesetter in beautiful Saturday conditions, but Spieth was refusing to let them get close enough to usurp him at the top of the leaderboard.

Spieth made five birdies in a bogey-free round of 65, moving to 11 under par.

Compatriot Matt Kuchar stayed closest to him, finishing three shots behind his Ryder Cup teammate on eight under. He is a 5-1 shot to overhaul Spieth and it’s 22-1 bar those two as Brooks Koepka lies a further three shots behind alongside Canada’s Austin Connelly.

US Open champion Brooks Koepka tried to stay in touchCredit: Getty Images

Spieth was 16-1 co-favourite of three on tournament eve, but has been clear favourite since opening with a round-one 65. He followed that with a 69 in the wind and rain of Friday and went into the weekend as 6-4 market leader.

Kuchar was an ante-post 55-1 chance and it seems Americans will dominate another Open at Birkdale. Five of the previous nine Opens at this venue have been American.

Rory McIlroy started his Saturday quest to catch Spieth in extremely positive fashion, making birdies at first, fourth and fifth to move four under par for the tournament and within two shots of the lead. He shortened from 7-1 to 3-1 in the betting, but the 2014 champion soon capitulated.

Back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and eighth derailed the McIlroy express, then a double-bogey at the tenth completely burst his bubble.

The former world number one was back to level par for his round and drifting out of contention.

The third round started with a wave of low scoring, overnight rain having softened the track and wind almost non-existent.

A birdiefest was inevitable and three early 65s arrived from Shaun Norris, Jason Day and Scott Hend, who all moved immediately from five over par to level.

The round of the day, though, and the lowest round in Major history, was still to come. Branden Grace conjured a superb eight-under-par 62 to set a new benchmark for the four biggest events on the golfing calendar.

Grace, a pre-tournament 50-1 chance, made eight birdies and ten pars in his Saturday sizzler. Bet365 had gone 11-4 before play started that somebody would card a 63 or better over the weekend, and golden Grace immediately made them pay.

Grace was cut to 33-1 for the Claret Jug as he signed for his score, having been 500-1 at the start of play, but even that heroic effort was not enough to concern Spieth.

Rickie Fowler came close to an albatross hole-in-one at the par-four fifth hole, tapping in for eagle as the low scoring continued.

Austin Connelly holed out from the fairway at the second for another eagle as the Canadian youngster made waves on his Major debut.
Dustin Johnson carded a 64 to move into the top ten, while Henrik Stenson fired a 65 to join the world number one on three under par.

Dustin Johnson shot 64 but he still has eight shots to make upCredit: Getty Images

The defending champion, who has struggled for most of the season, is adamant that he will have to match Grace’s wonder-round is he is going to stand a chance of retaining the title he captured at Royal Troon 12 months ago.

He shot a Sunday 63 to keep Phil Mickelson at bay on that occasion, but said: “If the leaders keep on making birdies, that 63 might not even be good enough.

“But we’ll see. I’m just happy with the way I played on Saturday, and should move up and hopefully get closer to the leaders.”

Johnson said: “You never know what’s going to happen on the last day but I figure I’m going to need to probably shoot nine under.”

Rickie Fowler (one under) and Sergio Garcia (level) have surely run their race.

The final round is forecast to be played in a mixture of sunshine and showers.

A burst of heavy rain is expected for 10am, lightening before eventually clearing by 3pm. It should be flat calm in the morning, with the breeze increasing as the day wears on, peaking with 20mph gusts in the closing stages of the event.