Matt earns Fitzpatrick family spotlight
HOYLAKE, England — Two brothers teed off within an hour and a half of each other in the third round of the British Open.
For the parents of Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, it might have been a case of split loyalties as they weighed up which of their sons to follow at Royal Liverpool on Saturday.
“I told them to go focus on him,” said Matt, the US Open champion last year and the older of the siblings by four years. “That’s more important. This is my, what, ninth? So they’ve seen all nine of those.”
They were treated to quite the show by Alex, whose first Open — indeed, his first appearance at a major championship — is going better than he can ever have imagined.
He birdied three of his last four holes to shoot 6-under-par 65 and move into a tie for ninth place, a highly improbable scenario for a player ranked No. 561 and who has golfed in his brother’s shadow.
Alex’s score would have tied the record for the low score in 13 Opens to have been held at Royal Liverpool had Jon Rahm not shot 63 a half-hour earlier.
“I’m not familiar with this environment and the amount of people out here,” said Alex, who plays on the second-tier Challenge Tour. “But me and my caddie had a great time and things went our way, which was super cool.”
Alex came through local qualifying this month to secure his spot at the Open and was 4 under for the tournament — two shots ahead of Matt after his round of 67.
Some 552 places separate the English brothers in the world ranking.
“There will be no rivalry or anything like that,” Alex said, looking ahead to Sunday’s final round. “We’re brothers at the end of the day as much as we’re golfers. I root for him, he roots for me.
We’re both supporting each other, and we both want what’s best for each other.”
When the Open was last played at Hoylake — in 2014 — Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari both finished in the top 15.
McIlroy misses chances
Rory McIlroy headed straight to the practice putting green after his third round, determined to work on the part of his game that’s most to blame for a in the majors likely stretching into its 10th year.
Minutes earlier, McIlroy had seen a birdie putt from 11 feet slide by the cup to a backdrop of groans around the
18th green. He walked after the ball almost immediately after he'd hit it, and gave out a sigh of exasperation after removing his cap and shaking hands with his caddie.
The sky was as bleak as McIlroy’s mood late Saturday afternoon as he counted the cost — once again — of a slew of missed putts. The statistics were damning: He gave himself nine looks at birdie from 13 feet or closer and made only three of them in his 2-under 69.
McIlroy started the round nine shots off Brian Harman's lead and ended it that way, too.
He was in a tie for 11th place Friday night and was in the same position Saturday night.
What’s also surely not about to change is his haul of major titles, which, remarkably, has been stuck on four since 2014.
McIlroy declined to give any media interviews after his round. Instead he chose to practice his putting in front of the clubhouse while, out on the course, Harman continued his clinic in short putting — he hasn’t missed one inside 10 feet all week — that's put him in position to win a first major championship.
Just last month, McIlroy couldn’t convert enough putts to get past Wyndham Clark in the back nine of the final round of the US Open.
Twelve months ago, his putter was even colder in the final round at the British Open, which he went into sharing the lead before finding himself with a two-shot lead after 10 holes. He twoputted every hole that Sunday as he was overtaken by Cameron Smith.
On Saturday, McIlroy raised expectations by starting with three birdies in five holes, missing birdie chances on the other two holes from 10 and 12 feet.
He didn’t make birdie for the next 13 as he got stuck in neutral, like so many of the would-be challengers to Harman on a course softened by overnight rain.
McIlroy missed a 13-footer on No. 8, one from 8 feet on No. 15, and then back-to-back 11-footers at Nos. 17 and 18. Each missed putt was more painful than the last, for McIlroy and his many supporters outside the ropes.
“I had a guy yell at me, ‘Hurry up, no one is watching you anyways today,’ ” said Max Homa, McIlroy's playing partner Saturday, of the pro-McIlroy crowd at Hoylake.
“It was the second hole I had a putt and I just kind of told myself that’s what you’re going to deal with all day.”
McIlroy arrived at Hoylake — the scene of his British Open win in 2014 — with so much hope after winning the Scottish Open last week and his game in good shape. “I’m as close as I’ve ever been, really,” the No. 2-ranked McIlroy said of his chances of winning major No. 5.
Now, save for a miracle Sunday, there's a long wait until his next shot at one. Nine months, to be precise, until he returns to Augusta National for another bid to complete the career grand slam.
Scheffler’s run in trouble
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler’s run of consecutive top-12 finishes is in jeopardy after a 1-over 72. Scheffler, who made the cut right on the number, was 4 over for the tournament, 16 shots back. He had a round that included five bogeys and four birdies. Scheffler has finished 12th or better in his last 19 tournaments this season, with his last win coming in March at the Players Championship . . . Brooks Koepka also had a 1-over 72 to stay at 4 over. His round included a double bogey on the par-3 ninth and consecutive birdies on the last two holes . . . Patrick Cantlay missed a birdie putt from inside 10 feet on the 18th to finish with a round of 4under 67. He was at 1 under, 11 shots back... Christo Lamprecht, the 22year-old amateur from Georgia Tech who a had share of the lead after shooting an opening 66, finished the third round alone in last place at 8-over 221. On Friday, he bogeyed five of the first seven holes; on Saturday, he had two double bogeys in his last five holes.