Key events
Martin Kaymer, the runaway winner here in 2014, had made a bright start today with birdies at 1 and 5 flashing away among the string of pars. But he’s given both shots back in one go via a double-bogey 5 at the par-3 9th. The German is +10 and in a tie for 57th. Korea’s Seonghyeon (SH) Kim has the best round going so far; he’s -3 after 13 holes. All very welcome after after yesterday’s 83.
It’s a while yet before we see what Bryson, Rory, Patrick and Matthieu throw at us. So what about the early play so far at Pinehurst? Scottie Scheffler was the red-hot favourite coming into this week but he only just made the cut on the number (+5). A 1-over 71 in round three confirmed he’d be among the also-rans this week so can he at least go out on a high today? He’s playing the first alongside young Irishman Tom McKibbin and has a 25-footer for birdie after finding the green. As it stands, world No 1 Scheffler is +6, 13 off DeChambeau’s lead and in a tie for 43rd. His birdie putt looks in but somehow finishes behind the back of the hole. Very much a sums up his week moment.
Preamble
It’s the final round at Pinehurst! And what a day we have in store. Will Rory McIlroy win his first major for 10 (ten!) years? Can Matthieu Pavon become the first Frenchman to win a major since Arnaud Massey in the 1907 Open at Royal Liverpool? Will Patrick Cantlay follow recent US PGA winner and great buddy Xander Schauffele by joining the majors club? Those three are all at -4 and in a tie for second but this week, so far at least, has been the Bryson DeChambeau show. The 2020 US Open winner has been charming on-course galleries and TV audiences alike and kicked clear of the field yesterday with a 67 that put him three in front at -7. Can anyone reel him in or will Bryson demolish the field as he did at Winged Foot four years ago when winning by six? Let the story unfold…
First, here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked after 54 holes …
-7: DeChambeau
-4: Pavon, McIlroy, Cantlay
-2: Matsuyama, Åberg
-1: Hatton, Finau
E: Morikawa, Conners, T Kim
… and here are today’s tee times (BST).
1230 SH Kim (Kor), Gunnar Broin (x)
1241 Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Jackson Suber
1252 Brandon Wu, Austin Eckroat
1303 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ben Kohles
1314 Dean Burmester (SA), Ryan Fox (NZ)
1325 Sepp Straka (Aut), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
1336 Greyson Sigg, Cameron Young
1347 Nico Echavarria (Col), Brendon Todd
1358 Justin Lower, Sam Bennett
1409 Adam Scott (Aus), Brian Campbell
1425 Matt Kuchar, Frankie Capan III
1436 Adam Svensson (Can), Harris English
1447 Jordan Spieth, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
1458 Max Greyserman, Sahith Theegala
1509 Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley
1520 Scottie Scheffler, Tom McKibbin (NI)
1531 Brooks Koepka, Tim Widing (Swe)
1542 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Emiliano Grillo (Arg)
1553 Isaiah Salinda, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA)
1604 Cameron Smith (Aus), Wyndham Clark
1615 J.T Poston, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
1631 Shane Lowry (Ire), Zac Blair
1642 Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk
1653 Denny McCarthy, Min Woo Lee (Aus)
1704 Neal Shipley (a), Luke Clanton (a)
1715 Sam Burns, Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
1726 Brian Harman, Mark Hubbard
1737 David Puig (Esp), Thomas Detry (Bel)
1748 Akshay Bhatia, Russell Henley
1759 Davis Thompson, Xander Schauffele
1810 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Taylor Pendrith (Can)
1826 Aaron Rai (Eng), Tom Kim (Kor)
1837 Corey Conners (Can), Collin Morikawa
1848 Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
1859 Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
1910 Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy (NI)
1921 Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Bryson DeChambeau