British Open Scores
Saturday
At Royal Lytham & St. Annes
Lytham St. Annes, England
Purse: $7.75 million
Yardage: 7,086; Par: 70
Third Round
a-amateur
Adam Scott 64-67-68—199
Graeme McDowell 67-69-67—203
Brandt Snedeker 66-64-73—203
Tiger Woods 67-67-70—204
Zach Johnson 65-74-66—205
Ernie Els 67-70-68—205
Thorbjorn Olesen 69-66-71—206
Bill Haas 71-68-68—207
Thomas Aiken 68-68-71—207
Bubba Watson 67-73-68—208
Louis Oosthuizen 72-68-68—208
Mark Calcavecchia 71-68-69—208
Matt Kuchar 69-67-72—208
Dustin Johnson 73-68-71—209
Kyle Stanley 70-69-70—209
Luke Donald 70-68-71—209
Jason Dufner 70-66-73—209
Vijay Singh 70-72-68—210
Nick Watney 71-70-69—210
Anirban Lahiri 68-72-70—210
Simon Khan 70-69-71—210
Greg Chalmers 71-68-71—210
James Morrison 68-70-72—210
Steven Alker 69-69-72—210
Keegan Bradley 71-72-68—211
Matthew Baldwin 69-73-69—211
Justin Hicks 68-74-69—211
Alexander Noren 71-71-69—211
Hunter Mahan 70-71-70—211
Thomas Bjorn 70-69-72—211
Peter Hanson 67-72-72—211
Steve Stricker 67-71-73—211
Joost Luiten 73-70-69—212
Padraig Harrington 70-72-70—212
Harris English 71-71-70—212
Francesco Molinari 69-72-71—212
Dale Whitnell 71-69-72—212
Jamie Donaldson 68-72-72—212
Garth Mulroy 71-69-72—212
Simon Dyson 72-67-73—212
Carl Pettersson 71-68-73—212
Paul Lawrie 65-71-76—212
Rickie Fowler 71-72-70—213
Gary Woodland 73-70-70—213
Troy Matteson 70-72-71—213
Rafael Echenique 73-69-71—213
Jim Furyk 72-70-71—213
Branden Grace 73-69-71—213
Greg Owen 71-71-71—213
Ian Poulter 71-69-73—213
Miguel Angel Jimenez 71-69-73—213
Geoff Ogilvy 72-68-73—213
Toshinori Muto 67-72-74—213
Lee Westwood 73-70-71—214
Adilson Da Silva 69-74-71—214
Sang-moon Bae 72-71-71—214
K.J. Choi 70-73-71—214
Pablo Larrazabal 73-70-71—214
Nicolas Colsaerts 65-77-72—214
Gonzalo Frndz-Cstno 71-71-72—214
Yoshinori Fujimoto 71-70-73—214
Thongchai Jaidee 69-71-74—214
Ted Potter Jr. 69-71-74—214
Brendan Jones 69-74-72—215
Fredrik Jacobson 69-73-73—215
Rory McIlroy 67-75-73—215
Richard Sterne 69-73-73—215
Bob Estes 69-72-74—215
Retief Goosen 70-70-75—215
Juvic Pagunsan 71-72-73—216
Aaron Baddeley 71-71-74—216
Warren Bennett 71-70-75—216
John Senden 70-71-75—216
Lee Slattery 69-72-75—216
Andres Romero 70-69-77—216
Chad Campbell 73-70-74—217
Ross Fisher 72-71-74—217
Charles Howell III 72-71-74—217
Rafael Cabrera-Bello 70-71-76—217
Jeev Milkha Singh 70-71-76—217
Tom Watson 71-72-76—219
John Daly 72-71-77—220
Martin Laird 70-69-82—221
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Adam Scott has never had a better chance to end that long wait for a major championship — mostly because of that long putter.
Scott stayed in the game early with two key par saves, pulled away with three birdies around the turn and was solid at the end Saturday for a 2-under 68 that gave him a four-shot lead going into today's final round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
"It was all pretty solid stuff, considering the circumstances and how much trouble there is on this golf course," Scott said.
The golf course, even without wind for three days, swallowed up Brandt Snedeker during a 10-hole stretch in the middle of the round and nearly knocked him out of contention.
This is the fourth time in the last nine majors that someone took at least a four-shot lead into the final round. The only player who failed to win was Rory McIlroy at the Masters in 2011.
But this Open was far from over.
Scott narrowly missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have given him a share of the 54-hole Open scoring record. He settled for 11-under 199 and will play in the final group with Graeme McDowell, who had a 67 to get into the final group for the second straight time at a major.
Snedeker birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 73 and was tied with McDowell.
Right behind them were three major champions, starting with the guy who has won 14 of them. Tiger Woods recovered from a sloppy start and was within three shots of the lead on the front nine until Scott pulled away. Woods missed a short par putt on the 15th and didn't give himself many good looks at birdie on the back nine for a 70, leaving him five shots behind. Woods has never won a major when trailing going into the last round.
Three-time major champion Ernie Els was solid in his round of 68 and was six back, along with former Masters champion Zach Johnson, who had a 66.
Even so, the biggest challenge might be the weather. If the forecast holds true — and there's been no reason to believe that — the greatest defense of links golf could finally arrive with wind projected to gust up to 25 mph.
"It will be in Adam's hands tomorrow if the conditions are as straightforward as they have been the last few days," McDowell said. "Throw a bit of wind across this course like perhaps they are forecasting, he will have to go and work a lot harder and he will have to go win it.
"He's going to have to go win it anyway, for sure."
McDowell was seven shots behind as he walked up to the 13th green and found three birdies coming in to get into the last group, just as he was at Olympic Club last month in the U.S. Open, where he was one putt away from forcing a playoff.
Snedeker opened this championship by playing 40 holes without a bogey, and then he couldn't buy a par. He had to blast backward out of a bunker, chunked a pitch shot from the fairway, missed short putts and was reeling. He started with a one-shot lead and was six shots behind after only 11 holes. Snedeker rolled in a birdie on the 16th and stretched out his arms in mock wonder, and then finished with a birdie that could bode well for today.
"It's just one of those things where you've got to find out if you have some guts or don't," he said. "I could have packed up and gone home today, but I didn't."