
British Open at a glance
LEADING: Scottie Scheffler with a 4-under 67 to reach 14-under 199.
CHASING: Li Haotong (69) was four shots behind with Matt Fitzpatrick (71) five shots back.
ROARING: Masters champion Rory McIlroy playing in his native country had a 66 and was in the large group six shots behind. McIlroy had by far the largest and noisiest crowd.
SHOT OF THE DAY: John Parry made the first hole-in-one at this British Open an 8-iron on the par-3 13th hole.
SAVE OF THE DAY: Scheffler was buried in deep rough behind the 11th green when he chopped it out to 10 feet and made par.
BIZARRE SHOT OF THE DAY: McIlroy was hitting out of the rough to the right of the 11th fairway when two golf balls emerged. He hit his ball and the club also dug up a ball that had been buried under the turf.
BEST FINISH: Lee Westwood shot 29 on the back nine to tie the British Open record for a back nine first set by Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush in 2019.
KEY STATISTIC: Scheffler has won the last 10 times he has held the 54-hole lead.
NOTEWORTHY: Scheffler, Li, Tyrrell Hatton, and Nicolai Hojgaard have shot all three rounds in the 60s at Royal Portrush. The only British Open in which three players broke 70 all four days was 2021 at Royal St. Georges.
QUOTEWORTHY: 'He works like he's never going to play in another major championship ever again,' – Harris English on Scheffler.
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Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Niemann, Legion XII rule LIV Golf UK by JCB to maintain dominance in 2025
ROCESTER, England: On a day of familiar winners but high drama, Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm's Legion XIII exerted their dominance Sunday at LIV Golf UK by JCB, continuing the winning form that keeps them atop the season-long standings. Niemann won for a record fifth time this season, shooting a 3-under 68 to finish at 17 under and hold off a spectacular back-nine challenge from RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson. Legion XIII won their second consecutive and fourth team title of the year, this time led by their youngest player, 21-year-old Caleb Surratt, who earned the first podium finish of his LIV Golf career. With the three-shot victory, Niemann extended his lead in the individual points race to 37.64 points over Rahm and now can clinch the individual championship at next month's LIV Golf Chicago on Aug. 8-10. Niemann becomes the first player to win five times in a season; the 26-year-old from Chile now has seven LIV Golf wins, most of any individual player. 'If I play my best game, I know I can win,' Niemann said. 'I think that's the only thing that kind of matters for me, is to find that A-game more often.' After entering the final round with a six-shot advantage, Niemann admittedly didn't have his A-game on Sunday, but his steady play allowed him to build his advantage to eight shots with 10 holes to play. That's when Watson, the 46-year-old from Florida, produced the best six-hole stretch in LIV Golf history. It started with a birdie at the par-3 ninth when his tee shot landed inside 3 feet. He then eagled the par-5 10th with a brilliant driver off the deck on his second shot that finished inside 6 feet. He followed with birdies at the 11th and 12th hole, then used another driver off the deck at the par-5 13th to set up another eagle from 21 feet. He finished the amazing stretch with a birdie at the par-3 14th from 12 feet. 'It's almost like you black out,' Watson said. 'When that stretch happens, you're just kind of unconscious, right? One of those moments, an hour-long stretch, that was unbelievable. … That was crazy. Throwing in the eagles with two drivers off the deck was pretty special, pretty spectacular.' Watson's 8-under stretch allowed him to move within two shots of the lead going into the par-4 15th. That's when Niemann responded with a terrific approach shot from 140 yards off a difficult lie in the rough, followed by a 5-foot birdie putt that stemmed the tide and gave him some much-needed breathing room. 'I never thought he was in the picture,' Niemann said of Watson. '(Then] he started making those moves, started making a big charge, and I was in a way feeling a little bit more uncomfortable with my lead. … Was able to hit a great shot on 15. That put me back into my place.' Watson ultimately shot 65 to finish solo second at 14 under, while Surratt also shot 65 to finish another stroke back, the best individual results for each player since joining LIV Golf Surratt's play was especially important on the team side, as it sparked Legion XIII to produce another final-round rally with a cumulative 14-under total on Sunday to win by eight strokes over Torque, with Rahm also shooting 65 to tie for fifth. Not only was it Surratt's first-ever top 10 finish on LIV Golf, it was the first time he had led his team in scoring after a tournament. 'It means a lot,' Surratt said. 'Shows me a lot. It's very hard to be at the top of the leaderboard out here, especially for the first time … To be able to do it on a day where I knew it was going to be really, really hard means a lot to myself.' Said Rahm: 'Getting his first top 10 and finishing third is a big deal, a big week.' Legion XIII has now won two consecutive tournaments, and their lead is 46.66 points over Crushers GC. Rahm's team has the opportunity to guarantee itself the top seed in the Team Championship with a good result in Chicago. As for Niemann, he's close to wrapping up the most successful regular season by any player in LIV Golf's young history. Only Rahm or DeChambeau can catch him for the championship now. 'Obviously I want to win the season,' Niemann said. 'I think there is a lot of golf to play yet. Jon, we know how good of a player he is, also Bryson. 'There is not much I can think about other than worry about what I'm doing, how I can improve and get better and play my best golf for the next two weeks. I feel like that's all I'm worrying about it right now.' TEAM SCORES Here are the results and scores for each team after Sunday's Rd. 3 of LIV Golf UK by JCB: 1. LEGION XIII -35 (Rahm 65, Surratt 65, Hatton 70, McKibbin 70; Rd. 3 score: -14) 2. TORQUE GC -27 (Niemann 68, Muñoz 69, Pereira 71, Ortiz 73; Rd. 3 score: -3) 3. STINGER GC -26 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 66, Schwartzel 66, Grace 69; Rd. 3 score: -17) T4. FIREBALLS GC -23 (Ballester 65, Garcia 68, Puig 69, Ancer 71; Rd. 3 score: -11) T4. CRUSHERS GC -23 (Lahiri 64, DeChambeau 69, Casey 71, Howell III 71; Rd. 3 score: -9) 6. RIPPER GC -17 (Smith 67, Herbert 70, Leishman 70, Jones 73; Rd. 3 score: -4) T7. CLEEKS GC -14 (Kaymer 67, Bland 68, Meronk 69, Kjettrup 75; Rd. 3 score: -5) T7. HYFLYERS GC -14 (Ogletree 69, Steele 69, Tringale 70, Mickelson 72; Rd. 3 score: -4) 9. SMASH GC -9 (Gooch 66, Kokrak 68, McDowell 70, Koepka 73; Rd. 3 score: -7) 10. RANGEGOATS GC -6 (Watson 65, Uihlein 67, Campbell 70, Wolff 71; Rd. 3 score: -11) 11. 4ACES GC -5 (Reed 66, Varner III 68, Pieters 71, Johnson 75; Rd. 3 score: -4) 12. MAJESTICKS GC -3 (Horsfield 69, Poulter 72, Stenson 72, Westwood 74; Rd. 3 score: +3) 13. IRON HEADS GC +7 (Na 66, Jang 67, Kozuma 69, Lee 74; Rd. 3 score: -8)


Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Kurt Kitayama wins 3m open, beating Sam Stevens by 1 for his 2nd pga tour victory
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Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Kitayama captures PGA 3M Open title with big birdie weekend
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