AKRON, Ohio – Jordan Spieth is one week away from a shot at the career Grand Slam.

He’s more interested in looking behind him.

Spieth returned to Dallas with the claret jug, and it wasn’t more than a few hours before he already had watched highlights – twice – of his British Open victory at Royal Birkdale. The first time was when he couldn’t get to sleep. Then, caddie Michael Greller woke up and they watched it together.

It was no less amazing, from the bogey he salvaged with a shot from the practice range to the birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie streak that followed.

And it gave Spieth a chance to set the record straight on Wednesday.

He playfully disputed the notion that he was 100 yards right of the fairway on No. 13, as television commentary suggested.

Spieth aimed for the right rough on the 13th hole to take bunkers out of play. He said he knew the ball would move a little right because of rain getting on the face of the driver, and he compounded that by leaving the club open.

Even so, he estimated he missed his target by about 20 yards. And then it hit a spectator in the head and went even more to the right, over some tall dunes and into a spot where he had to take a penalty drop onto the practice range.

“It really wasn’t that bad,” he said. “I mean, it wasn’t a good shot. It was a foul ball to the right. But I need to back myself up here in saying that I’m capable of hitting worse shots than that, OK?”

It worked out fine in the end, although Spieth is starting to realize he might be hearing more about playing from the driving range than any of his clutch shots that followed in his three-shot victory for the third leg of the Grand Slam.

He said Royal Birkdale already has asked to have a replica of the 3-iron he hit from the range, “which means that’s going to be the shot that’s pictured there and remembered there, unfortunately.”

Spieth’s spirits have rarely been this high, even with the amount of attention he will face next week at the PGA Championship, where a victory would make him the youngest player to capture the career Grand Slam.

First up is the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, and a chance for him to win a third straight tournament. Spieth won the Travelers Championship by holing a bunker shot in a playoff in his previous event before the British Open.

Firestone is a big golf course for a par 70, and it figures to get even longer with rain in the forecast the opening two rounds, leading tour officials to move the tee times to the morning for Thursday and Friday.

Dustin Johnson is the defending champion.

Rory McIlroy thinks he is the defending champion, too.

McIlroy won at Firestone in 2014 during the middle of his big run – the British Open, Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship over a four-week stretch. He missed the following year because of his ankle injury, and didn’t play last year when the World Golf Championship was moved to late June to make room in a crowded schedule for the Olympics.

“I think this week and next week, it’s probably my favourite two-week stretch of the year,” McIlroy said.

It will be a different one, for sure. McIlroy fired his caddie after the British Open and will have his best friend, Harry Diamond, on the bag the next two weeks. Johnson is simply trying to find the form that made him golf’s dominant player earlier this year when he ran off three straight victories. That fall down the stairs of his rented home on the eve of the Masters did more than wrench his back. It cost him momentum he is trying to regain.

Spieth has no such issues.

With another major in hand and having turned 24 just last week, Spieth is still soaking up his remarkable rally at Royal Birkdale and the messages he received. McIlroy sent him one. So did Phil Mickelson, who at the start of the British Open had jokingly chided Spieth for accidentally heading to the champions’ area of the locker room.

Spieth also received written notes from Jack Nicklaus and former President George W. Bush.

He has played with Bush even before Spieth turned pro.

“I’ve played a bit of golf with him back in Dallas and he always puts something funny in there,” Spieth said. “He said, ‘Call me. I think I need to give you some driving lessons,’ was what he had in there. I’ve played with him, and I know that I definitely don’t need driving lessons from him.”

AKRON, Ohio – Rory McIlroy had his best friend on the bag and his best start on American soil in 18 months. For Jordan Spieth, it was more of the same with two long putts and another comment filled with bravado directed at his caddie.

Both of them opened with a 3-under 67 at the Bridgestone Invitational, leaving them two shots behind Thomas Pieters of Belgium.

Pieters, playing only for the sixth time since he challenged briefly at the Masters this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on his final hole at Firestone to finish a day of good scoring with a one-shot lead over Russell Knox.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., is three shots back after a 68 while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., struggled to a 4 over following a 74.

The opening two rounds were moved up to the morning because of a forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

McIlroy split with J.P. Fitzgerald, his caddie of nine years, after the British Open. He decided to use Harry Diamond, who played amateur golf for Ireland and was the best man at McIlroy’s wedding, for the Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship next week.

It didn’t have much bearing on McIlroy’s game, which was fine. McIlroy won at Firestone the last time he played it in 2014.

“We both did the numbers and I sort of consulted him a couple of times. Yeah, it was good,” McIlroy said. “There was a couple of shots that I hit or a couple of clubs that I pulled that I maybe should have just thought a little bit more about. It’s been a while since I’ve paced yardages off and written notes in my book.”

One of them was at No. 9, his last hole, when he went some 50 feet long on his approach and three-putted for bogey. Even so, it was a solid start, and that’s what has held back McIlroy in recent months when he missed three cuts in four tournaments, and then started poorly at the British Open.

Spieth has no such concerns, having won two straight events going into this World Golf Championship with an eye toward next week at the PGA Championship and his shot at becoming the youngest player to complete the Grand Slam.

Winning a major turned this into a great year for Spieth, regardless of what happens at the PGA Championship. He is feeling as good as ever about his game, particularly the way he finished off Royal Birkdale with the amazing escape on the 13th hole and the birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie stretch that followed. The biggest putt was the eagle from 50 feet on the par-5 15th at the Open, now famous for Spieth playfully barking at his caddie, “Go get that!” when it dropped in.

Thursday brought another such moment.

Spieth got back into range of the lead with a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 5 and a 50-foot birdie putt on the next hole that got him to 3 under. But he was in trouble at No. 8, well right of the fairway with trees blocking his view of the green. He couldn’t punch under them because he had too much rough to cover with a punch shot beneath the branches. But he did see about a 3-foot gap way up in the trees. And he was feeling it.

His caddie, Michael Greller, got the yardage and came over to see what Spieth had in mind.

“I said, ‘Michael, just put the bag over there, stand over there and watch this,”’ Spieth said.

Spieth rehearsed his swing with a pitching wedge and pulled it off.

“I split a hole that was 60 yards in front of me and cut it to get onto the green,” Spieth said. “It was really a cool shot. I was shocked I pulled it off.”

Greller smiled, bumped fists with his boss and handed him the putter.

The opening round was no place to lose ground in such good scoring conditions. Dustin Johnson did his part with a 68. He hasn’t won since the Match Play just two weeks before his staircase injury that knocked him out of the Masters. Johnson only wants to give himself a chance to win, and he says all the parts are in working order for that.

Bubba Watson, also showing signs of getting his game turned around, was also in the group at 67 that included Kevin Kisner and Jon Rahm.

The surprise might have been Knox, who has missed his last three cuts and is in danger of falling out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since he won the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in the fall of 2015. The difference was a change in the shafts of his irons, and a change back to the putter he used when he won in Shanghai.

The question is why he would ever take that putter out of play.

“Golfers are sick,” Knox said. “You always blame your equipment rather than yourself. So maybe I just have to take the blame and say I (stunk) and the putter worked.”

Grayson Murray unhappily found himself with a couple of extra days to prepare for the Barbasol Championship _ and ended up with a breakthrough victory.

After missing the weekend cut last week in the John Deere Classic, the rookie won his first PGA Tour title Sunday. He holed a 5-foot par putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory.

Murray closed with a 3-under 68 to edge Chad Collins on Grand National’s Lake Course. The 23-year-old former Wake Forest and Arizona State player set up the winning par with a long putt from below the hole. He finished at 21-under 263, a tournament record.

“I was in control,” said Murray, who earned $630,000. “I didn’t get out of my game plan once. I was going to let them make the mistakes instead of myself. I was going to make them have to birdie the last hole, or the last two holes. I was playing for par on 17 and 18. Those are two hard holes and I knew if I parred both of those they would have to do something special to beat me.”

Murray arrived in Alabama a week earlier after suddenly finding himself with an open weekend. It paid off, the win securing him a spot in the PGA Championship in his home state of North Carolina, though not the Masters.

Murray came in ranked 124th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 qualifying for the playoffs. He jumped to 58th.

“My goal is to get in the playoffs this year,” he said. “That was my goal. I didn’t set my goals too high for my first year.”

A big key to his victory: “That was the best I’ve ever driven it in my life.”

Collins closed with a 68 two days after posting one of the tournament’s two rounds of 60. A tap-in for par on No. 18 left him waiting to see if Murray would stumble.

Collins had a run of four birdies in five holes leading into the 18th. He missed a 6-footer with a shot at another one and a potential tie with Murray.

“I gave myself an opportunity,” he said. “It was a nervy bad putt. It wasn’t obviously what I wanted, but to put yourself in that position, that’s ultimately what you’re trying to do. And the more times I’m able to do that and put myself in that situation, maybe one day it will be my day. Just today it wasn’t.”

Collins tied for fourth at The Honda Classic and his best previous finish was third last year in the Texas Open.

“It’s my best finish ever out here on tour, had the best round I’ve ever had on tour,” he said. “You gain tons of confidence from this going forward. You can only draw positives from it. ”

Brian Gay had a 65 to tie for third at 19 under with third-round leader Scott Stallings (71) and Tag Ridings (69).

Coming off a third-round 60, Stallings took the solo lead with a birdie on No. 10 that put him under par for the first time of the day. He fell back with a double bogey on the par-5 16th, three-putting after taking a drop following an errant drop.

Amateur Sam Burns of LSU tied for sixth at 18 under after a 66, matching Ryan Blaum (64) and Cameron Tringale (68). David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot his second consecutive 70 to finish 12 under and tied for 27th.

Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk, who didn’t qualify for the British Open, finished at 11 under after a third straight 68.

The final round started early on two tees because of a bad weather forecast, but the conditions held steady in sweltering heat.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Jordan Spieth is the British Open champion, just like expected. Not like anyone could have imagined.

On the verge of another meltdown in a major, so wild off the tee that he played one shot from the driving range at Royal Birkdale and lost the lead for the first time all weekend, Spieth bounced back with a collection of clutch shots, delivering a rally that ranks among the best.

A near ace. A 50-foot eagle putt . A 30-foot birdie putt.

Spieth played the final five holes in 5 under and closed with a 1-under 69 for a three-shot victory over Matt Kuchar, giving him the third leg of the career Grand Slam and a chance to be the youngest to win them all next month at the PGA Championship.

“This is a dream come true for me,” Spieth said, gazing at his name on the silver claret jug. “Absolutely a dream come true.”

Congratulations to @JordanSpieth on winning The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale! #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/NR3ahfcCGZ

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

For so much of Sunday, it felt like a recurring nightmare.

Just 15 months ago, Spieth lost a five-shot lead on the back nine at the Masters, coming undone with a quadruple-bogey 7 on the 12th hole. It was more of a slow bleed at Royal Birkdale, with three bogeys on the opening four holes and four putts inside 8 feet that he missed on the front nine to fall into a tie with Kuchar.

And then it all fell apart – or so it seemed.

His tee shot in the rain on the par-4 13th was so far right it sailed over the gallery, over the dunes behind them and was closer to the practice range than the fairway. When he finally found the ball, it was nestled in thick grass on a hill so steep Spieth could barely stand up.

Kuchar was 15 feet away for birdie, waiting – and waiting – on the green. Spieth appeared to be headed for a double bogey at best.

But the break of the tournament – and a moment that will rate alongside Seve Ballesteros making birdie from the car park when he won at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 1979 – was when Spieth discovered the range was part of the course.

He took a one-shot penalty for an unplayable lie and took relief as far back as he wanted, onto the range, behind the equipment trucks. Then he received free relief from the trucks. That still left him a blind shot over the tall dunes to a fairway littered with pot bunkers.

His 3-iron stopped just short of one of them in front of the green, and he pitched over it to about 7 feet and holed the putt to escape with bogey.

Kuchar missed his birdie, but had the lead for the first time.

Spieth had momentum from his bogey, and his 6-iron landed in front of the flag and missed going in by inches. He made a 4-footer for birdie to tie for the lead, and then seized control with a 50-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole, looking at caddie Michael Greller filled with playful bravado and barking, “Go get that!”

Spieth said his caddie played a massive role in keeping his head in the game.

“I was getting down on myself, as I think anyone would,” Spieth said. “This is as much mine as it is his.”

Kuchar made birdie from the bunker on the 15th to stay one behind, but he had no answer when Spieth poured in a 30-foot birdie at the 16th. And after Kuchar rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the 17th to stay in the game, Spieth buried a 7-foot birdie on top of him to keep that two-shot lead going to the 18th.

The sequence left the crowd – the largest ever this week for a British Open in England – simply delirious.

And they weren’t alone.

“Is Jordan Spieth something else?” Jack Nicklaus tweeted.

Catch up with the highlights of an enthralling Final Round of The 146th Open. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/ExeMn2KvTv

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler were among those who waited by the 18th to watch Spieth capture yet another major. Johnson won at St. Andrews two years ago, when Spieth missed the playoff by one shot in his bid for the calendar Grand Slam. Spieth drank wine from the jug that year, which he was told was bad luck for anyone wanting to possess the trophy one day.

“I started to believe them a bit through nine holes today,” he said. “It feels good to have this in my hands.”

From the driving range to the claret jug, Spieth put himself in hallowed territory just four days before his 24th birthday. He joined Nicklaus as the only player to win three different majors at age 23. Gene Sarazen in 1923 was the only other player with three majors that young. The Squire was 21.

Well played @JordanSpieth, congratulations on a magnificent achievement. Make sure you take care of the Claret Jug! ? #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/IWUtQR19ba

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2017

Spieth goes to Quail Hollow in North Carolina next month with a chance to get that final leg of the Grand Slam.

Kuchar closed with a 69 and did nothing wrong. He just had no answers for Spieth’s final blitz. Kuchar had a one-shot lead leaving the 13th green. He played the next four holes with two pars and two birdies and was two shots behind.

Spieth finished at 12-under 268. He became the first player to post all four rounds in the 60s at Royal Birkdale, which was hosting its 10th Open.

Li Haotong of China shot a 63 and finished third at 6-under 274. He was on the practice range in case the leaders came back to him, and Spieth joined him there as he tried to figure out how to get out of his pickle on the 13th.

Moments later, with one massive roar after another for Spieth’s theatrics, Li got in a cart and left.

Austin Connelly (73), a dual Canadian-American citizen who was born in Irving, Texas, tied for 14th at 2 under.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Scott Stallings birdied the final hole for an 11-under 60 and a one-stroke lead Saturday in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship.

Stallings’ 12-foot putt on the par-4 18th caught the right edge and dropped in for the second 60 in two days in sweltering conditions at Grand National’s rain-softened Lake Course.

“I just tried to stay as cool as I could temperature-wise,” Stallings said. “It’s brutal hot out there. … I think that was a good distraction for me. I knew I was playing well, but just trying to drink as much water as I could and try to eat when I could, and when it was my turn to hit, be ready to go. It’s pretty easy to lose your train of thought. I definitely ran into that yesterday.”

Greyson Murray was second after his second straight 64.

Stallings hit all 18 greens in regulation and birdied the final three holes to tie the course record set last year by Jhonattan Vegas and matched by Chad Collins on Friday. The three-time PGA Tour winner had the lowest round of his tour career and broke the tournament 54-hole record at 19-under 194.

“The golf course looks good to my eye,” Stallings said. “I played a bunch of junior golf and college golf on Robert Trent Jones courses. You drive it in play, you’re going to have lots of opportunities to hit it close just with the bowls and the sections they have on the greens. Just tried to do whatever I felt off the tee to feel comfortable and put the ball in play and kind of go from there.”

Stallings played the first five holes in 5 under, holing a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fifth. He bogeyed the par-3 sixth, birdied Nos. 8 and 9 for a front-nine 29, and added birdies on Nos. 11 and 13 before the late run.

“The lead or whatever is sort of irrelevant to me,” said Stallings, coming off a fifth-place tie last week in the John Deere Classic. “All that stuff will take care of itself. I’m just happy to be playing the way I know I can, put myself in position and the rest will kind of take care of itself. I can’t control what anyone else does. I can control my attitude and the effort that I put forward and that’s really all I can take care of.”

Murray had four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine, with the two pars coming on par 5s.

“The scores are out there,” Murray said. “You saw Stallings, I think, shot 60 today. Obviously, you’ve got to be on all cylinders and hit fairways to do that. If I take care of the par 5s like I normally do, I would be in the lead. You can’t look at it like that. I played well.”

The tour rookie won last year on the Web.com Tour and topped the Web.com Tour Finals money list.

Collins followed his 60 with a 69 to drop into a tie for third with Tag Ridings (63) at 17 under.

Rory Sabbatini shot a 62 to jump from 54th to a tie for 14th at 11 under with David Hearn (70) of Brantford, Ont.

Jim Furyk, the only player to shoot two sub-60 rounds in PGA Tour history, had his second straight 68 to get to 8 under. The 47-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain is playing the event after failing to qualify for the British Open.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Jordan Spieth is one round away from the third leg of the career Grand Slam, and one year removed from a reminder that it won’t be easy.

On the horizon is a chance to join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three different majors at age 23. In the past was his last time leading a major, when he let a five-shot lead get away from him on the back nine a year ago at Augusta National.

All that mattered to him was the present.

Spieth did his part on an extraordinary day of scoring in the British Open, capping off his 5-under 65 by seizing on a good break and making a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar, who did his best to keep pace with a 66.

Catch up with all of the action from a record breaking day at Royal Birkdale. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/rD5g73y1g7

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2017

Spieth had one of seven rounds at 65 or lower at Royal Birkdale, which was never more vulnerable with a light breeze and a clear sky until the final hour. He was warming up on the range when Branden Grace shot 62, the lowest 18-hole score over 157 years of major championships. Spieth then delivered his second bogey-free round of the week in which he never came seriously close to a bogey.

“Pretty stress-free,” Spieth said. “On a Saturday with a lead in a major, that’s as good as I can ask for.”

He was at 11-under 199, breaking by six shots the 54-hole record at Royal Birkdale that Tom Watson set in 1983. Not only did that last birdie give him a three-shot lead, no one else was closer than six shots.

This will be Spieth’s third time taking the lead into the final round of a major. He led by four at the Masters two years ago and won by that margin. More recent was a one-shot lead at Augusta to start the final round, a five-shot lead at the turn and a quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole that cost him another green jacket.

Spieth was embracing both memories.

“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,” he said. “I understand that leads can be squandered quickly. And I also understand how you can keep on rolling on one.”

Vote for your @DoosanEquipment Shot of the Day for Round 3 at https://t.co/6mH0pNJX5D #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/mXfUP4ZSBJ

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2017

He described the Masters last year as a humbling experience that he thought would serve him well down the road.

“If I don’t win tomorrow, it has nothing to do with that,” he said. “And if I win tomorrow, it has nothing to do with that, either.”

Kuchar never quite caught up to Spieth. He twice made birdies that momentarily tied him for the lead, only for Spieth to pour in birdie putts on top of him to stay in front. Kuchar’s one slip was a drive into the pot bunker on No. 16 when the rain finally arrived, and a three-putt that led to double bogey.

He will be playing in the final group of the fourth round at a major for the first time, and the 39-year-old Kuchar sounded up for the occasion.

“It’s not that I ever felt like I was playing Jordan today,” Kuchar said. “We certainly had a great round of golf. I never felt like I was out there trying to beat Jordan. It’s trying to go up against Royal Birkdale and put on the best show you can against the golf course.”

No one put on a show quite like Grace, the 29-year-old South African who had a chance to win the U.S. Open two years ago. He went out in 29, then added two long birdie putts on the 14th and 16th holes, and a two-putt birdie on the 17th to reach 8 under. From 60 feet behind the 18th green, he lagged it to 2 feet and tapped in for a 62.

The scorecard of @BrandenGrace's historic 62 from Round 3 of #TheOpen. pic.twitter.com/FdI0bBjnDp

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2017

“Look at that number! That is sweet,” Johnny Miller, now a golf analyst, said as NBC flashed a 62 on the screen. Miller was the first to shoot 63 in a major at the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont. It took 44 years for someone to top it.

Spieth and Kuchar lit it up, too. They combined for 12 birdies, such impressive golf that Kuchar said a couple of times they forgot who had honours on the tee box. Along the way, they created a little separation from the rest of the field.

Austin Connelly, a dual Canadian-American citizen who grew up in Dallas and shares a swing coach with Spieth, extended his remarkable run with birdies on his last two holes for a 66. The 20-year-old who plays under the Canadian flag was six shots behind at 5-under 205, tied with U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who had a 68.

A phenomenal performance so far from 20 year old @Austinconnelly9 who goes into Round 4 joint third at -5. pic.twitter.com/xT0yAKX4kU

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2017

Grace wound up seven shots behind even after his 62.

Missing from the mix was Rory McIlroy, who looked to be a big threat when he began with three birdies in five holes, driving the green on the shortened par-4 fifth hole. He lost it around the turn, making back-to-back bogeys, and then a double bogey at No. 10 when he blasted out of one pot bunker left of the fairway and it spun toward another, resting in the thick collar.

McIlroy had a 69, rarely a bad score in the third round of a major. This one left him nine shots behind.

“If you keep it in play, it’s almost hard to make a bogey out there, you know?” McIlroy said. “I’ve always been good when I get off to fast starts, being able to keep it going, and I didn’t today. And I needed to – that’s the disappointing thing.”

Ian Poulter felt even worse. Still lurking, he ran off three straight bogeys early on the back nine and shot 71 to fall nine back.

What a day of golf at @RoyalBirkdale_. See you tomorrow for the grandstand finish. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/ozKgeJTOKN

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2017

The tone for Sunday was set over the final three holes, when Kuchar made his double bogey. Kuchar got one back with a birdie from the pot bunker short of the green at the par-5 17th. And then Spieth stole a birdie at the end when his approach narrowly missed the bunker right of the green and had enough spin to stay on the putting surface for his final birdie. Kuchar missed his birdie attempt from 12 feet.

“I played well today,” Kuchar said. “Certainly, I’m not out of it. I’m playing some good golf. I’m very excited for tomorrow.”

Both took time to stop and soak in the best walk in golf, a full grandstand surrounding both sides of the 18th. Kuchar stopped and said to Spieth, “This is pretty cool to be here, walking up the last hole of a British Open.”

They get to do it again Sunday, with a lot more at stake than warm applause.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Chad Collins missed a chance for the 10th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and third of the season, parring the final two holes for an 11-under 60 on Friday in the second round of the Barbasol Championship.

Collins hit his approach to the back fringe on the par-4 18th, leaving a 70-foot downhill birdie try that he hit 5 feet past.

“I just got myself out of position off the tee, which you can’t do,” Collins said. “Probably one of the easiest hole locations on the green, so it was kind of unfortunate to not hit the fairway and I probably would have had a better look at birdie there. I gave it a run. I’m not too disappointed at all by 60, so I’ll take it.”

After six straight birdies on Grand National’s rain-softened Lake Course, the 38-year-old player from Indiana player missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th.

“Hit a good shot, but I hit it a little heavy,” Collins said. “I didn’t think it was going to get back there and it must have had a lot of overspin, hit the downslope, chased back there. I wasn’t sure how close it came to going in, but had to come pretty close. And then the putt was a little tricky. We couldn’t quite figure out if it was kind of right centre, right edge or left centre, left edge. Just kind of lost a little bit of speed and broke off the left edge. ”

Jim Furyk shot a record 58 last year in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut and is one of eight players to shoot 59. Justin Thomas and Adam Hadwin shot 59s in January – Thomas in his victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii, and Hadwin in the CareerBuilder Challenge in California.

Brantford’s David Hearn is five strokes back of Collins at 10 under par (67-65).

Collins was at 15-under 127 for a four-stroke lead over Grayson Murray (64) and Cameron Tringale (66).

Collins had five birdies in a front-nine 30, parred the 10th and ran off the six straight birdies to get to 11 under for the round.

“It kind of crossed my mind probably on the par-5 16th,” Collins said about breaking 60. “Didn’t hit a very good tee shot there, but it was probably going to be a three-shot hole anyway. Then hit a good approach shot in there to 10 feet or so. When I made that, obviously with two holes to go, just needed to make one.”

He made the 36-hole cut for only the fifth time in 23 events this year. The two-time Web.com Tour winner had missed five straight cuts and 11 of 12.

“This year’s been kind of a struggle for me,” Collins said. “I haven’t been playing that well and it’s super nice to see putts fall in, good ball-striking and being in position on the weekend.”

Collins had his lowest round on the PGA Tour and tied the course record set last year by Jhonattan Vegas. He had 23 putts Friday.

“Owe it all to the putter,” Collins said. “I did strike it well, but I made a lot of putts. Made a few that I probably shouldn’t have made, had a stretch going there on my back nine of five or six in a row. Hit some clutch shots, but just made a lot of putts.”

He also shot 60 in a 2013 Web.com Tour event in Utah, playing his first nine holes in 9-under 27 with an eagle and seven birdies.

Murray had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine.

“I saw the 15 (Collins’ total) before I even teed off and I was 11 back and now I’m four back, so I’ll take it,” Murray said. “He’s a good player and there’s a lot of good players up at the top. Just got to keep making birdies on this course.”

Tringale played the back nine first, also making five birdies on the side.

“The course is set up for scoring today, a lot of front pins, a lot of opportunities to get the ball close,” Tringale said. “Just got to get it in the fairway, and my iron play has been strong most of this week, so that’s really my plan, just keep it in front of me.”

Furyk had a 68 to get to 5 under. The 47-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain is playing the event after failing to qualify for the British Open. He took the last three weeks off for a long-planned European river cruise with his family, and has been fighting a shoulder problem.

Davis Love III, at 53 the oldest player in the field, followed his opening 72 with a 67 to reach 3 under. Son Dru Love missed the cut, shooting 73-72.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Jordan Spieth expected a rough time at the British Open before he even got to the golf course.

He spent Friday morning at his rented house in front of the television, watching players battle a relentless wind at Royal Birkdale, all the while checking a forecast that was even worse for when he played in the afternoon.

“It wasn’t a great feeling knowing we were coming into something harder than what we were watching,” he said.

Spieth did more than just survive.

With a short game as sharp as it has been all year, and a 3-wood that turned out a lot better than it looked and led to an eagle, Spieth seized control with a 1-under 69 that gave him a two-shot lead over Matt Kuchar going into the weekend.

“It was a really solid day.” @JordanSpieth, the clubhouse leader (-6) speaks to the media. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/FIg8zxEo78

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 21, 2017

Spieth turned a bogey or worse into an unlikely par by chipping in from just short of the 10th green. And he learned enough from watching TV to know that going a little long on the par-5 15th would give him a better birdie chance than playing short. So he switched from a 3-iron to a 3-wood, hit it a little off the neck and watched it run hot and fast some 100 yards along the wet turf to about 18 feet away.

“I mishit the shot, which is probably why it looked so gross,” Spieth said. “I hit it low off the heel, which is easy to do when you’re trying to carve a cut. And it just … one hop, scooted around the group of bunkers there, and then it was obviously fortunate to get all the way to the green.”

The flight of that 3-wood looked as ugly as the weather. The outcome was as bright as his chances of getting his name on another major championship trophy.

Spieth was at 6-under 134. It was the 12th time he has been atop the leaderboard at a major, including the fourth rounds of the Masters and U.S. Open that he won in 2015. Spieth is the sole leader at a major for the first time since the third round of the Masters last year, when he was runner-up to Danny Willett.

“Anytime you’re in the last group on a weekend in a major … you get nervous. And I’ll be feeling it this weekend a bit,” he said. “But I enjoy it. As long as I approach it positively and recognize that this is what you want to feel because you’re in the position you want to be in, then the easier it is to hit solid shots and to create solid rounds.”

Austin Connelly, a dual Canadian-American citizen who was born in Irving, Texas, is five shots back after a 72. He’s in a tie for sixth at 1 under. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., struggled in his second round and missed the cut at 13 over.

“Today was very similar to @Jones_Cup weather. It’s usually a bit colder than that there.” – Austin Connelly, 2015 Jones Cup champ

— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) July 21, 2017

Kuchar played in the morning in steadily strong wind, but without rain, and pieced together a solid round until a few mistakes at the end for a 71. He was at 4-under 136, and it would have been a good bet that he would be leading with the nasty weather that arrived.

“I think that’s what people enjoy about the British Open is watching the hard wind, the rain, the guys just trying to survive out there,” Kuchar said. “Today is my day. I get to kick back in the afternoon and watch the guys just try to survive.”

He wound up watching another short-game clinic from Spieth.

The key to his round came in the middle, starting with a 10-foot par putt on No. 8 after he drove into a pot bunker. The biggest break came at No. 10, when the rain was pounding Royal Birkdale. Spieth hit into another pot bunker off the tee, could only advance it out sideways, and came up short of the green in light rough.

“Massive,” he said about the chip-in par. “Nothing said ‘4’ about this hole. I feel a little guilty about taking 4 on the card.”

And he wasn’t through just yet. Spieth rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt across the 11th green, and then after watching Henrik Stenson’s tee shot on the par-3 12th land softly, Spieth realized he could take on the flag. He hit 7-iron to 2 feet for another birdie, and followed that with a beautiful pitch to tap-in range for par on the 13th.

Eagle! @jordanspieth goes three clear #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/Z4KLc77Hke

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 21, 2017

Even so, his work is far from over.

The chasing pack features U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who failed to make a birdie but stayed in the hunt with 16 pars in a 72, and Ian Poulter with his newfound confidence, which is growing even higher with the support of the English crowd. Poulter shot 70.

Not to be overlooked was Rory McIlroy, who recovered from a horrific start Thursday to salvage a 71, and then kept right on rolling. McIlroy, who was 5 over through the opening six holes of the tournament, ran off three birdies with full control of every shot on the front nine.

And much like Spieth, he kept his round together with crucial par saves early on the back nine when the wind was at its worse. McIlroy posted a 68 and was at 1-under 139, only five shots behind with only five players in front of him.

“To be in after two days and be under par for this championship after the way I started, I’m ecstatic with that,” McIlroy said.

Not everyone got off so easy.

Justin Thomas, who started the second round just two shots behind, drove into the gorse on the first hole and took double bogey. That wasn’t nearly as bad as the sixth hole, where he tried three times to hammer out of the thick native grass well right of the fairway. He couldn’t find the ball after the third one, and he wound up taking a quintuple-bogey 9. Thomas made another double bogey on the 13th hole and shot 80.

Spieth never looked as if he was under any stress, except for his tee shot into the bunker on No. 8. A British writer suggested a lip-reader could have detected some choice words coming out of his mouth. Spieth smiled and replied, “I speak American. You probably didn’t understand me.”

The language of his clubs – especially the wedge and the putter – was all too familiar.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Jim Furyk would ordinarily be playing in the British Open this week.

Instead, the 47-year-old former U.S. Open champion is 4,000 miles away at the Barbasol Championship trying to improve his standing for the FedEx Cup playoffs. It’s the first time Furyk hasn’t been eligible for a major since the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews in just his second full year on the PGA Tour.

“I’ve got no one to blame but myself,” the 17-time PGA Tour winner said Wednesday at Grand National. “I’ve had some shining moments since last summer but since I’ve come back from (wrist) surgery, I haven’t played consistent.”

Furyk missed six straight cuts after a sixth-place finish at Sea Island in November. Now, the Ryder Cup captain is ranked 142nd and needing to move into the top 125 to make the playoffs with four events remaining after this week.

Furyk did fare better at the U.S. Open (23rd) and Travelers Championship (26th).

He didn’t compete the last three weeks while he and his family went on a long-planned river cruise in Europe. He was hoping to stick around for the British Open at Royal Birkdale, where he shared fifth place in 2008 and fourth in 1998.

Furyk wound up missing the field and was left choosing between playing in Reno, Nevada, early in next month or at Grand National, part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. He’ll have to be content with checking out the scores from the Open in the evenings while enduring Alabama’s steamy conditions during the day.

Furyk talked to other players about the course and checked past results to see which playing style seemed to fare best. He opted for Grand National.

“It was easier from a travel perspective but I think for my game it sounded like this golf course might suit me a little better,” he said after finishing a pro-am round. “After playing it for two days … it seems like a place that if I play well, I should have an opportunity to score pretty well.”

Furyk is one of five major champions in the Alabama field, including Davis Love III, Angel Cabrera, Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang. The winner gets in the PGA Championship but not the Masters.

Love would also no doubt rather be playing in Southport, England, this week. But the trip to Alabama does let him go against son Dru Love for the third time.

“It’s great, probably until we get started in the tournament, then I’ve got to work really hard to beat him,” said Davis Love, who won the 1997 PGA Championship. “There’s so many of these young kids now that hit it so far and play so well. It’s another generation coming out trying to knock the old guys out.”

Two great bunker shots by Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka – one for par, one for eagle – led to a 5-under 65 for each of them in the opening round of the British Open.

Koepka, with no competition and very little golf since winning the U.S. Open last month, was in a pot bunker short of the green on the par-5 17th when he blasted out and watched it roll into the cup for an eagle that allowed him to share the lead with Spieth among the early starters Thursday at Royal Birkdale.

Spieth had a bogey-free round, and it required great bunker shots even by his standards to keep it that way.

Great work! @bkoepka holes a bunker shot to move in to a share of the lead. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/cv8UGVpRFD

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2017

His shot out of the rough barely rolled into a pot bunker to the right of the 16th green, leaving the ball on a slight slope near the back edge.

“This is dangerous,” he said to his caddie.

He aimed to the right of the hole to avoid it going off the green on the other side and into another bunker, and it came off perfectly about 10 feet away.

“That was awesome,” were his next words to his caddie.

He made the par putt – Spieth made a lot of putts on Thursday – picked up a two-putt birdie on the 17th and narrowly missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the last. It was Spieth’s best start in a major since he opened with a 66 at the Masters a year ago.

“I couldn’t have done much better today,” he said.

Austin Connelly was the top Canadian after Thursday’s play, sitting just two strokes back of the leaders with an opening round of 3 under. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., opened at 1 over.

Meanwhile, at Birkdale…

The Challenge Tour's own Austin Connelly is 4 under par and just one off the lead at #TheOpen ? pic.twitter.com/DpUFR08Fyb

— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) July 20, 2017

Royal Birkdale was much more kind than it was nine years ago in raging wind and rain. The 146th Open began in cool temperatures, a light rain and a strong wind. Mark O’Meara, a winner at Royal Birkdale in 1998 who is playing in his last British Open, hit the opening tee shot.

And then he hit another one.

O’Meara’s first shot was lost in the gorse, he made a quadruple-bogey 8 and was on his way to an 81. But it wasn’t long before the wind off the Irish Sea pushed along the rain clouds and led to sunshine in the afternoon.

The wind remained strong. The scores were largely good.

Koepka and Spieth led the way, with Ian Poulter, Justin Thomas and Richard Bland in at 67. It was a businesslike day in more ways than one for Thomas, who wore a tie loosely draped around his neck and a cardigan sweater. He wasn’t all about making a fashion statement. Thomas, who shot a 63 in the third round of the U.S. Open, made eagle on the 17th hole to hang around the early leaders.

Solid start to @TheOpen. @RoyalBirkdale_ was great this morning. The sun has come out and it's the calm before tomorrow's storm ?☔️? pic.twitter.com/viPmyM4cVc

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) July 20, 2017

Hideki Matsuyama was among those at 68.

Koepka didn’t seem to miss a beat from his four-shot victory at Erin Hills, even if he barely touched a club. He stuck to a planned trip to Las Vegas after winning his first major, and he spent two weeks out West. When he finally got back to Florida, he played golf only one time, with manager Blake Smith at Hambric Sports, and lost to him (though he gave him 13 shots).

Koepka considers himself the consummate gamer, though. He was itching to get back to competition, and after arriving last weekend at Royal Birkdale to learn the course, he proved to be a quick study.

“It feels back in the routine now,” Koepka said.

Whether he and Spieth had the lead depended on the late starts, particularly Matt Kuchar, who made the turn at 5-under 29.

Kuchar was the U.S. Amateur champion when he played Royal Birkdale in 1998, still not even sure he was going to turn pro. Now he’s on the short list of best players to have never won a major. And the way the majors have gone the last few years, maybe this is his time. Koepka was the seventh straight first-time winner of a major.

Click here for the full leaderboard.