Scottie Scheffler made eight birdies on another wild afternoon of weather at Royal Portrush, and the result was a one-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick.

Scheffler not only gained strokes on Royal Portrush’s greens—more than 8.5 to be specific—he excelled. He finished four rounds ranked second in the field in SG/putting. While many will recall his dialled iron shots and pin-high approach play, there’s little doubt his improved putting was the difference this time around.

Scottie Scheffler was quick to point out the British Open was only at the halfway point at Royal Portrush. Considering the world's No. 1 player was in the lead, it felt like a sprint Saturday for so many players to catch up.

Scheffler will go off with Haotong Li on Sunday. Li went 2-under in the third round to play his way into the final group, where he'll be the first player from China to be in the last pairing in the final day of a major in history. Matt Fitzpatrick is alone in third at 9-under.

Chris Gotterup had another good week on the British Isles, following his victory in the Scottish Open with solo third at Royal Portrush and $1,128. That pushes him from 51 st to 30 th with $3,714,337. He’s earned more than $2.7 million in the last two weeks.

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The rain pounded Royal Portrush right when Scottie Scheffler poured in a birdie putt on his first hole Friday in the British Open. No matter. Nothing stopped the world’s No. 1 player on his way to a 7-under 64 to build a one-shot lead going into the weekend.

Follow along for leaderboard updates, scores, highlights and more from the third round of the 2025 British Open Championship.

Dominant world number one Scottie Scheffler takes a four-shot lead into the final round of the British Open on Sunday, leaving local hero Rory McIlroy praying for a miracle.Victory would see him become only the second player after Tiger Woods to win the British Open while ranked world number one.