By Ed Osmond
ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) – Norwegian Viktor Hovland moved to the top of a congested British Open third-round leaderboard with a serene front nine in overcast conditions at St Andrews on Saturday.
Hovland conjured up four birdies to get to 14-under-par, one shot clear of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and two ahead of overnight leader Cameron Smith.
Australian Smith dropped a shot at the first hole and struggled to find the momentum he rode in opening rounds of 67 and 64.
McIlroy started with four pars but, perhaps inspired by watching Hovland alongside him, birdied the fifth, sixth and ninth holes to boost his bid for a fifth major title.
American Cameron Young, the first-round leader, mixed a birdie with one bogey and was joined at 11-under by compatriots Patrick Cantlay, who picked up four shots before the turn, and Dustin Johnson.
Twice major champion Johnson made two early birdies and another at the ninth to move one ahead of world number one Scottie Scheffler who continued his smooth start to the tournament.
Briton Tommy Fleetwood carded 66 to get to nine-under, level with South Korean Kim Si-woo and one ahead of 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth.
“Got off to a really fast start, so that was great. It was just great to get a bit of momentum,” Fleetwood told reporters.
“Getting something going in an Open on a Saturday is really, really cool when you do that and you have the support,” the world number 35 added. “I was just really pleased with how it was going out there.”
Shane Lowry made back-to-back eagle twos to storm up the leaderboard but Ireland’s 2019 Open champion faded to finish on seven-under-par.
The early starters took advantage of benign conditions at a sun-kissed Old Course.
American Kevin Kisner made nine birdies in a sparkling 65 to get to seven-under and Italian Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open champion, carded 66 to get to six-under, level with American Bryson DeChambeau who eagled the ninth on the way to a 67.
(Reporting by Ed Osmond, Editing by Hugh Lawson and Pritha Sarkar)
