Open Championship Round 3: Lowry admits he'll need one of his 'best days' to beat leader Sam Burns

Lowry produced a third-round, one-under-par 69 that moved him to four under after 54 holes and within striking distance of leader Sam Burns

Shane Lowry will enter the final round at Royal Birkdale six shots behind leeader Sam Burns who is at -10. Pic: Jacob King/PA

Shane Lowry kept himself in the hunt for a second Open Championship victory but agreed he will need one of his “best days” if he is to repeat his 2019 heroics at Portrush in England on Sunday.

Lowry produced back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes at Royal Birkdale on Saturday then produced an excellent par save from 73 feet at the last to post a third-round, one-under-par 69 that moved him to four under after 54 holes and within striking distance of leader Sam Burns.

Burns, along with Australian Lucas Herbert had shot eight-under 62s on Friday to tie the men’s major championship low round record and the American backed that up with an impressive 65 to reach 10 under par.

Herbert had led at the halfway point on eight under but had to settle for a one-over 71 to drop seven under heading into Sunday’s final round on Merseyside. So Burns leads by two from Ryan Fox of New Zealand, who added his name to the 62 at the majors club in his third round to move to eight under for the week, a shot back and in a tie for second with Korea’s Si Woo Kim, who posted a 67 for the second day in a row.

Sam Burns backed up a record breaking round of 62 on Friday with a 65 to top the pile. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA

Lying a shot further back in tie for fourth with Herbert is Ryan Gerard of the United States with Ludvig Aberg, 18-hole leader Jackson Suber and fellow American Bryson DeChambeau all on six under par. DeChambeau carded a 69 a day after being penalised two strokes for improving his lie as he played from greenside rough at the fifth hole of his second round and once again declined the offer to talk to the media.

Local hero and world number nine Tommy Fleetwood (69) still has a chance to become the first Englishman since Nick Faldo in 1992 to win The Open and will start his final round from five under in a tie with Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (67).

Lowry is six shots back of the lead in a tie for 11th on four under but believes rivals even further behind will have a shot at Open glory on Sunday.

“I don't think on an Open Championship, on a course like this where you see low scores, high scores, I don't think, not that you can't be too far back, but I feel like anyone inside the top 20 will surely feel if they have the round of their lives they can win The Open tomorrow,” the Irishman said.

“Dermot (Byrne, Lowry’s caddie) said to me there when I finished, ‘we're going to need one of our best days, but at least we have a chance’.

“I'm hopeful that the leaders don't go too far away. I obviously saw Ryan Fox, what he did, and that was kind of a target I had in my head. If I can get within touching distance of him, I thought the golf course wasn't playing easy that the leaders are not going to go too far ahead, but we'll see how it pans out.”

Ryan Fox turned in an impressive round earlier in the day to put himself into the final grouping on Sunday. Pic: David Davies/PA

Fox, the son of All Blacks great fly-half Grant Fox, had said he had won a bet with Ireland supporter Lowry on Saturday morning’s Nations Championship match in Auckland, which New Zealand won 40-21.

“I was pretty happy with that result too,” the Kiwi said following his 62. “I just saw Shane on the screen, and I'm looking forward to taking 100 quid off of him, the little bet we had.

Asked about the bet following his own round, Lowry joked: “I’m not talking about the rugby. He shot a 62 and there’s a 100 quid in his locker to go with it!” Both men will be all business on Sunday, with Lowry among a group on four under, which also includes defending champion Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, Spain’s Jon Rahm and American Xander Schauffele. Rory McIlroy, though, conceded he needs a really low score to move the dial on Sunday from his position at two under following a 69.

Yet each of them will be looking to make fast starts and apply pressure to the top of the leaderboard and Lowry said: “I still feel like I'm in a good spot. I'm in a decent spot on the leaderboard where I feel like my game is in a good spot. Yeah, we'll give it a go tomorrow.

“I'm happy. I'd love to be two or three shots better; don't get me wrong. I wanted to go out there and shoot five-under today; that's what I had in my head. But I didn't. I shot the best score I could, which was one-under.

“I'm going to be a few back going into tomorrow, but if I can go out there and get off to a good start on the front nine - I played the front nine well this week. If I can do that tomorrow and hole a few putts as well, I feel like I can get myself there or thereabouts going into the back nine.”