2026 British Open Round 3 updates: Sam Burns grabs lead with Saturday 65

SOUTHPORT, England -- What a Moving Day we had at Royal Birkdale. After the first 36 holes of The Open set the stage with plenty of drama and excitement - not to mention some rules controversy - the action continued to unfold Saturday amid crispy but scoreable conditions in England.

Australia's Lucas Herbert began the day in the lead, having tied a major championship scoring record with his second-round 62, but by the end of the day it was the other player who carded a 62 on Friday - American Sam Burns - who moved to the pole position.

The top 10 players are separated by only five shots, meaning that a bevy of players will wake up Sunday morning with realistic aspirations of etching their name into the famed claret jug.

Here's how the action unfolded on Saturday, with our editorial team on the ground at Royal Birkdale to provide insight and analysis of the day's biggest moments (times in local BST):

8:20 p.m.: The third round is officially in the books at Royal Birkdale, and Sam Burns will take a two-shot lead into Sunday as he looks to lift a major trophy for the first time. He'll play in the final group alongside New Zealand's Ryan Fox, a remarkable turn of events given Fox began the day eight shots off the lead, with Si Woo Kim also tied for second behind Burns at 8-under. The top 10 on the current leaderboard includes just one major winner, two-time U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau, who sits in a tie for sixth at 6-under. The logjam at 4-under, all hoping for a memorable final-round rally, has no shortage of major champions: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama will all tee off Sunday six shots behind Burns.

8:05 p.m.: It's a disappointing close for Cameron Young, whose chances to lift the claret jug all but ended with a wobbly close to the third round. Young reached 7-under and was among the leaders after a birdie on No. 5, but that proved to be his only birdie of the day. As the leaders drifted deeper into red figures, Young made four bogeys over his final eight holes and ultimately signed for a 3-over 73. It's a score that beat only eight players in the third round, and at 3-under he'll begin the final round seven shots behind Sam Burns.

7:50 p.m.: Sam Burns has set the mark to beat and will likely take the lead into the final round at Royal Birkdale. A two-putt par on No. 18 closed out a 5-under 65 for Burns, who surged into contention with his record-tying 62 in the second round. The 36-hole total of 127 is the lowest score across any two rounds in men's major championship history, and at 10-under he sits two shots clear of Ryan Fox and Si Woo Kim. Burns missed out on his maiden major by the thinnest of margins last month at Shinnecock Hills, but he'll be the player everyone is chasing come Sunday afternoon.

7:40 p.m.: Si Woo Kim has entered the chat as he looks to turn the tide on a dismal record in the majors. The former PLAYERS champ has just one top-10 finish in 37 prior major starts, a T8 result at last year's PGA Championship, but he'll head into the weekend tied with Ryan Fox at 8-under and with one of the final tee times on Sunday. Kim has fired three straight rounds of 68 or better at Royal Birkdale, and he has played his last 27 holes in 8-under dating back to the midway point of his second round. Kim has cracked the top 40 just once in seven prior Open appearances, but he's right in the thick of it with one round to go as he eyes the biggest win of his career.

7:30 p.m.: For the first time all week, a player has reached double digits under par. Sam Burns took a creative approach to the par-5 17th, laying up with a 4-iron off the tee and turning it into a three-shot hole. But a well-placed wedge led to a birdie and took Burns to 5-under on his round and 10-under for the week. He now leads by two shots in search of a breakthrough victory, an improbable statement to write given his 11th-hour commitment to the tournament and the fact that he seemed to be on the wrong side of the cut line after an opening-round 73.

7:10 p.m.: A frustrating week continues for Scottie Scheffler, who has made just three putts over 10 feet through 54 holes. The world No. 1 couldn't make a move down the stretch, including an animated discussion with caddie Ted Scott after a 4-foot miss on No. 16 was followed by a miss from 9 feet for a bounce-back birdie on No. 17.

Scheffler has made just three bogeys all week and remains clinical tee-to-green, but the putter remains stuck in neutral. He's 4-under heading into the final round, four shots behind Ryan Fox and five shots adrift of the current lead. Scheffler ranks a dismal 135th in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week, and he'll need a huge turnaround on the greens to have a chance at successfully defending the claret jug on Sunday.

6:55 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood will have a chance to write a storybook ending Sunday at Royal Birkdale, but he'll be further back than he'd like to begin the final round. Fleetwood got the crowds going in support of the local lad, especially with his birdie on the par-3 seventh. But he made only one more the rest of the way and closed in disappointing fashion, with bogeys on Nos. 15 and 18 sandwiched around a par on No. 17, the easiest hole on the course. It added up to a 1-under 69 that moved Fleetwood to 5-under for the week. Still inside the top 10 at the moment, Fleetwood will trail Ryan Fox by three shots and could face a larger deficit behind the leaders depending on how Burns, Herbert and others finish their third rounds.

6:43 p.m.: Some wild theatrics on the par-5 14th, where Sam Burns and Bryson DeChambeau both escaped from potential danger. DeChambeau needed several minutes to even find a stance to hit his third shot after his ball caromed next to the riveted face of a greenside bunker. He eventually skulled it over the green and managed to save par to remain at 5-under. Burns, meanwhile, hooked his approach into some thick grass but, after a free drop from a sprinkler head, reached the green and holed a 30-footer for bogey. It took Burns back to 9-under, tied for the lead with Lucas Herbert heading toward the home stretch of the third round.

6:33 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler's first bogey of the day comes at the 16th in what has to be a frustrating experience for the World No. 1, with his flatstick fallacies from 2024 and prior reemerging yet again. On the other end of the spectrum, Bryson DeChambeau can't stop saving pars from all over Royal Birkdale in a high-wire act that doesn't necessarily inspire long-term confidence.

Atop the leaderboard, Lucas Herbert continues to cruise along at 9-under, with Jackson Suber returning to 8-under in what continues to be an extremely impressive week for the Ole Miss product. Cameron Young takes a tumble off the front page of the leaderboard with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12.

6:07 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood makes his first bogey of the day at the long par-3 15th, dropping him back to 6-under and alongside a surging Ludvig Åberg.

Åberg bogeyed the first but has carded four circles since, with just one hole left to his Moving Day effort. In just his third Open start, Åberg is looking secure for a top-25 finish in every major in 2026, and could be a name to watch on Sunday if this blurb doesn't jinx him on the dangerous 18th.

Neither Bryson DeChambeau or Sam Burns have made anything but pars on the back nine so far, but DeChambeau's have been incredibly hard-fought, getting up and down with a lengthy save at the 12th. After a complicated evening, DeChambeau is simply even on his day, idling at 5-under.

5:53 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood hit one of my favorite shots of the tournament so far, escaping from the shoulder-high greenside bunker at No .14 with a flop shot that landed like a butterfly next to the hole. Sadly, it was a bad mistake to end up there in the first place by the local lad who laid up on the par-5 only to dump a wedge into said hazard. He then missed the green on the long par-3 15th. Fleetwood will be the story of this tournament overnight if he can just hold on, but his ball-striking is looking a bit loose as he heads into the final stretch.

5:38 p.m.: It's a familiar tale for Scottie Scheffler, who refuses to make a mistake tee-to-green but couldn't find the hole even if he fell in it. Scheffler has one birdie on the day and 12 pars, with his longest putt of the day sitting at 5 feet, 9 inches. Scheffler ranks third in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee at +4.22, ninth in Approach at +4.20 and 129th in Putting at -2.43.

Burns makes his first mistake of the day at the ninth and brings the lead back to a three-way tie at 8-under.

5:02 p.m.: Well, we might be updating after every Tommy Fleetwood birdie now, because this is venturing into quite enthralling territory. Fleetwood just stuck on the par-4 11th and converted the birdie putt, sending the crowd ablaze. He's up to 7-under, one back of the lead. My, oh, my. It's hard to overstate how strongly the crowd is pulling for Fleetwood. He's waited a heck of a long time to win a major championship, but all that heartbreak would be well worth it tomorrow if he lifts the claret jug in the town he was raised in.

4:50 p.m.: Rory McIlroy's round has come to an end. It's a 1-under 69, now 2 under overall. By and large, it's been a disappointing week for McIlroy, who has struck it much better than he has scored. The putter remains an issue, and he will hold an early tee time on Sunday.

4:26 p.m.: Do not forget about Sam Burns. The newly anointed #GirlDad is 2-under through his first four holes and is showing the control of his golf ball we saw in his near-winning effort at Shinnecock Hills. Burns has severely improved his game in major championships this season with finishes of T7, T26 and solo second heading into the fourth of the year.

He nearly drives the green at the fifth, while his playing partner Bryson DeChambeau hits his drive well left of the target, likely executing a plan to remove any possibility of returning to the scene of Friday's crime.

4:01 p.m.: That's the roar of the Southport faithful caroming across the dunes after Tommy Fleetwood's birdie at the par-3 seventh brings him to 6-under for the tournament, two back of the lead. The 29-footer is Fleetwood's longest putt of the week, and moves the hometown hero into a tie for third.

Bryson DeChambeau is unable to convert his up-and-down on the second, dropping him back to the swath of contenders at 4-under.

3:31 p.m.: It's cheers for Bryson DeChambeau at the first tee here as he smears driver into the left-hand rough on the first tee. Sam Burns follows after, in the fairway however, and the most interesting storyline of this Open Moving Day has teed off. No one in the later groups has made much of a move through the first few holes, with Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg and Robert MacIntyre all level or one back from where they began their days through this first stanza.

A bit further back, Eric Cole cards a 66 to move to 4-under for the week, commendable after he sat 6-over for the championship after Thursday, while Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas come down the stretch looking to preserve under-par efforts

2:59 p.m.: A pair of claret jug winners just teed off together in Scottie Scheffler and Francesco Molinari. It's a fascinating couple, considering Scheffler is by and large one of the greatest drivers of the golf ball on the planet, and Molinari is an aging tactician who relies on his deep links experience instead of firepower to navigate. Birkdale has shown there are many different paths to success this week, and this group will be emblematic all day long of the beauty of choice that a firm links layout offers. Both par the first.

2:29 p.m.: Ryan Fox hits a miraculous shot from the fairway bunker on 18, missing the lip by centimeters and finding the green at the finishing hole some 30 feet from the pin. It's a two-putt from there for the Kiwi as he cards the eighth 62 in major championship history and the third of the last 48 hours. He matches his neighbor from across the ditch in Lucas Herbert at 8-under for the lead very early on this Moving Day at The Open.

2:08 p.m.: Well, there's the writer's jinx! Just after downplaying Rory McIlroy's chances of a charge, he chipped in for eagle at the ninth. He's now 2-under overall. He will still need several birdies on the back nine to factor into Sunday's drama, but it's back on the table after that eagle.

2:02 p.m.: Bryson DeChambeau has arrived on-site. There was some uncertainty about whether he would play today after he was seen telling multiple R&A officials he might withdraw following a assessed yesterday. Late Friday night, he posted on social media, seemingly confirming he would play. He is scheduled to tee off at 3:30 p.m. alongside Sam Burns.

1:59 p.m.: We are back on 62 watch. A day after Sam Burns and Lucas Herbert became the sixth and seventh golfers to tie the low round shot in major championship history, Ryan Fox needs one birdie in his final two holes to match him.

Fox began the day even par and shot 5-under 29 on the front nine.. He dropped a shot on the back, but has added three birdies, including one at the 16th.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy is going the other way. He's 1-over after eight holes, even par for the tournament. Any chance of a McIlroy charge is quickly deteriorating.

1:44 p.m.: As we look ahead to the next hour or so, it's worth highlighting Sepp Straka (2-under) and Si Woo Kim (5-under). Neither has played up to their ability in majors. Straka has had a miserable few years in the biggest tournaments. His last top 10 at a major was at the 2023 PGA Championship. Kim has only one top 10 in his entire major championship career.

Neither player will be expected to win this weekend, but simply maintaining this pace and posting a solid result is important for both to carry momentum into next year's major calendar.

1:12 p.m.: Always enjoy checking the win probabilities periodically throughout the weekend. Here's where things stand before the leaders tee off at Royal Birkdale, per Data Golf.

1. Scottie Scheffler (-4): 11%
2. Cameron Young (-6): 9.4%
3. Lucas Herbert (-8): 9.1%
4. Tommy Fleetwood (-4): 6.8%
5. Si Woo Kim (-5): 6.3%
6. Ryan Gerard (-6): 5.5%
7. Jon Rahm (-4): 5.3%
8. Sam Burns (-5): 5%
9. Bryson DeChambeau (-5): 4.8%
10. Robert MacIntyre (4-under): 4.2%

12:29 p.m.: Ryan Fox showing what's possible for the chasers today. He made the cut at even par and just fired a 5-under 29 on the front nine and added another birdie at the 10th to jump into a tie for second at 6-under. Xander Schauffele also shot 3-under on the front, playing alongside Fox.

It will be interesting to see if the wind stays down as the leading groups begin. If so, these early scores will be forgotten quickly. But if conditions become more difficult, we could see one of these early

12:20 p.m.: Rory McIlroy is off. He will garner plenty of attention in this early window for a few reasons. 1. He's Rory McIlroy, and he always draws eyeballs, and 2. he seems primed to post a low score.

Why? Statistically, he was one of the best ball-strikers through 36 holes, only undone by some poor chipping and putting. Those are the aspects of the game you'd expect to regress (positively) back to the mean, and he becomes increasingly comfortable playing on and around Royal Birkdale's putting surfaces. He ranks outside the top-100 in putting through two rounds.

11:00 a.m.: Here are the notable groups to follow today.

• 10:30 a.m.: Xander Schauffele, Ryan Fox
• 11:45 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama
• 12:20 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Jacob Bridgeman
• 1:20 p.m.: Chris Gotterup, Adam Scott
• 2:15 p.m.: Ludvig Åberg, Shane Lowry
• 2:35 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
• 2:45 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Francesco Molinari
• 3:00 p.m.: Alex Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre
• 3:30 p.m.: Sam Burns, Bryson DeChambeau
• 3:40 p.m.: Ryan Gerard, Cameron Young
• 3:50 p.m.: Lucas Herbert, Jackson Suber