American Brian Harman began his third round at The Open with a four-shot lead as Jon Rahm showed the chasing pack the way to surge into contention on Saturday.
Masters champion Rahm was in danger of missing the cut at one stage on Friday, but shot up the leaderboard by shooting the lowest round of the tournament with an eight-under-par 63 to get to six under.
The Spaniard moves into second place, one shot ahead of home favourite Tommy Fleetwood before he heads out with Harman in the final group.
Rahm was left frustrated by the brutality of Royal Liverpool’s 82 bunkers during his first round and four short missed puts in his second as he sneaked into the weekend at two over par.
But the world No 3 showed his class on a day when low scoring has been aided by heavy overnight rain softening up the course.
Rahm picked up six shots in his final nine holes to ramp up the pressure on the unheralded Harman.
History for Jon Rahm.
A Hoylake record 63 on moving day. pic.twitter.com/2BAvxiarFl
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2023
“That’s the best round I have played on a links course ever,” said Rahm. “It’s my lowest round on a links course and it’s an Open Championship, right? Also the lowest round shot on this course.
“Yeah, it feels really good, but it’s a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
The 28-year-old said he felt he was playing well on the first two days at the championship despite his disappointing numbers.
“I was playing good golf and I knew what I was capable of,” he said. “I was frustrated because it was basically mistakes that I made.”
“I knew I was playing better, and I knew my swing and my game felt better than the scores I was shooting.”
© Agence France-Presse
