The weather worsened at the British Open on Saturday afternoon, leaving competitors struggling to stay alive.
Par became nearly impossible to keep and birdies took a backseat, but amid the chaos, Xander Schauffele shot a brilliant 2-under 69 at Royal Troon to climb the leaderboard.
“I think so. It definitely was,” Schauffele said when asked if the third round was one of the best of his career.
“Everything is on the line here and basically from the first hole onwards we saw how the weather affected us and we had to adapt to that so that would be up there.”
Schauffele birdied four of his first 10 holes to win at 5 under par, then hung on for the final nine holes (a tough stretch of golf) but had two bogeys in his final eight holes to finish at 3 under par after 54 holes, one stroke behind leader Billy Horschel.
Schauffele is fresh off his first major victory two months ago at the PGA Championship in Valhalla and now has a golden opportunity to add another major to his collection.
But will that be an advantage for Schauffele late in the game on Sunday?
“If I had to guess, I’d say it doesn’t hurt,” Schauffele said.
“I think if I play a few holes and I’m in that situation, I might be able to rely on that. It’s a completely different style of golf and a completely different tournament. That’s the great thing about majors, it’s completely different and it’s an honor to try and win it.”
Schauffele will no doubt rely on experience, but he can equally rely on his tee-to-green slickness, and he hit some impressive shots on Saturday to rank 10th in overall strokes gained in the third round. Those numbers might not look all that impressive, but they’re still solid credentials considering the nearly impossible conditions in the afternoon surf.
“I enjoy the challenge,” Schauffele added.
“Everyone has parts of their job that they don’t like, so I’m lucky because I’m still outside. I know it’s raining, but it’s really good for me to try and challenge myself, and today was that day.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
