Midway through third round, Spieth has lead

Facing a softened course when play resumed and with the winds having temporarily eased, he duly put the hammer down.

All that mattered to him was the present.

Spieth carded a bogey-free 65 to share the lead with US Open champion Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar, with Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel a shot behind on four under.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama chips a ball onto the 6th green during a practice round ahead of the British Open Golf Championship, at Royal Birkdale, Southport, England Wednesday, July 19, 2017.

Koepka shot a 4-under 32 on the back nine at Birkdale, picking up consecutive birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13. Spieth has been in this position before and not closed the deal.

“I knew after it had missed that bunker it was going to be pretty good”.

Spieth’s round was another master class in ball control, the second time this week he has recorded five birdies and no bogeys in 18 holes round Birkdale’s hard links.

Day isn’t a whinger, and he suffers in silence, but the next four days will be the litmus test.

Grace said he was trying to finish the round without a bogey and wanted to make one final birdie on the last hole.

Spieth was embracing both memories. And understand that I can still make pars that way. And it was the smart shot because it was probably going to come out better than the 3-iron.

He described the Masters previous year as a humbling experience that he thought would serve him well down the road.

“I’ve made an official promise that if I ever win the Claret Jug again, I’m going skydiving with it”, he said. He hit 7-iron to two feet for another birdie, and followed that with a lovely pitch to tap-in range for par on the 13th.

That eagle was sandwiched between bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes, so it could prove to be a very important hole when the scores are totted up tomorrow evening.

Ryder Cup team-mate Kuchar will join Spieth in tomorrow’s final group after he battled to a one-over-par 71 on a day when only six players, including Spieth, broke 70.

“I’d say I broke a lot of hearts with my short game, including my putting, over my career”. “We certainly had a great round of golf”.

The 62 also broke the course record at Royal Birkdale, set by Jamie Mudd in the fourth round of the British Open in 1991. On the other two occasions, the Masters and the US Open in 2015, he emerged on the Sunday night as the victor.

Henrik Stenson said he was sure it will be the toughest hole this week.

The key to his round came in the middle, starting with a 10-foot par putt on No. 8 after he drove into a pot bunker. They tee off at 9:30 a.m. ET. Along the way, they created a little separation from the rest of the field.

He made a late bid to save himself, attempting to hole a pitch from 20 yards for birdie at the 18th.

The world number three is in a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with fellow Americans Brooks Koepka, the US Open champion, and Matt Kuchar, but there are plenty of players under par and Spieth, a two-time major victor, knows there is a long way to go yet.