SOUTHPORT, England — Sam Burns spent Thursday looking like a man who’d just flown across an ocean with a newborn at home, which is exactly what he did. He opened the 154th Open Championship tied for 105th. Then he shot 62 on Friday, tied the lowest round in men’s major championship history, followed it with a 65 on Saturday, and walked off Royal Birkdale with the lowest consecutive rounds ever recorded in a major — a 127 — and a two-shot lead at 10-under par.
Not bad for a guy whose daughter Belle arrived earlier this month.
Burns will tee off in the final pairing at 9:20 a.m. ET alongside Ryan Fox, who sits at 8-under after shooting his own 62 on Saturday — the third player this week to match the major championship record. Fox and Lucas Herbert both carded the number on Friday; Burns did it the same day. The New Zealander played his way into the last group with a round that burned the edges of this old links course like a grill left on too long.
The penultimate pairing at 9:10 sends Si Woo Kim (-8) out with Ryan Gerard (-7), and the 9:00 a.m. group features Lucas Herbert (-7) alongside Ludvig Åberg (-6). CBS Sports noted that the three final pairings consist entirely of players chasing their first major championship — a leaderboard scrubbed clean of established hardware.
The one exception in the top 10 is Bryson DeChambeau, who sits at 6-under and six back. DeChambeau has been the week’s sideshow as much as its subplot, dogged by a rules controversy that bled into Friday night and resulted in a two-stroke penalty. He goes off at 8:50 a.m. with Jackson Suber. Whether he can mount a charge from six shots back — or whether the week’s distractions have taken too much out of him — is one of the few storylines that doesn’t involve someone trying to win a first major.
DraftKings listed Burns as a heavy favorite at +140 as of Saturday, well clear of Si Woo Kim (+470) and Fox (+770). DeChambeau sat at +1425, with Gerard (+1450), Åberg (+1475), and Herbert (+1800) all in the long-shot range. Tommy Fleetwood, the Southport native who grew up on these links, is at 5-under and +2700 — five shots back, with massive galleries still hoping for a miracle. Scottie Scheffler is six back at 4-under, the same price as Fleetwood.
History says the winner almost certainly comes from the top four. Only 13 times has a player come from four or more shots behind entering the final round to win the Open, the last being Cameron Smith at St. Andrews in 2022. Paul Lawrie’s 10-shot comeback at Carnoustie in 1999 remains the outlier that keeps everyone on the board technically alive.
Burns has been here before, sort of. He was a runner-up at the U.S. Open last month, a finish that left a mark. Now he’s got the lead on Sunday at a major, two shots clear, with 18 holes between him and the Claret Jug. The guy who started the week at T-105 is the guy everyone’s chasing.
Final-round coverage begins at 4 a.m. ET on USA Network and Golf Channel, with NBC taking over at 7 a.m. through the conclusion.
Sources
- Yahoo Sports — British Open 2026: Final round odds for Sunday at Royal Birkdale
- Yahoo Sports — Open Championship 2026: Final round tee times, pairings and how to watch
- CBS Sports — 2026 Open tee times, pairings: Complete schedule, groups for Round 4 on Sunday
- Yahoo Sports/Golf Digest — British Open 2026 tee times: Sunday’s final-round pairings at Royal Birkdale
- Yahoo Sports/The Sporting News — British Open 2026 tee times, pairings, featured groups for Sunday’s Round 4