That’s brought an awful lot of people into contention. Billy Horschel leads the Open and will go out in the final match tomorrow with Thriston Lawrence, whose 65 was matched today only by Sam Burns. Lawrence and Burns got a much better deal with the conditions; there’s an argument that Horschel’s 69, ground out in appalling weather, was as good if not even better. But we’re splitting hairs. Everyone still under par will be happy with their day’s work in their own different ways … with the possible exception of Shane Lowry, who at one point led the Open at -8 but after being licked by the Postage Stamp, crumbled to a 77. Still, he’s one of many big names who could very feasibly win this famous old tournament tomorrow. And tomorrow’s another day. Hope you’ll join us then! Thanks for reading. Nighty night.

-4: Billy Horschel
-3: Thriston Lawrence, Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose, Daniel Brown
-2: Scottie Scheffler
-1: Shane Lowry
E: Adam Scott, Justin Thomas, Matthew Jordan
+1: Im Sung-jae, An Byeong-hun
+2: Shubhankar Sharma, Daniel Hillier, John Catlin, Sean Crocker, Chris Kirk, Laurie Canter, Alex Noren, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson

Dan Brown can’t make his long bogey putt, and he signs for an ultimately disappointing 73. It promised so much more. See also: Shane Lowry, whose similarly lengthy bogey putt stops one turn short. A 77 for the 2019 champion.

Shane Lowry gets a free drop, but there’s still plenty of work to do. He chips softly onto the green. Too softly. Plenty of work to do all right; he’s 20 feet from the flag still. Then Dan Brown opts against splashing straight towards the flag, perhaps worried about the height of the face. Overly worried? He bashes out sideways anyway, and leaves himself a putt of nearly 30 feet. This is a fairly undistinguished end to the round. Both players running out of steam perhaps after a long journey home.

Shane Lowry’s drive at 18 nearly finds the car park to the right of the property. Dan Brown nearly finds a bunker to the left of the fairway, and he’s left with almost the same problem he had on the opening hole! Feet in the bunker, hands down the shaft of an iron. He doesn’t go for the glory shot, no shy for the green this time. He dinks his ball up the fairway, back into play … only to pull his third into a bunker guarding the front left of the green. Meanwhile Lowry, having fluked a decent lie, albeit miles wide of the fairway and back from the green, sends his second into the grandstand to the right of the green. Shades of Jean van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999. Who’s the Irish version of Van de Velde’s hero d’Artagnan?

Billy Horschel’s putt stays up stubbornly on the left side. A closing bogey, but that’s still a fine 69. Justin Rose curls in his right-to-left par saver, and that’s a street-fighting 73. Rose punches the air with great feeling. Both men smile broadly, warmly, as they embrace and congratulate each other on their efforts this afternoon. They’d both make deserving champions tomorrow. Good luck, everyone.

-5: Brown (17)
-4: Horschel (F)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (F), Schauffele (F), Rose (F)
-2: Scheffler (F), Lowry (17)

In the penultimate match of the day, both Justin Rose and Billy Horschel miss the green in regulation. Rose in a bunker to the right, Horschel wide of a trap on the left. Rose first: he chops crisply out of the sand, landing the ball almost on the full, six feet from the flag. A great chance of saving par. Horschel meanwhile opts for Texas Wedge. A big right-to-left swinger through a swale. He gives it a good clatter, but leaves it a good ten feet short. Big putts coming up.

Something drops for Shane Lowry at last! He drains his 25-foot par saver on 17, and celebrates the putt with great intensity. Every shot counts at the Open, and even though the last couple of hours have been little short of disastrous for the 2019 champion, damage limitation is now the order of the day. Getting home without taking any further blows is crucial. And who knows, perhaps a birdie up the last, and life won’t seem so bad after all. He remains at -2, while his playing partner Dan Brown tidies up for his bogey, and drops to -5.

In fact, it’s Dan Brown’s ball that’s plugged in the sand. Up against the tall face of the trap, he does exceptionally well to whip up, out and onto the green. “Great shot!’” cries his playing partner Shane Lowry, who having just chipped out of the bunker himself, knows just how difficult the shot was. Brown wastes no time in taking his long par putt, and cradles it up to three feet.

Billy Horschel whistles his tee shot at 18 down the right side of the fairway. Justin Rose looks to have sent his towards serious trouble down the same side of the hole, but his ball stops on a spectator crossing; that’s a big stroke of luck. “What a tremendous advert for Scotland Troon is,” writes Dundee’s Simon McMahon. “Wind, rain, traffic chaos, tanked-up punters, overpriced merchandise and copious amounts of industrial language. It’s the country in microcosm. What more can you ask?”

Here’s an illustration of how strong the wind is: Dan Brown and Shane Lowry both decide to take driver at the par-three 17th. It’s a 238-yard behemoth, but still. Both send their tee shots into the bunker front left. Brown is stoic, Lowry batters the head of his club into the turf a few times. He is raging. He was leading the Open at -8 just over two hours ago, to be fair. Now -2, and possibly plugged in the sand, life’s not quite so good.

Par for Scottie Scheffler at the last, and the world number one signs for a level-par 71. Given he’s hardly got out of first gear all week, it’s some achievement to nevertheless be bang-slap in the middle of this tournament. That’s the world number one for you! He’s -2. Meanwhile back on 17, Justin Rose’s par putt slips by the high side, and he screams COME ON in high irritation. I think he’s annoyed with himself rather than some yappy punter, but can’t be 100 percent sure. He slips back to -3.

Justin Rose finds the bunker front left of the par-three 17th. He’s faced with a long bunker shot, up against the face, and smacks a decent if not brilliant effort to 15 feet. Before he can putt, Billy Horschel, who came up short, flicks a delicate wedge from 25 yards to six inches. So close again! But for a couple of inches, he’d have just carded back-to-back birdies. As it is, he’s made two pars and remains at -5.

Despite that wild drive on 16, Shane Lowry is able to advance his ball well up the hole. He sends his third from 150 yards onto the front edge of the green. Daniel Brown’s third, from similar range, screeches to a halt five yards from the pin. In goes the birdie putt, and this is one of the great Open debut performances. It would be so easy to fold under these conditions, under this pressure in uncharted territory. But what a round he’s having! The 29-year-old from North Yorkshire leads the Open on his own. Par for Lowry.

-6: Brown (16)
-5: Horschel (16)
-4: Rose (16)

One of the previous shot-of-the-day contenders was Billy Horschel’s bunker splash at 14. Horschel betters his own splendid work now: plugged up against a high face in a greenside bunker at 16, it’s all he can do to bash and hope, surely? But if you can elegantly whack something, that’s exactly what he does here, sending his ball up high over the face and landing it softly, the ball rolling out and stopping half an inch short of the cup. That deserved to go in. Horschel momentarily looks pained, but suddenly realises how good that shot was anyway, because it would have been all too easy to slam his ball into the face and run up a number. Instead he’s walking off with par and a huge smile. Justin Rose isn’t quite so happy as his straight-ish birdie putt misses by a whisker on the right, but once more the pair exit with their pars intact. They remain -5 and -4 respectively.

Another contender for shot of the day, this time by Scottie Scheffler! He sends a gentle fade into the long par-three 17th, his ball landing 20 feet short before rolling majestically towards the cup, curling just behind it. Not quite up there with Kim Si-woo’s ace, but close! He taps in for birdie to move back to -2. Meanwhile back on 16, Shane Lowry’s head has gone, and he slices wildly into deep filth down the right.

Shane Lowry can’t make his long par saver. His rake is always dying off to the left, and he taps in for bogey. Having reached the heights of -8, that double at the Postage Stamp has really taken its toll. Subsequent bogeys at 11, 12, 14 and now 15 have sent the 2019 champion clattering down the standings to -2. He’s far from out of it, but he’s forced to blow his cheeks out hard to keep his calm. His mood might not be improved by Brown tidying up yet again to save his par. This has been beyond impressive by the debutant.

-5: Horschel (15), Brown (15)
-4: Rose (15)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (F), Schauffele (F)
-2: Lowry (15)
-1: Scheffler (16)

To be fair, there’s no shame in coming up short of the 502-yard par-four 15th. Not in the face of this wind. Shane Lowry and Dan Brown take turns to send two big booms down the hole, but neither get there. Lowry ends up in a deep bunker, and can only bash out to 40 feet. Brown gives himself a chance of escaping with par with a wedge to eight feet.

Billy Horschel comes up short at the par-four 15th. No matter! He sends the crispest of wedges from 36 yards to two-and-a-half feet. Par. Meanwhile Justin Rose’s up-and-down is arguably even better, a pitch in from the top of a bank to the left of the green, 45 yards out. He leaves himself an eight-foot putt with plenty of right-to-left curl. He judges it perfectly, and once again this pair leave the scene having made staunch par saves. They’re -5 and -4 respectively.

Shane Lowry’s putter has gone stone cold. He can’t tidy up the seven-foot par putt he’s left with, and that’s his fourth bogey in seven holes. Dan Brown taps in for perhaps the second most outrageous three of the day. The first? Brown’s birdie on 7, having hoicked his drive over Scottie Scheffler’s startled head while the world number one was playing the 8th.

Dan Brown hooks hysterically miles left of 14. Trouble there. Shane Lowry is comparatively happy having sent his tee shot over the back. But then it turns out Brown has benefitted from a huge stroke of luck: instead of his ball disappearing into thick gorse, it sits nicely on a trodden-down spectator walkway, from where he chips deliciously to kick-in distance. Lowry, perhaps spooked a little by his playing partner’s tenacity, leaves his putt from the fringe six feet short. Meanwhile up on 18, Matthew Jordan gets tight on a short par putt, and the closing bogey means he’s signing for a 71. Level par today, level par for the championship.

Daniel Brown can’t make his mid-range par putt on 13 and slips back into a share of the lead. Meanwhile up on 15, Dean Burmester yips yet another short putt for bogey, and it’s catching, because Scottie Scheffler horseshoes out from four feet, and it’s beginning to go south for the world number one, with two shots gone in the last three holes.

-5: Horschel (14), Brown (13)
-4: Schauffele (16), Rose (14), Lowry (13)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (F)
-1: Jordan (17), Scheffler (15)
E: A Scott (F), Thomas (F), Burmester (15)

One of the shots of the week – perhaps the shot of the week – by Billy Horschel at the par-three 14th. His tee shot trickles into the bunker to the left of the green. He’s left in an awful position, the ball tucked up against the left side of the trap. He’s short-sided, with barely enough room to stand next to his ball, but squeezes himself in, opens the face up wide, and splats out delicately to a couple of feet. He remains at -5. That was delightful.

It’s been a miserable day for the five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. Having never recovered from a double-bogey seven at 4, he ends up with a birdie-free 78. Par for Dustin Johnson, who ends the day at +2, not quite out of things, alongside other big names in Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa.

A wonderful scramble by Matthew Jordan at the par-three 17th. His tee shot is a proper wide, so far off target it misses the bunkers to right. He lobs to 12 feet, then rattles his par saver. Hoylake’s local hero last year is making himself very popular here at Troon too. He remains at -1.

Two big up-and-downs from the side of 13 by Billy Horschel and Justin Rose. Both men celebrate as though they’d made birdies. You can’t blame them; Troon’s back nine is a beast at the best of times, but especially in these conditions. Meanwhile back down the hole, it turns out Shane Lowry’s drive found the fairway, despite flirting with a bank to the right of the hole. He smashes his second into the front of the green. Dan Brown has to hack back out onto the fairway, though, so is hitting three into the green. He arrows his shot straight at the flag, but it’s 15 feet short. Work to do if he’s to hold onto sole ownership of the lead.

Matthew Jordan, having dropped shots at 13 and 15, fights his way back into red figures by rolling in a 20-footer across 16. He’s -1. Meanwhile Dean Burmester misses his third egregiously short putt of the day, this time at 14, to drop back to -1. The small margins between success and failure at a major championship.

Dustin Johnson’s appearance on the fringe of events didn’t last long. He carves his tee shot at the par-three 17th wide right, and can only duff his second from rough into a greenside bunker. He ends up with double bogey, and he’s back to +2. Meanwhile Daniel Brown’s back-and-forth round continues apace, as he follows that birdie by flaying his drive at 13 into deep oomska down the right. Shane Lowry, on a rolling boil, follows him there.

Shane Lowry opts to take putter from the bottom of the swale. He’s not got much green to work with up top. He races his putt six feet past. That’ll be a tester, especially as he’s dropped two strokes in the last four holes. Before he can do that, Daniel Brown strokes in his birdie putt. A reminder that this is his first appearance at a major! Only Ben Curtis (2003) has won the Open on major debut. Now Brown is one clear of Billy Horschel … and two clear of Lowry, who shoves his short par putt to the right. A dark cloud above Lowry’s head as he stomps off.

-6: Brown (12)
-5: Horschel (12)
-4: Schauffele (15), Rose (12), Lowry (12)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (F)
-2: Scheffler (13), Burmester (13)

Dan Brown and Shane Lowry send their tee shots at 12 down the middle. Brown wastes no time, as is his wont, in wedging pin high to six feet. Lowry tries to follow him in, but catches the slope to the left of the green and his ball disappears off down it. Another big scramble attempt coming up. Meanwhile Scottie Scheffler comes up short with his second at 13, and can’t get up and down from off the green. His first bogey of the day, and he’s back where he started it at -2.

Billy Horschel is this close to draining an uphill 25-footer for birdie at 12. A gentle right-to-left curler, it only stopped drifting in on the very last turn. Par for Justin Rose too, a result he’d have happily taken when watching his iron in flirting dangerously with the bunker guarding the front right of the green. They’re -5 and -4 respectively. It’s going to be a super Sunday.

By contrast to his playing partner, Dan Brown has kept his cool. The decision to lay up from 263 yards to a favourable chipping distance is vindicated: he wedges to ten feet, then walks in a confident par saver. That’s sublime course management amid the heat of battle. Shane Lowry then limits the damage to bogey, cooling down before steering in a left-to-right downhill slider and punching the air in celebration. He’s no longer sole leader, but at least he still has a share of it.

-5: Horschel (11), Brown (11), Lowry (11)
-4: Schauffele (14), Rose (11)

Shane Lowry doesn’t take advantage of his lucky break. He gets right under his chip, which only just makes it to the green. Before he walks up to assess the long par putt he’s left himself, he points at some nearby punters and berates them for “standing in the middle of the [word redacted by Family Website Editor] fairway when we’re trying to hit”. The red mist down, he races his 40-foot par putt seven feet past the hole, leaving himself plenty of work to do.

Dan Brown opts to lay up with an iron. This is a par four. But it’s 504 yards long and the wind is howling. Meanwhile a stroke of luck for Shane Lowry, who practically tops his second, pulling it wide left. The ball’s heading for a gorse bush, but hits some dude who is looking the wrong way on his ankle, and stops in the rough instead. Both players with plenty of work to do for their pars.

Shane Lowry and Dan Brown, having hit dismal tee shots at 10, make up for it by firing their blind drives at 11 over the bank and straight down the fairway. A long way back, but that’s not the point. Further up the hole, Billy Horschel wedges in from 80 yards, but not particularly closely. He’s left with a 20-foot uphill putt to save his par … and he can’t do it. Bogey. His playing partner Justin Rose, taking Texas Wedge from the fringe at the front, rolls his ball pin high, five feet to the left, then rolls in the putt. He celebrates strongly. He seems to be enjoying this battle. He remains two off Lowry’s lead at -4.

Shane Lowry nearly shortens his odds, but his birdie attempt on 10 slips by. Dan Brown, always out of position after his wild drive, drops his second shot in three holes. And Billy Horschel takes his medicine on 11, chipping back out into the fairway, hoping he can get up and down from distance to salvage his par. With the rain continuing to fall, and the temperature dropping to boot, the leading pack seem more likely to move back towards the clubhouse leaders than advance. Consolidation is their most realistic goal right now.

-6: Horschel (10), Lowry (10)
-5: Brown (10)
-4: Schauffele (12), Rose (10)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (F), Scheffler (11)
-2: Burmester (11)
-1: Jordan (14)

Dustin Johnson ends a run of 13 straight pars by raking in a 50-foot birdie putt from the fringe at 14. He’s level par. Bogey for Matthew Jordan at 13; the miss from six feet sends him back to -1. Scottie Scheffler races an excitable 55-foot putt seven feet past on 11, but makes the one coming back; he’s hanging on in there at -3, still to locate his A-game, but still right in the mix. Despite it all, he’s still second favourite with the bookies right now, behind Shane Lowry.

Billy Horschel carves his tee shot at the long, long, long par-four 11th – 504 yards! – towards a gorse bush down the right. He may have gotten away with that, the ball stopping just short. But it’s not going to be a great lie. Justin Rose batters his drive down the middle. Back on 10, Dan Brown can only squirt his second from rough on the right to more rough on the left. But Shane Lowry gets a flyer out of the thick stuff and his ball finds the dancefloor. He’ll have a bonus 15-foot look at birdie.

The leaders drive wild at 10. Dan Brown into the thick rough down the right. Shane Lowry out to the left. Looks of concern. It could be a long journey back, because they’ll be dealing with cross-winds for the next three holes, after which the wind will be in their faces, making for some long holes on the homeward stretch.

Shane Lowry wasn’t in the best of moods after that double bogey at the Postage Stamp. Now he growls in frustration as he plays the 9th pretty much perfectly – tee shot down the middle, second wedged pin high – only for a mixture of backspin and the ridge running across the green to bring his ball back to 18 feet. His birdie effort then stops stubbornly on the lip. Just a par. Dan Brown will be happier with his, having sent his tee shot into thick rough. The pair remain at -6.

Matthew Jordan looks in the mood to improve on last year’s top-ten performance at his home course of Hoylake. He wedges from 160 yards to three feet, and tidies up for his third birdie of the day. That’s a fine response to dropping a stroke at 11. Meanwhile Dean Burmester misses his second short putt of the day, this time at 10, and it’s bogey. Both players are now -2.

Apologies to Xander Schauffele for that last entry. The Golfing Gods must have read it, because the Californian’s tee shot at the monster par-four 11th finds deep bother down the right. Forced to gouge out, he’s always out of position, and the inevitable outcome is a bogey that knocks him back to -4. These next few holes are going to be a battle of attrition for these late starters.

Billy Horschel joins the co-leaders at -6! Another fine approach, this time from 180 yards to ten feet at 9, is converted for his fourth birdie of the day. He turns in 32. Horschel and Xander Schauffele are currently the only players out there not letting the driving rain get them down.

Dan Brown’s par putt from the back of 8 is always missing the cup to the left. It sails three feet past. He makes his bogey. Shane Lowry tickles his downhill effort wide left, and that’ll be a double bogey. The Coffin claims two more victims. All of a sudden, the top of the leaderboard has concertinaed, and with the conditions still miserable, this Open is ON. In the clubhouse, Thriston Lawrence and Sam Burns will have the metaphorical cigar on, hoping and waiting for the leaders to come back towards them.

-6: Brown (8), Lowry (8)
-5: Schauffele (10), Horschel (8)
-4: Rose (9)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (17), Scheffler (9), Burmester (9)
-1: Jordan (11)

Dan Brown does extremely well to flip out of the Coffin sideways, holding the green. He’s left with a 17-foot par putt, but that’s a stunning result from where he was. Soft hands, but a good confident slap of the sand to earn a bit of spin. Shane Lowry’s up next, and first he needs to recreate his lie, Brown having messed it up a bit by taking his shot first. Lowry doesn’t have as much room behind him, and with his swing restricted, can only squirt his ball over the back of the green and down the swale. He chips up from thick rough to eight feet, but this is a big bogey putt coming up for the current leader.

A lip-out for Scottie Scheffler from six feet on 9. He covers his mouth in shock and surprise. It’s not quite happening this week for the world number one, and yet he’s still right in the mix at -3. Should things properly click – and it surely won’t take much adjustment – the leaders will have to watch out. And Scheffler could be a shot closer soon enough, because Shane Lowry and Dan Brown will both have to splash out of the Coffin sideways. Drama coming right up!

Dan Brown, high on life after that astonishing gadabout birdie on 7, slam-dunks his tee shot at the Postage Stamp into the Coffin bunker on the left. Shane Lowry then follows him in! The nerves kicking in already, and the final group aren’t even halfway through Moving Day. Tomorrow already promising so much. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Xander Schauffele walks in a 25-footer at 10, and that’s the PGA champion’s fourth birdie of the day. Back on 7, Shane Lowry pulls his short birdie putt. No mistake though for Dan Brown, and who writes this guy’s scripts? Not his namesake, clearly, because this is entertaining. Meanwhile both Billy Horschel and Justin Rose land their tee shots at the Postage Stamp close, but vicious backspin does for the pair of them, and neither can convert their mid-range birdie putts. A bit of movement at the top, then.

-8: Lowry (7)
-7: Brown (7)
-5: Schauffele (10), Horschel (8)
-4: Rose (8)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (17), Scheffler (8)

This is outrageous. Dan Brown’s tee shot was so wide right of 7 it cleared the Postage Stamp. But from the back of that green, up on a hillock, he lifts a wedge from 101 yards to four feet! That is truly something else, and it makes Shane Lowry’s clip from similar distance - but, the crucial difference here, from the centre of the fairway of the hole he’s actually playing – look positively ordinary. Weird sport, golf. Two big birdie opportunities coming up!

Dan Brown carves his tee shot so far wide right at 7 that it whistles through the green at the Postage Stamp. Scottie Scheffler and Dean Burmester, lining up their putts, can count themselves fortunate not to have been taken out by that one. Unruffled, Bermester makes his birdie putt to return to -2. Meanwhile up on the 7th green, Billy Horschel follows up birdie at 6 by rattling in a 30-footer for back-to-back birds.

-8: Lowry (6)
-6: Brown (6)
-5: Horschel (7)
-4: Schauffele (9), Rose (7)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (F), Henley (16), Scheffler (8)

Dan Brown doesn’t hang about. He plays so quickly he makes Brooks Koepka look like Patrick Cantlay. The camera just about catches him clipping a wedge from 90 yards to three-and-a-half feet. That should be a birdie that takes him to -6. And in it goes. This is seriously impressive stuff from Brown, who was about as out-of-form as it’s possible to be coming into this week. “Thriston Lawrence should be permanently in free-jazz mode (4.28pm) as his name sounds like it should have the word Quartet after it,” argues Matt Emerson. “I’ve not seen a picture of him, but I hope he wears a black roll neck and has avant-garde facial hair. Plays tenor sax as well as golf I reckon.” Funnily enough, I was thinking he sounds like a founding member of some long-in-the-tooth experimental art-rock band that everyone references but nobody really likes.

Patrick Cantlay’s tee shot at the Postage Stamp isn’t too far off line … but just wide right enough that the camber of the green takes it off the side. The slope then gathers his ball into the deep sand. There’s no getting up and down from there, and the bogey takes him back to level par. And his compatriot Russell Henley also heads in the wrong direction, dropping his first shot of the day at 15, the punishment for leaving his chip into the green from 45 yards 20 feet short. He’s -3.

More ‘this-close’ action, this time on 5. Shane Lowry and Dan Brown take turns to leave lengthy birdie putts on the lip of the cup. So near to a pair of birdies that would have sent shivers down the leaderboard. Meanwhile a birdie for Sam Burns at 17, the prize for wedging from 110 yards to a couple of feet. When that ball was sailing in, a hole-out for eagle looked on. But a four will do.

-8: Lowry (5)
-5: Brown (5)
-4: Henley (14), Schauffele (8), Rose (5)
-3: Lawrence (F), Burns (17), Scheffler (6), Horschel (5)

Dean Burmester missed a short par putt on the par-five 4th. He makes up for it by walking in a 20-footer for birdie on the par-five 6th. He’s back to -3. Just the par for Scottie Scheffler, who isn’t too happy about it. Another birdie for Matthew Jordan, this time at 7; he rises to -2. And on the Postage Stamp, Xander Schauffele is this close to making the second hole-in-one of the day. He eases his wedge over the flag. It lands a couple of feet past, and had it spun back in a straight line, it’d have been in. But it moves a little to the left, and so it’ll be a tap-in for birdie instead. He’ll move to -4.

Yep, those conditions. It’s still hosing down, and now the wind’s getting up. Horizontal rain is not pleasant. It certainly won’t improve Justin Rose’s mood; the 2013 US Open champion misses the par-three 5th green wide right, and he can’t get up and down from the tousled mess he finds himself in. That could have been worse given the tee shot, to be fair; he did well just to whip out onto the green. But he slips back to -4.

So much for Lowry’s soft hands. He clumsily bundles his chip from the front of 4 12 feet past the flag. That’s incredibly careless. But he’s not to be denied, and steers in the right-to-left swinger he leaves himself for his first birdie of the day! A street-fighting par for Dan Brown, meanwhile, getting up and down from a swale to the left of the green. That’s a fine result given his drive and not particularly great third.

-8: Lowry (4)
-5: Rose (4), Brown (4)
-4: Henley (14)

Collin Morikawa begins to make his move. A string of pars were broken by birdie at 7, and now he walks in a 20-footer at 9. Out in 34, and suddenly the 2021 winner is in red figures at -1.

Birdies for Billy Horschel and Justin Rose at the par-five 4th. They rise to -3 and -5 respectively. Back down the hole, Dan Brown is forced to take his medicine, wedging out of the fairway bunker. He’ll have a job on now to make his par. Shane Lowry meanwhile cracks his second towards the green. It doesn’t quite get there, but he’ll be hopeful of using those famously soft hands to chip close and stretch his lead.

-7: Lowry (3)
-5: Rose (4), Brown (3)
-4: Henley (13)
-3: Lawrence (17), Schauffele (6), Scheffler (5), Horschel (4)
-2: Burns (15)

A fair chance that Dan Brown could ride the rollercoaster today. He bounces back from that opening-hole bogey by raking in a 25-footer across 3 to return to -5 … then sends his tee shot at the par-five 5th into a fairway bunker. Also in free-jazz mode: Thriston Lawrence, who misses the 17th green on the right. He’s short-sided with a bunker in the way, but lobs miles into the sky and down again to ten feet, before guiding in the left-to-right curler for par. He remains at -3.

A big birdie chance goes by for Scottie Scheffler on the par-five 4th. His second finds a deep bunker, but he splashes out to six feet … only to leave his putt out on the high side. His playing partner pulls with great uncertainty at one from half the distance, a wholly unnecessary bogey. Meanwhile here’s a weather report from friend of the blog Matt Cooper, who is on site at Troon: “Further to yesterday’s news report via the medium of the media-tent roof - the rain is currently rattling it. Comfortably the worst of the day.”

Justin Rose is this close to snaking in a 35-foot birdie putt on 3. Just a par, and he remains at -4, where he’s joined by Russell Henley. Despite the damp, dreich conditions, Henley remains on fire. Smouldering. He sends his approach into 12 from 153 yards to seven inches. Dead on line, it takes a couple of gentle bounces before rolling out and only just missing the cup on the right. That’s delicious. Meanwhile Thriston Lawrence sends his second at the par-five 16th into a pot bunker, but he clips a sensational escape over the flag, getting plenty of action to spin the ball back to 15 feet. Some result from the best part of 40 yards. But he fails to hit the straight birdie putt. Shame.

-7: Lowry (2)
-4: Henley (12), Rose (3), Brown (2)
-3: Lawrence (16), Schauffele (5), Scheffler (3)
-2: Burns (14), Burmester (3), Horschel (3)
-1: Jordan (5), Cantlay (5)

Calum Scott shoots 70. The 20-year-old from Nairn is one of four amateurs to make the cut this week, and he’s in the box seat in the battle for the silver medal tomorrow. He’s +3 overall, while Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark is +6, the USA’s Tommy Morrison is +9 and Spaniard Luis Masaveu is +13. The conclusion of Morrison’s round is worth a mention, by the way: birdies at 14, 16, 17 and 18 for the 6ft 9in 19-year old, who became the first American to win the European Amateur Championship last month. He could sell that finish to one of the leaders for cash money tomorrow. If he wasn’t an amateur, that is.

Daniel Brown can’t get up and down from the back of 1. A two-putt par for Shane Lowry, and in short order the 2019 champion has a three-stroke lead. Meanwhile Scottie Scheffler birdies 3, the reward for screwing a wedge from 150 yards to five feet, while Matthew Jordan, one of last year’s big stories as he made the top ten on his home course at Hoylake, is threatening to thrill the crowds again with birdie at 4. He’s one of 12 players under par.

-7: Lowry (1)
-4: Rose (2), Brown (1)
-3: Lawrence (14), Henley (11), Schauffele (3), Scheffler (3)
-2: Burns (13), Burmester (3), Horschel (2)
-1: Jordan (5), Cantlay (4)

Sam Burns rolls in his seventh birdie putt of the day, at 12, to move further up the leaderboard to -2. Meanwhile Russell Henley’s putter is hot all right: he sends a forensic 40-footer into the middle of the cup. Back-to-back birdies, and his fifth in seven holes. He’s -3. A sense that anything could happen to this leaderboard this afternoon. Moving Day in the rain! Here we are, caught up in this big rhythm.

An astonishing wedge out of the deep bunker at 1 by Shane Lowry. Most players would opt to chip out sideways; Lowry takes on the face and clears it, finding the centre of the green! That took some nerve. Meanwhile Dan Brown, standing in the sand, grips down on an iron and punches a low second through the green and over the back. Not the worst outcome.

The final pair don’t enjoy the best of starts. Daniel Brown nearly pulls his tee shot into a fairway bunker; it stops just to the right of it, and he’ll probably have to stand in the sand to address that. Shane Lowry then pulls his into the sand. Not sure who’s worse off there. Meanwhile up on 18, Justin Thomas makes a par and signs for a 67. He joins Adam Scott in the clubhouse lead at level par … and with the weather as it is, there’s a fair chance they’ll be within striking distance tomorrow, especially if the final groups stumble in the rain.

Another birdie for Xander Schauffele! A drive into rough down the left of 3. A wedge to 12 feet. In goes the putt. A fast start for the Californian cigar aficionado (see Ryder Cup celebrations passim); he’s -3. Trouble back on 1 for Justin Rose, though. From the centre of the fairway, he dumps his approach into a pot bunker, and very nearly sends his third into more sand on the other side of the green. He’s lucky it stops just in time before topping in. But he can’t make the par-saving putt from the fringe, and that’s an immediate step backwards for the 2013 US Open champion. He’s -4.

Another birdie for Russell Henley, this time at 9, and the American turns in 32 strokes. The 35-year-old from Georgia has spent the best part of his major-championship career flattering to deceive, but he’s flowering late: a tie for fourth at last year’s Masters, and a tie for seventh at last month’s US Open. Also, when his putter gets going, it really gets going, and the flat stick seems pretty hot right now.

-7: Lowry
-5: Brown, Rose
-3: Lawrence (13)
-2: Henley (9), Schauffele (2), Scheffler (1), Burmester (1), Horschel
-1: Burns (11), Cantlay (3)

Xander Schauffele rattles in a 35-footer across 2 for his first birdie of the day. The reigning PGA champion moves up to -2. Meanwhile back on 1, Scottie Scheffler, having found the middle of 1 in regulation, nearly drains his birdie putt, but becomes the latest player to tap in for par after his ball sticks stubbornly on the lip, the greens slowing up in this rain. Oh, and on Sky, hole-in-one hero Kim Si-woo says he’s not sure of the tradition of buying everyone drinks as a result, but tonight fish and chips for his team are on him.

We’re asking the same question of Thriston Lawrence, of course. But he takes his first step backwards of the day, sending his tee shot at 13 wide left, from where he’s unable to power his way onto the green, and failing to get up and down. He slips back to -3 but he’s still six under for his round with five holes to play, so let’s not write off his chance of a record-equalling 62 just yet. Three birdies will do it.

The world number one and two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler tees off. An iron clattered down the middle of 1. He’s going round today with Dean Burmester, who follows him down there. Scheffler’s presence at the business end of the Open comes as no surprise; Burmester is less heralded, but he’s already won twice on the DP Tour this year, winning the both the Joburg Open and South African Championship, and he tied for 12th at the PGA back in May. Could he join fellow South Africans Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen on the roll of honour?

It’s happening everywhere! MK Kim, the Korean Open champion, watches in disbelief as his 20-foot birdie effort on 9 stops a dimple shy of dropping. Right on the edge. What he’d give for a wild gust of wind right now. He taps in, and turns in 33 having birdied 1, 3 and 6. He’s -1.

Here’s another putt missed short, and it’s such a shame. The Postage Stamp is playing 130 yards today, and Russell Henley lands his ball 131 yards. He gets some spectacular backspin, the ball almost slingshotting around in a U-shape before only just avoiding the hole for an ace and rolling ten feet backwards. He’s left with a fairly straight uphill birdie putt, but underhits it – that rain again, it’s coming down hard now – and the ball dies off to the right just before it can drop. He remains at -1. The tee shot deserved so much better.

The rain is beginning to come down now. Umbrellas up. The greens suddenly not running quite as quickly as they were. Russell Henley, coming off the back of a birdie blitz at 4, 5 and 6, tries to make it four in a row at 7, but leaves his 20-foot putt a couple short. He remains at -1. See also the in-flight Thriston Lawrence, whose 30-foot birdie attempt up 12 stops one full rotation short. He’s still -4.

It’s difficult to keep these things going, mind. Justin Thomas had been going along like a train until dropping his first shot of the day at 13; now he’s shipped another, the result of driving into a bunker at 15. He’s back to level par for the tournament and just (just!) four under for his round.

Another birdie for Thriston Lawrence! This one comes on the 11th, the treacherous 504-yard par-four Railway hole. Jack Nicklaus reckons this is the hardest hole he ever played in championship golf, but Lawrence is on fire today and splits the fairway, finds the green calmly in regulation, then strokes in a 25-foot putt. So much for the toughest stretch of the course. He’s -4 overall now, and seven under for his round. So we might as well start thinking about it: another two birdies on the way home, and he’d equal the lowest round in a men’s major, the 62s shot by Branden Grace (2017 Open), Rickie Fowler (2023 US Open), Xander Schauffele (2023 US Open and 2024 PGA) and Shane Lowry (2024 PGA). Three more and we’d be in Spartacus Mills territory.

… so yes, there are birdies out there. Plenty of birdies. Especially on the front nine. But a word of warning. A couple of words, actually. First up, they’re expecting some rain soon, and it could get heavier and more persistent as the afternoon progresses. Not great news for the later starters. However, the tide changes at around 5.30pm, and that may have a bearing on the wind. A chance of a switcheroo that may help the later starters on the back nine. How this all pans out remains to be seen, it’s Scotland, after all, and it’s the Open. Either way: entertainment and drama ahoy!

… but the hottest early starter is Thriston Lawrence. The 27-year-old South African has just completed the front nine in 30 strokes, six under par, with birdies at 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. He’s -3 overall. Meanwhile Sam Burns, who won the last-ever World Match Play last year, fancies another big title for his resumé, and after opening his third round with a bogey, has since birdied 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 to move into contention. Time to get our first leaderboard on!

-7: Lowry
-5: Brown, Rose
-3: Lawrence (10)
-2: Horschel, Burmester, Scheffler
-1: Thomas (13), Burns (8), MK Kim (6), Conners, Day, Schauffele, Cantlay
E: A Scott (F), Henley (5), Straka (3), Jordan, Niemann

Onto Justin Thomas, who stumbled through the first nine holes yesterday in 45 strokes. He’s played the same holes, in admittedly very different conditions, in 31 today. Birdies at 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, then another after a glorious long rake across 12. But he’s just dropped his first stroke of his third round, having flown the 13th green and failed to get up and down from the thick rough behind. Still, he’s -1 overall, having shot up 30 places since the start of play.

The 2012 nearly man Adam Scott is next up. The genial Aussie went out in 32, with birdies at 1, 2, 5 and 7. He came back in 34, birdies at 14 and 16 sandwiching his only bogey at 15. A 66 and Scott finishes the day at level par for the championship. Consider both Scott and Im’s cards, and it’s clear that Troon is offering up birdies to those who want them, with the not-insignificant exception of that stretch immediately after the turn between 10 and 15.

That was good fun, and it illustrates the party atmosphere around Troon this morning and early afternoon. The conditions have been benign, and the field have been making hay, especially on the front nine. The first case in point: Im Sung-jae, who birdied 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 to go out in 31 strokes. Coming back, with the wind not so favourable, was more of a war of attrition: a bogey at 14 was cancelled out by birdie at 18, and Im signs for a 66. He’s +1, and there is more of this to report.