Jon Rahm Rockets Up Leaderboard With Saturday 63 at British Open

The Masters champion went out early in Round 3 and turned in a bogey-free, eight-birdie effort to get in the hunt for Sunday.

HOYLAKE, England — He showed a good deal of frustration during the first two rounds at Royal Liverpool. But Jon Rahm had no reason to fret on Saturday at the British Open.

The objective was clear: make up ground on leader Brian Harman, give yourself a chance on Sunday.

And that’s exactly what Rahm did, shooting an Open record 63 at the Hoylake course and moving within striking distance of the leader before he had even teed off.

History for Jon Rahm.

A Hoylake record 63 on moving day. pic.twitter.com/2BAvxiarFl

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 22, 2023

"That’s the best round of golf I’ve played on a links golf course ever," said the reigning Masters champion.

His bogey-free 8-under-par 63 moved him up 37 spots on the leaderboard, set a tournament course record at Liverpool and put him in contention. He was 10 shots back of Harman to begin the day.

"On the first hole I realized that I had to be aggressive. With less wind and a most gettable course that’s what I had to do," Rahm said. 

Harman began the day with a five-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood, after rounds of 67-65 to get to 10 under par. Nobody could come close to him Friday afternoon, with plenty of players struggling.

Rahm opened the tournament with a 74 and then shot 70 to finish 36 holes at 2 over par.

"We’ve all seen good rounds of golf and we've all played it," he said. “I could imagine how he (Harman) did it. He played really good golf, and then you have a couple breaks that you need go your way, and it did. It's that simple."

Rahm began his round with four straight pars before he made birdies at the 6th and 9th holes to go out in 33.

Rainy morning conditions meant a different wind direction and the closing holes playing easier than the first two rounds and Rahm took advantage, adding birdies at the 10th, 11th and 12th holes.

"From the 12th I also realized that I had to try to fly the bunkers and get them out of the way. It was the best thing today because I ended up close to the green," Rahm said. "I was able to leave it 100 meters away on 12th, and 70 meters on 14th ... if I could adjust to the changes, because I played the holes differently from the other days, I thought it was worth the risk."

Rahm added birdies at the 15th and 16th holes before hitting the 18th green in two and converting a two-putt birdie.

It was the 14th score of 63 or better in the Open (Branden Grace shot 62 during the third round of the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale to set the major championship scoring record, matched by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele on the first day of this year’s U.S. Open). And it was the first since Shane Lowry shot 63 in the third round at Royal Portrush in 2019 on his way to winning.

The 63 was also Rahm’s career-low score in a major, bettering his mark of 64 last year at St. Andrews.

"It feels really, really good," Rahm said. "But we practice so hard, and at least a lot of us expect certain things, and it's almost like, O.K., this is—it gets to a point where it's like you visualize in your head and what you see is supposed to happen.

“Like if I do this properly, I'm going to hit it here, maybe do this, and it doesn't happen often where you see those shots come out and those shots come out the way they're supposed to and put them in the spots you're supposed to. You see everything the way it's supposed to happen unfold, and it's very unusual."

Rahm has won four times on the PGA Tour this year including the Masters. Ranked third in the world, he has finished in the top 10 just twice since that victory, with a second at the Mexico Open and a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open.