Brian Harman survives shaky start, leads Open Championship by 5 - ESPN

HOYLAKE, England — American Brian Harman's lead didn't get any bigger — but it didn't get any smaller, either — after the third round of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

Harman, who is seeking his first major championship victory, leads by 5 strokes over Cameron Young and 6 over Masters champion Jon Rahm heading into the final 18 holes after he recovered from a couple of early mistakes to card a 2-under 69 on Saturday.

Harman, who is 12 under after 54 holes, will attempt to become only the third left-handed player to win a Claret Jug, joining Bob Charles (1963) and Phil Mickelson (2013).

«You'd be foolish not to envision [it], and I've thought about winning majors for my whole entire life,» Harman said. «It's the whole reason I work as hard as I do and why I practice as much as I do and why I sacrifice as much as I do. Tomorrow, if that's going to come to fruition for me, it has to be all about the golf. It has to be execution and just staying in the moment.»

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Harman is the 10th golfer in history to hold at least a 5-shot lead after both the second and third rounds of a major championship. Each of the previous nine went on to win, most recently Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship.

Harman is only the third golfer to lead by 5 strokes or more in the Open Championship; James Braid (1908) and Henry Cotton (1934) both won after having such leads.

He will have many of the game's best players chasing him Sunday. In addition to Young and Rahm, Norway's Viktor Hovland, Australia's Jason Day, Austria's Sepp Straka and England's Tommy Fleetwood are 5 under.

Rory McIlroy could only manage a 2-under 69 on Saturday and is 9 shots behind Harman.

«Harman is doing what