From Billy Horschel to Dan Brown, The Open has been a shocker

TROON, Scotland – Maybe we should have known it was going to be wacky.

Maybe the fact that Todd Hamilton won here in ’04, when he was better known in Japan than America and came into the week with 500-to-1 odds, should have told us something.

The fact is, The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club has surprised, to say the least, and now there will be a dozen players within four of the lead going into Sunday.

“I've wanted to be here my entire life,” said eight-time PGA TOUR Billy Horschel (69, 4-under par, solo leader), who defied the wet, cold weather with shirtsleeves for much of Saturday, suggesting either admirable pluck or the fortitude of a deranged local. “I'm finally here. I'm embracing it.”

He also has defied his terrible Open record, for Horschel came into this week having made nine Open starts with six missed cuts, his best finish a T21 in 2022. But he insisted he’d too often gotten on the wrong end of the draw, and he certainly looked comfortable in the rough weather.

“I've just always embraced the toughness of anything,” he said. “I've always enjoyed it.”

Just one behind Horschel is a sixsome that includes Dan Brown (73), who had no Open Championship record and double-bogeyed 18; Thriston Lawrence (65) and Sam Burns (65), who began Saturday 10 back; PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele (69); Justin Rose (73), who had to get through 36-hole Final Qualifying just to be here; and Russell Henley, who like Horschel came into this week having only floundered at The Open.

“Links golf has really humbled me,” said Henley, who had missed the cut five times in his nine previous starts in The Open. “This is my 10th Open and never really feel like I've known what I was doing exactly.”

That’s OK, because knowing what you’re doing has been something of a disqualifier at Troon.

Consider 54-hole leader Shane Lowry of Ireland, who was 1-under in the worst of the weather and had reached 8-under par through seven holes. The elements? Lowry was impervious to the elements. He’d grown up in this stuff. He’d won in this stuff. The 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year at Royal Portrush looked immovable.

And then Lowry, battling players who not only hadn’t won an Open but also hadn’t played in one (Brown), found the Coffin Bunker and doubled the par-3 eighth hole, went 7-over for his last 11, and signed for a 77. By the time his second shot went astray and bounced along the grandstands right of the 18 green, he looked ready for a soak.

“This is going to take me a couple hours to get over today,” said Lowry, who will go into what is expected to be a brighter, drier final round three back and still with a chance.

Burns, who started two and a half hours before the last group and thus was afforded decent weather for a chunk of his round, is a five-time PGA TOUR winner who will have his best shot at a major. That’s stunning when you consider he opened the tournament with a 5-over 76. All he’s done in the intervening 36 holes is go 8-under par.

“Being 7-over through 11 wasn't kind of what I had in store, or in mind to start the week,” Burns said. “I was 5-over through eight at the U.S. Open and played well there, finished ninth.

“I knew I wasn't out of it,” he added.

The people’s choice here is Rose, 43, who wasn’t exempt into The Open and would be the first Brit to win the British Open since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992. He also would be the first qualifier to win since Paul Lawrie in 1999.

How unlikely is all that?

“Yeah, it's going to be massive, just from an experience point of view,” Rose said. “Those are days that I dream about. Those are days I've been working hard for. Those are days I've still been believing that I can have. The key tomorrow is to do my best to make the most of it.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, shot 71 and is just two back. A six-time winner already this season, he is perhaps the only predictable thing about this Open Championship so far and could yet restore order Sunday. Americans have not won all four majors in a calendar year since 1982.

“It can be frustrating,” said Scheffler, whose only lapse was a missed 3-footer at the 15th hole, where he was distracted by raindrops falling off his cap. “But I felt like today was another one of those days where I just did a really good job of not getting overly frustrated, staying in a good head space and did a good job of really staying in the tournament.”

In another topsy-turvy Troon Open, he’s been the glaring exception to the rule.