Tune in at 8:00 AM ET on Sunday for final round coverage of the Open Championship. Ryan Kelly will be liveblogging for your enjoyment.
Hello and welcome to ScoreMobile’s ongoing coverage of the PGA Tour. Today we present final round coverage of the 141st Open Championship from Royal Lytham and St. Annes in England.
After setting the pace after the first round with a scintillating 6-under 64, Adam Scott took command of the tournament once again on Saturday, using a 2-under 68 to get to -11 overall and creating a 4-shot cushion over 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, who shot a 67 -- his third round in the 60s this week.
While he did not register a bogey in his first 40 holes, 36-hole leader Brandt Snedeker came back to the field with a 3-over 73 on Saturday that featured 6 bogeys and only 3 birdies. However he rolled in a long birdie at the final hole yesterday to join McDowell on -7 and will play in the penultimate pairing with Tiger Woods, who carded a level par round of 70.
The wind has kicked up a bit today and taken the scoring average with it. Right now the average score is 73.5 -- highest of the week. Of course, only a fraction of the field have completed their rounds.
We still have a little over an hour until the first of three lead groups tees off.
The best complete round belongs to John Senden, who's 2-under 68 moved him to +4 for the championship.
Adam Scott has now arrived at the golf course and he looks very Seve-esque wearing all dark blue.
Oh Nicolas Colsaerts, book-ending the tournament with rounds of 65 but only finishing at -1 overall.
He actually becomes the first player to card two rounds of 65 and not win the Open Championship.
@Skylark54 The wind has definitely kicked up, much stronger than the first three days.
Looking through the hole locations, a lot are cut in the back. Distance control will be imperative today.
@Jack Nicklaus I don't think so. The green speeds are apparently a bit slower, but that's because they didn't double cut them after round 3.
I love how players do TV interviews stationary, and then the radio interview that comes next is done on the move.
@Skylark54 Couldn't tell you. You could theorize that with the lack of wind and soft conditions it's played more like a PGA Tour event.
One note about comments: as the leaders tee off, it may take some time to post comments as we try to focus more on the action. Also generic comments like "Go So and So" or "Such and Such sucks" will not be posted. Opinions and predictions are welcome though.
In preparation of this final round, I was able to dig up some interesting facts.
This is the 11th straight year a player has held the 54-hole lead by themselves. Six -- including the last two -- have hoisted the Claret Jug in the end.
Since 1953 10 players have held a lead of 4 or more shots entering the final round of the Open. All but Jean Van de Velde in 1999 secured the win.
Adam Scott has proven to be a reliable closer over the years, closing 6/8 54 hole leads on the PGA Tour and 7/8 on the European Tour.
His wire-to-wire win at last year’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is included in the PGA Tour numbers, but not the European Tour ones.
On Tiger. In 3 Open wins he recorded no fewer than 19 birdies (19, 21, 22) -- will need 8 today to hit that mark.
In those wins he also played the par 5s in at least -5, would need a pair of eagles today to match that as well.
@bruce The wind has definitely kicked up and continues to do so.
Yesterday we were seeing wind pretty steadily in the 2,3 or 4 MPH range. Today we're at 15 MPH and it could get stronger.
Front / Back comparsion:
Scott -4 / -7
McDowell -4 / -3
Snedeker -3 / -4
Tiger -7 / +1
Els -2 / -3
Johnson -3 / -2
Lee Westwood has just hit the longest drive of the Championship, a monster 367 yard drive on 14! #TheOpenby RossBullock via twitter edited by Ryan Kelly 7/22/2012 12:11:19 PM
Can Nicolas Colsaerts put it together for four days? If so, he will be a major champion. #TheOpenby tdappel via twitter 7/22/2012 12:16:48 PM
Snedeker: "That finish yesterday showed me that I still have a little bit of fight left in me." #TheOpenby smilescm via twitter edited by Ryan Kelly 7/22/2012 12:38:34 PM
