Masters champion Jon Rahm roared into contention at the Open Championship with a course record 63 at Hoylake.
Four birdies on the spin on the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth gave the Spaniard the kickstart he had been waiting for all week and he followed that with three birdies in his last four holes to reach six-under just three shy of overnight leader Brian Harman.
“That is the best round I have played on a links course ever,” said Rahm who could bookend his major season with wins.
“It feels really good but there is a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Rahm cut a frustrated figure over the first 36 holes and lambasted the camera crew for clogging up the golf course following Rory McIlroy, but his problems were on the greens. The difference today was that he leads the field in strokes gained putting.
“I was playing good golf and I knew what I was capable of. I was frustrated because the shots that — it was basically mistakes that I made. That was it. I gave up the shots at major championships that are very costly, and that’s mainly it. That’s what I was feeling.
“I knew I was playing better, and I knew my swing and my game felt better than the scores I was shooting. If yesterday’s finish isn’t an example, right? I’m 2-under, hit the fairway on 18, have a chance to finish 3-under, and make a stupid bogey from 30 yards away.
“That’s just a little example of it. Today was the complete opposite, obviously.”
At the time of writing it leaves the two-time major winner in a share of second with local favourite Tommy Fleetwood while Cameron Young, Jason Day and Shubhankar Sharma are a shot further back on five-under.
2014 Open champion Rory McIlroy is six shots off the pace on -3 after 12 holes of his third round.
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