The weather might have been kind to him on Saturday, but the reality is that Thriston Lawrence had a putt for a seven-under-par 29 on the ninth in the third round of the Open Championship at Royal Troon.
After the weather played its part, Lawrence found himself in a share of second as the final round looms. At three-under, he’s one shot behind Billy Horschel of the United States, and in second with Americans Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Xander Schauffele, and England’s Justin Rose and Daniel Brown.
The 2022 South African Open champion Lawrence was in imperious form as he never looked like dropping a shot on the front nine. Yes, conditions were benign for him, but the tee shots still needed to be hit, the approaches still needed to nestle in close, and the putts still had to be made.
It was a 12-footer on nine that stopped inside a foot short which robbed him of that 29 on the front nine. Conditions were changing by then, and a birdie on 11 was his last hurrah on a day which turned increasing ugly. He bogeyed the 13th as conditions got tougher, and he took that as a call to make sure he parred his way home to a six-under-par 65.
But during that front nine, he allowed himself to dream of the record low-round in a major championship, which is 62 by Branden Grace at the 2017 Open Championship, by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele at the 2023 US Open, and by Schauffele and Shane Lowry at the 2024 PGA Championship.
“The record did cross my mind, to be honest, but I know where the back nine lies,” he said. “When the rain started to come, it was completely out of my mind.
“It can still happen. You can still shoot five-under going in the last seven or eight holes, but it’s… I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but patience was on my mind. Just try and stay patient and make pars and try not to give away the shots.”
At players in the late tee times struggled with the rain and the constant wind, Lawrence was able to sit in the clubhouse and feel that every bogey was like another birdie for him. “I’m making a lot of birdies in the clubhouse standing right here,” he laughed. “It’s not fun out there. I’m very happy with myself, how patient I stayed with those holes coming in.
“Obviously I had the perfect conditions on the front nine, and just took full advantage of it. I had a pretty aggressive game plan starting from Monday, Tuesday, and was hitting a lot of drivers, especially if that wind is in that direction.
“I executed very well, didn’t miss a fairway on the front nine and made a couple of putts. Yeah, very happy with six-under.”
When he got to the course in perfect weather in the morning, he knew that the cliché of taking advantage of ‘moving day’ was going to have to apply to him. “I just try to go as low as I can every single day,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how bad or how good the weather is. It is moving day, as they say, and I definitely did it well.
“I just try and make as many birdies as possible and see what the weather brings. If the weather is bad, try and make easy pars. I managed to do that. Told myself don’t try and push, make pars. You’re not losing shots when you’re making pars out here, especially when it’s like that.”
His round was a masterclass of taking advantage of conditions and then surviving them. And it was his approach play that kept him in the hunt.
“The putter was hot, but I didn’t miss a lot of greens,” he said. “I think I missed my first green maybe on the 10th hole and was just on the fringe. I gave myself a lot of looks, obviously having no wind. Even with this rain, there’s not much wind. It was just trying to adjust to the speed. Got quite slow, maybe a foot or two slower out there. But, yeah, I felt like I was putting it well on the front nine and just sort of tried to keep momentum.”
