“He looks like he has been the most upbeat guy out there. Smiling and enjoying this challenge.” – Luke Donald on Billy Horschel (-4, Leader)
“The golf gods decided to shuffle the deck today. That was a window into the souls of the players...you needed to have your wits about you today more than anything else.” – Paul McGinley on Live From on the weather conditions
“This is a quintessential links golf day.” – Mike Tirico on weather conditions
“You’re seeing a lot of fist pumps for pars today...have you ever seen so many guys excited about pars?” – Brad Faxon on weather conditions
STAMFORD, Conn. – July 20, 2024 – NBC Sports presented exclusive third-round coverage of the 152nd Open Championship from Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network, capped by Live From the Open studio coverage on GOLF Channel and Peacock.
Exclusive final-round coverage begins tomorrow at 4 a.m. ET on USA Network and continues at 7 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
152nd Open Championship – Third Round Leaderboard
Player | Total |
Billy Horschel | -4 |
Xander Schauffele | -3 |
Justin Rose | -3 |
Sam Burns | -3 |
Russell Henley | -3 |
Thriston Lawrence | -3 |
Dan Brown | -3 |
Scottie Scheffler | -2 |
Shane Lowry | -1 |
ON ROYAL TROON AND THE WEATHER CONDITIONS
Brandel Chamblee on Live From: “Mother Nature has conspired to just smash this field. Guys that didn’t look like they had any chance to win this championship, now you’ve got about 15 that have a chance.”
Paul McGinley on Live From: “The golf gods decided to shuffle the deck today...I really enjoyed that today. That was a window into the souls of the players...you needed to have your wits about you today more than anything else.”
Mike Tirico: “This is a quintessential links golf day.”
Brad Faxon: “You’re seeing a lot of fist pumps for pars today...have you ever seen so many guys excited about pars?”
Jim “Bones” Mackay while Brown was hitting on No. 11: “I don’t care if you hit it like Ben Hogan, you can’t take a wood out right now at this point without worrying about the out of bounds right of this green.”
Mackay with Shane Lowry teeing off on No. 6: “It’s chilly enough out here now that you have to worry about whether or not the ball is going to fly its normal distance.”
Smylie Kaufman: “It is freezing out here and it feels like I’ve stepped in a couple of buckets of water.”
ON BILLY HORSCHEL (Leader, -4)
Donald: “He looks like he has been the most upbeat guy out there. Smiling and enjoying this challenge...impossible to be perfect in this game, which is why you have to enjoy the journey.”
Kaufman: “In the favorable wind conditions on the front nine, he hit every fairway and every green. On this back nine, how gritty has he been? The up-and-down display that we’ve seen...he’s made the easy ones look really easy and the hard ones look like they’re easy and they haven’t been.”
Chamblee on Live From: “His putting in 2024 has been absolutely marvelous.”
Dan Hicks: “He has really resurrected his game.”
Tirico: “Think back to The Memorial, about 13-14 months ago, and how disappointed he was, when he shot an 84, was talking about how he was losing his confidence...he’s built his confidence back and he’s in it in a major.”
Donald: “Billy is making me feel cold just looking at him without a rain jacket on...the weather isn’t bothering Billy though.”
Kaufman: “On our way here to the fifth green, Billy Horschel looked at me, gave me a wry smile and said, ‘How about these conditions?’”
ON SHANE LOWRY (-1, 9th)
Tirico after Lowry’s second shot on No. 11 hit a marshal while heading towards a gorse bush: “That was going right into a gorse bush. That is a massive, massive break. Who knows what would have happened in that gorse bush...that ball was moving. He thought he got a bad break with the gorse bush yesterday, and he got a really good one today.”
Chamblee on Live From on Lowry’s shot on 11: “That shot should have been in the gorse...instead it hit a guy in the ‘orse.’”
Mackay: “We couldn’t tell from how far back we were and I don’t think Shane realizes that he might have actually gotten a good break, not a bad break.”
Brad Faxon following his par miss on No. 11: “He’s got to calm himself down right now, a lot of things going on in his mind.”
Donald: “He has to remind himself that these are the conditions that he thrives in. Find some of those positives, as much as he can.”
Hicks following Lowry’s bogey on No. 12: “It has not been a good sequence here. He had a three-shot lead after the fifth hole. And now he’s going to be two back...plus-four in the last five holes for the 2019 Open Champ.”
Tirico: “It has all gone the wrong way.”
ON DANIEL BROWN (-3, T-2nd)
Hicks with Brown walking up 18: “He says ‘Why not, how about a selfie before I take on this next stance?’ That’s being in the moment...he’s a man of the people.”
Donald: “I thought Bryson (DeChambeau) was pro-crowd. That’s taking it to another level.”
Mackay on Brown’s wayward tee shot on No. 14: “His ball came to rest in the short grass about a yard short of some of the worst rough I have seen on the entire property.”
Donald: “He just looks so level-headed. A Cinderella story.”
Faxon: “I think these conditions really help Dan Brown stop being nervous. It’s survival mode. For a guy who is young and has never been here before, I think this is to his advantage today, when he doesn’t have to think about being near the lead, you’re just thinking about keeping your club dry and plodding through this.”
Mackay on both Daniel Brown and his brother and caddie, Ben, both using umbrellas: “I love it. I have been out here for about 35 years and I’ve never seen it, but I like it. I hope they set a trend going forward.”
ON JUSTIN ROSE (-3, T-2nd)
Donald: “His experience is really showing through here. Just keeping himself in this tournament. I had a front row seat to his 2013 U.S. Open at Merion and he hit some incredible shots down the stretch.”
ON SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (-2, 8th)
Hicks: “Well done. That is a grind it out, big-time 71 for Scheffler who has a chance tomorrow to turn a great year into one of the all-timers with another major.”
ON THRISTON LAWRENCE (-3, T-2nd)
Paul McGinley: “He’s just playing absolutely beautiful golf today. Has complete control over this course. Every aspect of his game is red hot.”
--NBC SPORTS--