It was not a great day for birthday boy Shubhankar Sharma. A flurry of bogeys and double bogeys on the back nine spoilt the card of Shubhankar Sharma, who tumbled from a decent T-48th at the start of the day to a disappointing 72nd at the end of his third round at the Open Championships, here on Saturday.

 

 

    

 

At the start, Sharma birdied the Par-5 second for the second day running and then had a nice birdie on ninth. But all that changed once the back nine began. Double bogeys on 10th and 11th were followed by a bogey but he had a bogey-bogey on 13 and 14th. Once again on 15th he had a double. The birdie on 18th was somewhat soothing at the end.

 

 

“I just want to get back to where my game should be and finish off strongly. It was a bad day in the office today and hopefully, tomorrow will be better. I’m happy to still be playing on a Sunday,” said Sharma.

 

 

 

Shane continues his hot streak 

 

 

 

 

Ireland's Shane Lowry produced one of the superlative performances with a sensational eight-under-par 63 that sees him take a four-shot lead into Sunday's final round of The Open.

 

Lowry, who called it "one of the most incredible days of my life," carded eight birdies to finish on 16 under overall at Royal Portrush.

 

England's Tommy Fleetwood is Lowry's closest rival on 12 under after a 66. JB Holmes is third on 10 under, one head of Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka.

 

World number one Koepka, who won this year's US PGA Championship and finished runner-up at the Masters and US Open, finished with successive birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to keep himself in contention to win a fifth major in his last 10 appearances.

 

 

 

 

But the day belonged to the 32-year-old Lowry who started the day tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Holmes and was in sensational form from the first hole until the last, hitting 17 of the 18 greens in regulation as he set a new course record.

 

 

 

A partisan crowd at the Northern Irish course cheered his every birdie, the noise being so raucous that Fleetwood and playing partner Lee Westwood, who were in the group in front, had to wait to play their tee shots on the 18th.

 

 

Things to Know

 

• Shane Lowry seeks first major win; looks to join Padraig Harrington as second Open champion from Republic of Ireland, as The Open Championship is contested outside England and Scotland for just the second time (1951/Royal Portrush)
• Since 2000, 12 players have led by four or more strokes after 54 holes in a major; three did not go on to win: Shane Lowry/2016 U.S. Open, Adam Scott/2012 Open Championship, Rory McIlroy/2011 Masters
• Tommy Fleetwood is the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking without a PGA TOUR victory
• Brooks Koepka (T4) has either won or finished second in the last four majors
• Only three players under the age of 35 have won The Open during the FedExCup era (2007-present); Lowry (32) and Fleetwood (28) could become the fourth