Who is the 'most handsome man in China' looking to stop Scheffler?
But Li Haotong from China, who last made the cut at the Open in 2018, is the nearest challenger to Scheffler heading into the final day.
It's an unlikely story as he looks to become the first player from China to win a men's major - and only the third from Asia after Hideki Matsuyama and Yang Yong-eun.
It would be a remarkable turn of events if Li could chase down the world number one, who holds a four-stroke advantage heading into the final round, and the 29-year-old has had a rollercoaster career to date.
He has even been dubbed the "most handsome man in China".
In a county of 1.4 billion people, that is quite the claim. Although according to Li, he was not the one who started it.
It appears his club manufacturer randomly stamped it on one of his wedges as a joke and now it's stuck.
He even revealed on Friday that he text a picture of his wedge to Phil Mickelson, who replied that it was a "shame" for China.
"It was fun", said Li.
Scheffler four clear at Open as McIlroy charges
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/leaderboard
Li came an impressive third on his Open debut in 2017 but things had not gone to plan since.
He was tied for 39th the following year but had failed to even make the cut at the championship since.
However, that changed this week when he vaulted up the leaderboard with a strong opening round of 67, replicated that score in his second outing, then produced another solid third round of 69 on Saturday to leave him in second place with 18 holes to play.
It's clear that Li prefers to do his talking on the course. And the fact he is in this position says a lot about his resilience.
He almost walked away from the sport in 2021 after a loss of form and injury, but bounced back to win the BMW Invitational Open the following June.
His form at Royal Portrush hasn't come as a total surprise as he worked his way back up the rankings to 111 in the world and ended a near three-year wait for a title when he won the Qatar International in February.
After his third round, Li said he was struggling with his swing and the "yips" over the past two years.
He said he did not know how he had bounced back but said it was a "miracle".
'I felt really bad' before Open
To make his Open performance even more remarkable, Li said he restricted a lot of his practice to the range due to the size of the crowds in Portrush.
"I'll tell you what, the last couple weeks, I felt really, really bad to be honest," Li admitted.
"This week I hardly got on the course to play because I felt like there were so many people, with course being so packed.
"I just kind of hit a few balls on the range and wasn't comfortable. Even on our Thursday and Friday morning sessions, I wasn't.
"But until today, it was actually quite nice."
It's a feeling he will have to get used to. Unlike at the 2020 PGA Championship, when he led after 36 holes but fell away, he has stayed in touch in Northern Ireland.
And now, for the first time in his career he will head out on the closing day of a major in the final pairing.
All eyes will be on him, but it's a challenge he plans to embrace as he looks to shock Scheffler.
"I'm actually quite looking forward to it," he said.
"I'll just try to play my best out there and hopefully make something happen.
"It's going to be exciting."
As the underdog against the sport's heavy hitters, Li admits he has nothing to lose.
But as he said on Friday: "I think if I play my best, I can compete with anyone."
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Gibbs-White had also been on Manchester City's radar until they signed Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders. Arsenal were monitoring his potential availability. And, no matter how many times people point out Tottenham finished 17th last season, it was easy to understand the attractions for Gibbs-White. Advertisement Footballers are not bonded to their clubs in the way that you or I might be. Their careers are relatively short and Gibbs-White, as you can imagine, has aspirations to play in Europe's premier club competition. Earlier this year, when Angel Gomes was available on a free transfer from Lille, Forest thought long and hard about bringing in the former Manchester United midfielder. Gibbs-White was on the phone to Gomes, his close friend, trying to persuade him. 'Come join us,' was the message. 'We will play in the Champions League together.' So don't make the mistake of thinking that a move to Tottenham would have been a backward step for him. Yes, they finished 10 places behind Forest last season, but have you seen their squad? Have you seen their stadium? Or their training ground? Ignoring football loyalties, how many people in ordinary life would pass up the opportunity to work for a bigger organisation, in plusher surroundings, with more lucrative prizes to chase, and with a whopping pay rise on offer? Against that background, it is an exceptional triumph for Forest — and Marinakis, in particular — that they could persuade Gibbs-White he would be better off staying where he is. It also feels like the club have sent a wider message to the rest of the Premier League: that Forest, on Marinakis' watch, should be treated seriously, that they mean business and, just in case anyone was not aware, that their owner is not a man to blink in any staring contest. Daniel Levy, Tottenham's chairman, has found that out the hard way. And Levy is supposed to be one of the hardest guys to budge in the industry. 'He became a legend already,' Marinakis said of Gibbs-White. 'And we need to give a message to our supporters, and the supporters of other teams in England and Europe, that with legends, you need to treat them in an appropriate manner. Advertisement 'As long as I'm in charge of Nottingham Forest, all these actions and approaches (from other clubs) should take place in – I repeat – an appropriate manner. I would never let anyone from another team try to get a player from us, or make something (happen) that we don't agree with.' More than anything, the victory here is because it feels like Forest might finally be moving away from the days when the club would give up in these situations, accepting their position in the food chain, and the fans had to watch another talented player heading off for new adventures elsewhere. It happened with Britt Assombalonga and Michail Antonio. It happened with Teddy Sheringham, Andy Reid, and Michael Dawson, if we are talking about previous Forest-Tottenham business. And it happened with Kevin Campbell and Colin Cooper in one particularly grievous summer, culminating in the club's top scorer, Pierre van Hooijdonk, going on strike because he was appalled by the lack of ambition. It has happened, in short, too many times. It will happen again, too, because that is the nature of the business, and, unless you are Real Madrid, which football club can legitimately say they never sell their star players? It happened with Elanga and nobody can be sure what the outcome will be next summer, or maybe the year after that, if an elite club wants to take Gibbs-White away and can find a way of making a deal without rubbing up Marinakis like sandpaper. That was the problem for Tottenham: Forest's owner saw it as an affront that the London club had allegedly been tipped off about a release clause that was supposed to be entirely confidential. So the lawyers got involved, Marinakis dug in his heels, and once the initial anger had subsided, the charm offensive began to persuade Gibbs-White to stay. Club executives reminded him he was loved by the Forest crowd and part of something special. They knew he relished being the main man. Would he really get that at Spurs? They spoke to his father, Kirk, and they broke their pay ceiling for him. A new three-year contract was eventually sealed in a 30-minute chat with Marinakis at the team's pre-season training camp in Portugal. No other player in Forest's history has earned more. Advertisement Who remembers the last time Forest had such a victory off the pitch against one of the 'Big Six'? The answer probably goes back to Clough's time as manager when Manchester United wanted to sign Stuart Pearce, Forest's England international left-back. Alex Ferguson, United's manager, turned up on a whim in the City Ground car park. So Clough, being Clough, pulled the curtains in his office and refused to go out. 'Tell Mr Ferguson I'm busy watching the cricket,' was the instruction to his secretary. Clough could never be pinned down by a rival manager. For the most part, however, Forest have tended to come off second-best in these matters and, 35 years since a bruised and highly aggrieved Ferguson drove away from Nottingham, many fans still seem to be preparing for bad news. On social media, the assumption is that a new release clause must have been put in place, somewhere around the £85million mark, for Gibbs-White's admirers to return next year. But that is all it is: an assumption. There is no such clause, meaning Forest will not be vulnerable this way again. Marinakis wore the look of a contented man. His biggest battle, he has always said, was to change the club's mentality. So he smiled into the camera. 'At the end of the day, we always win' — it was a hell of a quote from Forest's owner.
