The rain appeared, a classic ingredient already missed at Royal Troon in Ayrshire, and with the cold and the changing wind as its companion, the British Open practically took on epic overtones of resistance to the elements. So the last major added to the emotion and shrunk in what would be a last heart-stopping day, narrowed to the limit, with nine contenders separated by 3 strokes with the possibility of choosing a jug of claret. Already seemed to be the owner.
Jon Rahm
The Basque golfer loses the lead with a prudent card of 72 strokes (+1) and moves 6 away from the American leader
Under the rain of the final round, the Irishman Sean Lowry was as thin as sugar, despite the fact that he led alone with -7, two strokes behind the Englishman Daniel Brown and Justin Rose. However, the 2019 champion was not inspired, made five bogeys and a double bogey, and finished uncharacteristically with one of the worst cards of the day (+6). The Irishman finished 3 strokes behind, tied for 9th, and his lead soon evaporated due to pressure from Brown and the American Billy Horschel, who was one of the names of the day with his four birdies in the first part of the course.
Meet 750-1 longshot Daniel Brown, who smokes cigarettes to calm nerves in hopes of winning the Open
Thus, Lowry’s lead was shared all afternoon by Horschel and Brown, who maintained their lead. But the best thing for the bookmakers and the indifferent public of Ayrshire was to see how more and more candidates accumulated behind: South African Thriston Lawrence and the Americans Sam Burns and Russell Henley, heroes of the day with -6 and -5, they knocked on the door and received -3 on the previous Sunday. They tied with Xander Schauffele and Justin Rose, who also lost momentum and dropped to third place to end the day with +2.
The lead was decided on the last hole, where Brown and Horschel reached handkerchiefs. The Englishman combined a birdie on 16 with a bogey on 17, but his American opponent failed on 18 (bogey) and gave him the lead. However, on the 18th, the Englishman, who is making his debut in the major, could not stand the pressure and made a double bogey which caused him to lose control and return to Horschel by one stroke (-4). So a maximum of 6 players are tied for second place at -3.
For his part, the Basque Jon Rahm (72, +1) could not consolidate his good response from Friday on a day as gray as the Scottish sky. The player from Barrika only made one birdie (on hole 3) and two bogeys (on holes 2 and 12), and lost the fight for the title. He thus moved from 13th to 16th at +2 par, very far from the leaders.
Horschel comes into the final day as the Open’s leader and Rahm pulls away from the lead after a hellish day
