PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — A brief look at the third round of the British Open at Royal Portrush:
LEADING: Scottie Scheffler with a 4-under 67 to reach 14-under 199.
CHASING: Li Haotong (69) was four shots behind, with Matt Fitzpatrick (71) five shots back.
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ROARING: Masters champion Rory McIlroy, playing in his native country, had a 66 and was in the large group six shots behind. McIlroy had by far the largest and noisiest crowd.
SHOT OF THE DAY: John Parry made the first hole-in-one at this British Open, an 8-iron on the par-3 13th hole.
SAVE OF THE DAY: Scheffler was buried in deep rough behind the 11th green when he chopped it out to 10 feet and made par.
BIZARRE SHOT OF THE DAY: McIlroy was hitting out of the rough to the right of the 11th fairway when two golf balls emerged. He hit his ball, and the club also dug up a ball that had been buried under the turf.
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BEST FINISH: Lee Westwood shot 29 on the back nine to tie the British Open record for a back nine first set by Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush in 2019.
KEY STATISTIC: Scheffler has won the last 10 times he has held the 54-hole lead.
NOTEWORTHY: Scheffler, Li, Tyrrell Hatton and Nicolai Hojgaard have shot all three rounds in the 60s at Royal Portrush. The only British Open in which three players broke 70 all four days was 2021 at Royal St. George’s.
QUOTEWORTHY: “He works like he’s never going to play in another major championship ever again.” — Harris English on Scheffler.
TELEVISION: Sunday, 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. (USA Network), 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. (NBC).
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf