PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Lucas Glover and Doc Redman both shot even-par scores of 71 and Kyle Stanley shot a two-over-par 73 on Saturday in the third round of The Open Championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Course in Portrush, Northern Ireland. All three lost ground in the standings on a good day for scoring at the 148th Open Championship.
Clemson is the only school in the nation to have three of its former players advance to the final two rounds of the final professional Major of the golf season.
Glover’s round of 71 leaves him with a 212 total, good enough for a tie for 36th place. Redman’s third straight 71 puts him at 213, good enough for 43rd place, while Stanley’s 73 gives him a 54-hole total of 215, good enough for 54th.
All three Clemson golfers got off to great starts and were a combined eight-under par through just four holes. Glover and Redman both birdied three of their first four holes, while Stanley was two-under after four after making birdie on each of his first two holes. But all three had problems on the back nine and that was the case for a lot of players as the last three holes played into the wind much of the afternoon.
Glover made birdie on holes 2,3 and 4 to get to four-under-par for the tournament. He then made bogey on holes six and eight. He got it back to four-under par with birdies on 10 and 14. He then had to wait 20 minutes due to a backup on the 15th tee. That seemed to hurt his momentum and he made bogey on three of his last four holes to finish even for the day and one under for the tournament.
Glover hit his ball in a sand trap on each of the last two holes, with his second shot on 17 and his tee shot on 18, and he failed to make par as a result on each hole. Still, Glover hit 14 of 18 greens on the day and is now 37-54 in terms of greens in regulation for the tournament. He is now 33-42 in terms of driving in the fairway for the first three rounds, including 11-14 on Saturday.
Redman was also three-under after four holes thanks to some outstanding putting and he was two-under-par through the first nine holes. It was the second straight day he shot a 34 on the front side. But, like Glover he finished with a pair of bogeys to shoot his third straight 71.
If Redman shoots a 71 in the fourth round he will be the first player to shoot the same score all four rounds of the Open Championship since 1950 when Fred Bullock had four consecutive rounds of 71 at Troon.
It has been an outstanding first professional Major for Redman who has a chance to become the first former Tiger to shoot four consecutive rounds of 71 or better in a Major Championship.
Stanley got off to a birdie-birdie start, the first player in the field to do that on Saturday. His round got sidetracked when he hit his second shot on the fifth hole out of bounds and he made a double bogey. He was still one under par for the round through 12 holes, then made bogey on three consecutive holes.
He did right the ship to par the last three holes, all into a tough wind. He has now made par on the difficult 18th hole all three days. He did have a pair of three-putts today, his first two three putts of the tournament. Stanley hit 13-18 greens in the third round and has reached 33-54 in regulation for the tournament.
Tee times were moved up an hour in anticipation of poor weather on Sunday. Stanley will begin play at 8:42 a.m. local time, 3:42 a.m. on the east coast and will play with Bernd Wiesberger. Redman will begin play at 9:47 a.m. local time, 4:47 a.m. on the east coast and will play with Joost Luiten. Glover will be paired with former Oregon All-American Aaron Wise and they will begin play at 10:32 a.m. local time, 5:32 a.m. on the east coast.
Coverage of the final round will begin on NBC at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time.
