2024 British Open Day 3 Facts, Stats and Numbers We Noticed

Royal Troon played easier overall but the back nine late Saturday was anything but easy for the contenders.

John Schwarb, Jeff Ritter | Jul 20, 2024

Sam Burns surged up the leaderboard with a Saturday 65. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

Moving day at the 2024 British Open is in the books, with Billy Horschel leading at 4 under par. Here are the numbers that mattered most.

9 – Players under par.

72.43 – Field average for Round 3.

74.36 – Field average for Round 2.

74.44 – Field average for Round 1.

328.2 – Feet of putts made for Daniel Brown, tops in the field.

6 – Bogeys or worse over the last 11 holes for Shane Lowry. The 36-hole leader is three shots back.

2 – Bogeys or worse for Lowry in his first 43 holes.

10 – Birdies in a 30-hole stretch for Billy Horschel from late in Round 1 through the front nine Saturday.

65 – Low round by Thriston Lawrence and Sam Burns. Both surged to T2 at 3 under.

30 – Front-nine score for Lawrence.

80 – High round, by Corey Conners and Darren Fichardt.

0 – Bogeys for Ewen Ferguson (shot 70, +4 overall).

14 – Front-nine improvement for Justin Thomas from Friday (45) to Saturday (31).

3 – Combined score over par by the day’s final pairing on par-3 8th hole “postage stamp.” Lowry led Brown by one shot entering the hole, but Lowry made double and Brown made bogey.

T96 – Sam Burns on the leaderboard after an opening-round 76.

T2 – Burns going into Sunday after rounds of 69 and 65.

+10 – Combined scores on the par-3 8th Friday and par-4 11th Saturday for Joaquin Niemann after two quintuple bogeys.

-5 – Score on the other 52 holes for Niemann, who is 5 over for the tournament.

34 – Consecutive holes without a birdie for Brooks Koepka, who shot 7-over 78 Saturday.

Published Jul 20, 2024

JOHN SCHWARB

John Schwarb is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated covering golf. Prior to joining SI in March 2022, he worked for ESPN.com, PGATour.com, Tampa Bay Times and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is the author of The Little 500: The Story of the World's Greatest College Weekend. A member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Schwarb has a bachelor's in journalism from Indiana University.

JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of golf content for Sports Illustrated. He has more than 20 years experience in sports media and has covered more than 30 major championships. In 2020 he joined Morning Read to help spark its growth and eventual acquisition by SI in 2022. He helped launch Golf Magazine’s first original, weekly e-magazine and served as its top editor. He also launched Golf's “Films” division, the magazine’s first long-form video storytelling franchise, and his debut documentary received an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. Ritter has earned first-place awards for his work from the Society of American Travel Writers, the MIN Magazine Awards and the Golf Writers Association of America. He received a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan and a master’s from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. A native Michigander, he remains a die-hard Wolverines fan and will defend Jim Harbaugh until the bitter end.