Open Championship: Spieth, Kuch and Poulter thinking about Sunday faceoff

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Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar were walking down the 18th fairway together in the early evening Saturday with the Royal Birkdale grandstands jammed with fans on their feet in thunderous ovation when Kuchar stopped Spieth in his tracks for a moment. "That is sweet", Johnny Miller, now a golf analyst, said as NBC flashed a 62 on the screen.

Grace's unprecedented round featured five front-nine birdies and he was seven under for the day with two to play after draining lengthy putts for further gains at the 14th and 16th. "And he definitely said the right thing (Thursday) when I needed it".

Jordan Spieth fires a third-round 65 to take a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar into Sunday.

U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka was six shots back, tied with Canadian Austin Connelly.

On a mostly sunny day when Brendan Grace shot a 62 - the lowest round ever in a major championship - Spieth never stumbled, recording five birdies and no bogeys.

Grace is in the chasing pack at four under par along with the world's top two ranked players: Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama.

But this looks like a two-man race Sunday.

McIlroy added a 68 to his opening 71 to post a halfway total of one under par and lie five shots off the pace set by two-time major victor Jordan Spieth.

Mike Trout, Angels off Thursday; face Boston ace Chris Sale on Friday
The Red Sox came out of the All-Star break using a six-man rotation but chose to go back to five and Fister was the odd man out. About the only good news for Los Angeles was that the bullpen held the Red Sox hitless after the fourth inning.

"I think I'm in a position where it can be very advantageous, just everything I've gone through, the good, the bad and everything in the middle".

"I understand that leads can be squandered quickly, and I also understand how you can keep on rolling on one", Spieth said. Of course, a bogey-free round will do that.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson, who played with Spieth, had a 69.

Kuchar wobbled with a double-bogey at the 16th before fighting back to birdie the 17th on the way to a 66 and Spieth drained a 12-foot putt at the last to give himself a cushion as he bids for a first British Open title.

"Kooch is tough because he's so consistent", Spieth said. "I played well. I'm not out of this".

"I was 1-under through two holes and I thought I better keep it in and it's still in now". It was a battle with both of us pushing each other. No doubt, too, it's the question that will surface on Sunday, when the pair will once walk side-by-side once more in the final twosome. With little wind, scarce rain and soft greens proving oh so pleasant, the South African clobbered Birkdale and signed for the first 62 in 442 major championships contested by men. "But having a putter in my hand for birdie is the most important thing for tomorrow". "But I'm going to need to shoot probably 9-under, I would imagine". If not, I can sleep during the day tomorrow; we don't tee off until pretty late.

"We didn't really experience anything like that here. And I was really excited about that, finishing the day". Kuchar now faces the task of running down one of golf's great frontrunners, playing in the final group of a major for the first time in his career.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden stayed in contention with a 69 while world number one Dustin Johnson of the United States and four-times major victor Rory McIlroy battled to one-over 71s.

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