The Open at Birkdale: Sam Burns Leads, a Playoff Primer, and $3.2 Million Waiting at the Bottom of the Jug

Sam Burns almost didn’t show up. His wife, Caroline, was due to give birth earlier this week, and the plan was to skip the 154th Open Championship entirely. She delivered early, told him to go play, and now the 29-year-old from Louisiana walks into Sunday at Royal Birkdale with a two-shot lead and a Claret Jug within reach.

Through 54 holes, Burns sits at 10-under par. Ryan Fox and Si Woo Kim share second at 8-under. Ryan Gerard and Lucas Herbert are at 7-under. Then comes the traffic: Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Åberg, and Jackson Suber all at 6-under, Tommy Fleetwood at 5-under, and a glut of major winners — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry — lurking at 4-under, six shots back.

Nine players within five of the lead. The R&A hasn’t had a playoff at this championship since 2015, when Zach Johnson outlasted Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen at St. Andrews. That’s the second-longest playoff drought in the last half-century. So here’s the primer: if two or more players are tied after 72 holes, Royal Birkdale will host a three-hole aggregate playoff across the 14th, 15th, and 18th. Lowest combined score wins. Still tied after that? Sudden death on the 18th, repeated until someone blinks.

The R&A typically prefers four holes — it used that format at Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Troon, Turnberry, and St. Andrews — but logistical constraints at certain courses have trimmed it to three, as was the case at Royal Portrush and Royal St. George’s. Prior to 1989, playoffs were 18 holes, and before that, 36.

Fox rocketed into contention with a third-round 62, jumping 50 places in benign morning conditions. The Guardian’s live coverage noted that a similar early charge Sunday isn’t out of the question — the forecast calls for warm, dry sunshine, highs in the low 70s, and a gentle 5-to-10 mph breeze. The kind of day that lets a player go low before the wind picks up and the leaders tee off.