Gregory Shamus(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)Royal Birkdale wreaked havoc on the field during Friday's round, but the players answered on Saturday, and answered with vigor. There was a major championship record, a 64 and a handful of 65s, with the field bringing in an average scoring figure under par. And yet, despite these fireworks, it's basically a two-man race heading into Open Championship Sunday. Here are the winners and losers from Day 3.
Winner: Jordan Spieth
Spieth's score — a bogey-free 65 — doesn't fully illustrate his dominant performance. The Texan put on a clinic Saturday, carefully eviscerating Royal Birkdale with a deadly-accurate iron play. And though his notoriously fickle putter didn't convert many long putts (save for his final roll on the 18th), Spieth was left with gimme pars on almost every hole. Just Matt Kuchar stands in the way of the 23-year-old completing the third leg of the career Grand Slam; only Jack Nicklaus achieved th..

Richard Heathcote/R&ASOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 22: Branden Grace of South Africa acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green after shooting a 62 the lowest round in major championship history during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 22, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)SOUTHPORT, England — Not to be all Johnny Miller alter ego about it, but a major championship course has probably never been more prime for a 62 than Royal Birkdale was on Saturday.
Even Branden Grace, the first man to shoot 62 in a major after 31 63s, said par for the third round was about 67.
What was so easy about Birkdale? A confluence of many things. Par 70. Greens made soft from heavy rains. No wind. Relatively light rough for an Open Championship. Perfectly-manicured surfaces. A course, already short at 7,156 yards, shortened to 7,027 for the third round, with the par-4 fifth reduced 36 yards to 310 to make it more driveable, and ..

Richard Heathcote/R&ASOUTHPORT, ENGLAND – JULY 22: Branden Grace of South Africa acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green after shooting a 62 the lowest round in major championship history during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 22, 2017 in Southport, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)SOUTHPORT, England — Not to be all Johnny Miller alter ego about it, but a major championship course has probably never been more prime for a 62 than Royal Birkdale was on Saturday.
Even Brandon Grace, the first man to shoot 62 in a major after 31 63s, said par for the third round was about 67.
What was so easy about Birkdale? A confluence of many things. Par 70. Greens made soft from heavy rains. No wind. Relatively light rough for an Open Championship. Perfectly-manicured surfaces. A course, already short at 7,156 yards, shortened to 7,027 for the third round, with the par-4 fifth reduced 36 yards to 310 to make it more driveable, and ..

Warren Little/R&ASOUTHPORT, England — “He's not quite Jeff Knox.”
I couldn't believe my ears. Not just because I was standing approximately 4,000 miles away from Augusta National Golf Club, but because the fan had said it with a thick British accent. Jeff Knox, the man who has gained a cult following as a non-competing Masters marker, is now an international star as well? Incredible.
But on Saturday at the 146th British Open, it was a different golfer playing the role in which Knox has been cast starred many times. So who was this mysterious man playing with Shaun Norris inside the ropes at Royal Birkdale?
Maybe that's his mate, one fan said. Nope.
I think it's just a random guy, another guessed. Wrong again.
I'm assuming this guy is a local player. Getting closer. . .
Actually, the man playing alongside Norris in the third round was Royal Birkdale assistant pro and Southport resident Gregg Petersen, who got the call for Saturday's earliest tee time while..

Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesDustin Johnson hits his second shot from the rough on the 16th hole during the third round of the 146th Open Championship.SOUTHPORT, England — So here’s the state of craziness at Royal Birkdale on Saturday at the How Low Can You Go Open Championship. Dustin Johnson shot a six-under 64, his lowest 18-hole score in a major championship in 119 rounds played, and he walked off sounding mildly disappointed.
Granted, the World No. 1 prefaced his remarks by noting that he hit the ball a heck of a lot better this afternoon than he had the two previous trips around the links. (On Friday, for instance, he hit just four greens en route to a two-over 72.)
But when you stand on the 16th tee at six under for the round, six birdies already on your card, and you know a 62 has already been posted by Branden Grace less than an hour earlier, the thought of something really, really low does come to mind. Which makes the three pedestrian pars—leaving an eight-foot birdie try sh..