Sam Burns leads Open final round as Scottie Scheffler chases at Royal Birkdale

Sam Burns carried the lead into the final round at Royal Birkdale after a third-round 65 lifted him to 10 under, setting up a Sunday chase that put Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and the rest of the pack under immediate pressure. Burns entered the last 18 holes with either a one-shot or two-shot edge in the live boards, but the math at the top was simple: every mistake could reshape the race for the Claret Jug.

Scheffler, the defending champion and world No. 1, began the championship with a 68, and his early challenge on the back end of the week kept him inside the conversation even after he slipped back on Saturday. His position mattered beyond one leaderboard line. If Scheffler closed another major, he would strengthen the sense that men’s golf is living through a rare run of sustained dominance from one player rather than a crowded era of equal contenders.

Burns, who said his links game has been shaped by watching Scheffler and had originally planned to miss the event, turned a surprise start into the most important round of his major career. His 65 on Saturday was the score that changed the tournament, moving him to 10 under and giving him control over a field that included a collection of proven major names and a few players riding one-day surges.

Royal Birkdale has hosted The Open 10 times, and its history added weight to the closing round. Previous champions there include Padraig Harrington in 2008, Mark O’Meara in 1998, Ian Baker-Finch in 1991, Tom Watson in 1983 and Johnny Miller, a list that underlined how quickly a Sunday at Birkdale can turn a good week into a legacy-defining one.

The rest of the championship carried its own tension. Bryson DeChambeau was assessed a two-stroke penalty on Friday night, Ryan Fox shot a 62 in the third round to tie the record for the lowest round in a major championship, and Fleetwood remained a focal point because he was chasing the chance to become the first Englishman to win The Open on English soil since Tony Jacklin in 1969. For the final round, the question was no longer only who could survive Birkdale. It was whether Scheffler could turn another Sunday charge into proof that the top of the game still runs through him, or whether Burns had already built the kind of lead that could finally hold against the sport’s defining player.