Justin Rose surged into contention at the 147th Open Championship after finishing his third round with back-to-back birdies to post a bogey-free 64.
Rose was among the early starters on Saturday morning after scraping into the weekend with a birdie on the 18th the night before.
And after notching two birdies on the front nine, Rose came home in 30 to set the clubhouse target and get within two strokes of halfway co-leaders Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner, who begin their rounds at 4pm.
Rose’s seven-under-par 64 was his lowest-ever score at a Major and it moves him up 59 places into a tie for sixth place on four under.
Fellow Englishman Chris Wood was another shot back on three under after mixing seven birdies with two bogeys in his third round.
Japan’s Yusaku Miyazato was also on three under after posting a flawless 65.
Beginning his round on three over, Rose set about closing the gap with a birdie at the 1st before picking up another shot on the par-five 6th.
And after sending his approach at the 10th to within three feet, Rose started his back nine with another birdie to return to level par for the tournament.
Rose holed his birdie putt from around 18 feet at the 13th before taking advantage of the long 14th as he made the most of favourable scoring conditions at Carnoustie.
The 37-year-old then made back-to-back birdies once more at the 17th and 18th, rolling in from seven feet at the last to post the joint-lowest score in The Open at Carnoustie.
After his round, Rose said: ‘It was nice to make that move.
‘I think momentum-wise, birdieing the very first hole, picking up where I left off last night, got me well into the round early.
‘There were some opportunities that slipped by I felt but the 6th was the first birdie I’ve made on a par five all week.
‘I just did the simple things better today. Taking advantage of the holes I should take advantage of made the round much easier.
‘And really I just kept pushing myself to keep going, keep going.
‘I was really pushing myself to see if I could make a couple more [birdies] and I left it late.
‘I thought four or five under was going to be a good round but nothing special. Not going to do enough for me going into tomorrow.
‘I felt like those late couple of birdies certainly will make tomorrow at least interesting.’
