...but Hovland ticks off another birdie

New York Times

19-07-2025

Follow live coverage of an entertaining moving day at the Open Championship, as the leaders tackle the back nine at Royal Portrush today Getty Images
A fabulous moving day at the 2025 Open Championship is coming to its conclusion at Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland today.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has a bogey-free round going after shooting a 64 Friday. Home favorite Rory McIlroy (-8) set off on an early charge and eagled the 12th to keep his chances intact with a 66.
On a day of calm conditions, Russell Henley (-6) carded an as yet unbeaten 65 third-round benchmark. Follow the action live below.
Leaders: -14 — SCHEFFLER (17)
— (17) -11 — Li (17)
— Li (17) -10 — Fitzpatrick (16)
— Fitzpatrick (16) Full leaderboard
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Rory McIlroy has a chance at this Open Championship. All of Northern Ireland is behind him Getty Images
Hovland -2, Spieth +1 (3)
Jordan Spieth does indeed bogey the third, which will sting. But it's two birdies from the opening three holes for his playing partner today, Viktor Hovland.
Sinking from 16 feet on the third was lovely to see for the Norwegian, who is still playing catch-up from his opening round of 73.
Hovland -1, Spieth E (2)
If I had a dollar for every time this week I've heard the phrase: 'That's links golf for you'...
The latest example comes as Jordan Spieth fires his tee at the third pin, takes a bounce, barely misses the flag, but then doesn't cling onto the top of the slope at the back of the green — leaving his ball to drop 10 yards down into the runoff.
From a possible birdie, to the treat of a bogey, all off a single bounce. That is links golf for you, indeed.
Meanwhile, off the course… Scottie Scheffler has arrived, looking relaxed. Even for him.
It's only a 1-shot lead but he is so good when out in front, is there really another possible outcome for when we arrive at Sunday afternoon, other than a Claret Jug for the world No. 1?
I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts on that one: [e-mail] for your emails. Getty Images
Schmid +6, Conners -3 (13)
Corey Conners' slip at the ninth was only that. He was still out in 34, 2-under for the day — and now he's added an encouraging start for his back nine.
Birdies at 10 and 12 mean the Canadian is now 3-under and currently heading for the best round of the day — although these are still early days and Henrik Stenson is keeping pace.
As for his playing partner, Matti Schmid is the yang to Conners' yin. He has three double-bogeys and is now 5-over today alone.
Spaun -2, Johnson -1 (2)
Credit J.J. Spaun here. The recently crowned U.S. Open champion is the first player to go back-to-back birdies off the bat today, whipping quickly to 2-under for his championship.
He putted from 24 feet on the first and then had a look at an eagle putt on the second.
I'm looking forward to seeing how he handles these coming two days, because as a major winner he should really be a serious contender here too.
Dustin Johnson also birdied the opener, but only from 18 feet — so J.J. owned that one. Getty Images
Lowry +1, Rahm +1 (2)
Alas, Shane Lowry's powers of recovery at the first don't extend to the par-5 second.
He has to take a penalty drop after ended up in a bush from a hooked second — and he gets his clip onto the green all wrong too, as it skips off the dancefloor and back into the rough.
He manages to putt from 13 foot for his bogey, which is impressive enough. But it's down to 1-over for the Irishman.
Kimsey -1, DeChambeau -2 (7)
The clawback continues from Bryson DeChambeau — so much so I feel I'm repeating myself.
But it's not far off an eagle at the seventh, as his 32-foot putt just runs out of steam. But it's a simple tap-in birdie and he's 2-under for the championship.
DeChambeau's likely issue from here will be that Royal Portrush is going to give up shots to the leaders too.
But he is doing his bit for sure.
Svensson E, Molinari +2 (3)
As far as starts go, how about this from 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari.
So near off his second shot at the first, and yet…
Sadly, Molinari went onto drop a shot at the second — although his playing partner, Jesper Svensson, birdied that get level for his week.
Lowry E, Rahm +1 (1)
If Shane Lowry's opening shot was wobbly, boy was his second superb. Out of the rough stuff, he flies into the centre of the green. Magnificent.
From there he holes out for par, when it could have been anything with a plus after his first stroke.
Jon Rahm can't recover from dropping into the fairway bunker though, finding more sand after just failing to chip up the downslope to the green.
He has to take a bogey 5 but will now look to recoup that on the second, which continues to give up shots.
Soderberg +1, Stenson -3 (7)
Sebastian Soderberg remains level for his round but Henrik Stenson is officially moving.
Two birdies on a bogey-free opening six holes was solid. A sensational second shot and sinking from 10 feet for an eagle at the seventh makes it hugely promising.
The former Open champion moves to 3-under for the championship and is 4-under today.
Kimsey -1, DeChambeau -1 (5)
Aggressive stuff today from Bryson DeChambeau, and it's paying off.
He has a third birdie in four holes after a magnificent first shot at the par-4 fifth — and effectively four out of five after his opening tee reload, although I'm aware that's not quite how it works…
There is a glint in DeChambeau's eye, and Nathan Kimsey is keeping pace too as he follows with a second birdie at the fifth.
Lowry E, Rahm E (-)
A look to the skies from Shane Lowry as he gets his first shot all wrong, chopping it low and left. It looks like he's still in bounds — unlike Bryson DeChambeau's drive earlier — but it's going to be a rank second shot from there.
Rahm follows but flies right, rolling into the fairway bunker.
No mulligans here, right? I think both players would like their first shots again.
A hero's welcome for Shane Lowry at the first tee today, as he prepares to get going on moving day alongside Jon Rahm.
A reminder that Lowry had to stomach a 2-strike penalty at the 12th yesterday, after he inadvertently moved his ball with a practice swing in the rough.
The fact he didn't see it at the time meant he didn't replace the ball and avoid the double blow.
How costly will those two shots be? He still has the time — and goodwill — to get stuck into the leaders from here. But he now needs something special, for sure.
We are now into the players starting from level par for the championship today, in terms of tee times.
With Riki Kawamoto and Wyndham Clark just teeing off, here is who else is on the way over the coming hour and a bit (all times ET): 6:30am: Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm
Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm 6:40am: J.J. Spaun, Dustin Johnson
J.J. Spaun, Dustin Johnson 6:50am: Phil Mickelson, Jhonattan Vegas
Phil Mickelson, Jhonattan Vegas 7am: Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth
Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth 7:15am: Russell Henley, Antoine Rozner
Russell Henley, Antoine Rozner 7:25am: Romain Langasque, Daniel Berger
Romain Langasque, Daniel Berger 7:35am: Sungjae Im, Dean Burmester
Schmid +5, Conners -2 (8)
We're getting busy around Royal Portrush now, and so is Corey Conners.
The Canadian birdies the seventh and eighth — where his 24-footer is a beauty — to make it 3-under for the day and bogey-free heading to the ninth.
Tougher going for Matti Schmid, who dropped five shots in his opening four holes. But he also birdies No. 7 so at least recovers some of the damage.
Kimsey E, DeChambeau E (3)
This is good from Bryson DeChambeau. He tucks away another birdie look from 10 feet at the third and goes back to back.
Indeed, if you ignore the out-of-bounds drive off the first tee that forced his reload, he'd be on a hat-trick.
DeChambeau moves to level par for his Open.
Straka +3, Matsuyama +1 (6)
Austrian Sepp Straka has hit a bit of a wall, suffering back-to-back bogeys at the tricky fifth and sixth, dropping him back to 3-over after a solid start to his day.
It was his work around those greens that let him down at both.
Hideki Matsuyama remains level for this third round, but it took terrific birdies at Nos. 4 and 5 to make up for his double-bogey at the par-3 third. Getty Images
Kimsey E, DeChambeau +1 (2)
Eagle looks for both Nathan Kimsey and Bryson DeChambeau at the par-5 second.
Kimsey finishes a couple of feet short from 26 as his putt rolls under the hole. DeChambeau takes that read and follows a better line from a little closer, finishing inside Kimsey's marker.
And with that, the pair leave with a welcome birdie — scrubbing off that opening bogey for DeChambeau. He'll feel up and running properly now.
Detry +1, Olesen +4 (2)
Just the 24-footer for par that faces Thomas Detry, and for the second hole today he nails a beauty. The Belgian is having to dig in to stay at 1-over.
Sadly, the fall-away continues for Jacob Skov Olesen, who takes three attempts to chip onto the green from the down below the left side — and that leads to a double-bogey 7 for the Dane, who is now 3-over through his first two today.