Ladies and gentlemen:  The 153rd Open Champion – Haotong Li

How does that sound despsite Haotong trailing four shots adrift of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler with a round to play at Royal Portrush.

Hatong has missed the halfway cut in his past three Open Championship though with a round to play in the 2025 Championship the 29-year-old Chinese professional is lying at 10-under and only four shots adrift of Scheffler.

What a storyline  it would be should Haotong topple the game’s current No. 1.

HAOTONG READY TO IGNITE THE FINAL ROUND @TheOpen THRILLS & SPILLS ….

Read: https://t.co/u9rNhv3C6u

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✅ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/O0TCTDR7pE

— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) July 19, 2025

Haotong was asked post his third round what he has done well this week and what it is about his golf game he likes.

HAOTONG LI: I don’t. I’ll tell you what, the last couple weeks, I felt really, really bad, honest. I came in this week, I hardly get on the course to play because I felt like so many people, course being so packed, and I just hit kind of a few balls on the range, wasn’t comfortable. Even our Thursday, Friday morning session wasn’t. But until today morning, actually quite nice. This afternoon, yeah”.

Wishing you well Haotong.

Third-Round Notes – Saturday, July 19, 2025

 Weather: Partly sunny. High of 72. Wind SE 7-12 mph, with gusts to 20 mph.

Third-Round Leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler (1^st/-14)

• Leads Haotong Li by four strokes, the largest 54-hole lead at The Open Championship since Brian Harman led by five in 2023
• With rounds of 68-64-67, will attempt to become the seventh Open Championship winner to record four rounds in the 60s (most recent: Collin Morikawa/2021)
• 199 is a personal-best 54-hole score in a major championship (previous: 202/three times, most recently at the 2025 PGA Championship/won)
• World No. 1 and 16-time PGA TOUR winner in search of fourth victory of the season (THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, PGA Championship, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday)
• Would mark his third season with four or more wins (2022/4, 2024/7, 2025/currently 3)
• T54 on the all-time wins list, tied with five others (Jack Burke, Jr., Ralph Guldahl, Mark O’Meara, Justin Thomas, Tom Weiskopf); would move to T50 on the list with a win, tied with four others (Bobby Cruickshank, Jim Furyk, Harold McSpaden, Curtis Strange)
• Would become the second reigning top-ranked player (fourth win) in the Official World Golf Ranking to win The Open Championship (Tiger Woods/2000, 2005, 2006)
• Only player with top-10s in the first three majors of 2025 (4^th/Masters Tournament, 1^st/PGA Championship, T7/U.S. Open)
• Three-time major champion (2022 Masters Tournament, 2024 Masters Tournament, 2025 PGA Championship)
• Would become the 31^st player with four or more major championship victories
• Would become the ninth player to win the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship and Open Championship in their career (second this season: Rory McIlroy)
• Last player to win the PGA Championship and Open Championship in the same season: Xander Schauffele (2024)
• Would become the 12^th consecutive first-time Open Championship winner; the event has currently had 11 first-time winners, equaling the longest streak from 1994-2004; Ernie Els in 2012 became the most recent multiple winner of The Open
• Has finished inside the top 25 in all 15 starts this season and enters the week with 10 consecutive top-10 finishes
• FedExCup leader has 12 top-10s this season, four more than any other player on TOUR (8/Ben Griffin, Russell Henley)
• Holds the 54-hole lead/co-lead for the 18^th time; is 11-for-17 to date when leading/co-leading entering the final round in individual stroke-play events on TOUR (3-for-3 in majors), having converted his last seven

Results with the 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR (majors in bold):

Additional Player Notes

• Haotong Li (2^nd/-10) is making his sixth appearance at The Open Championship, with a third-place finish in his debut appearance at the 2017 Open Championship representing the best finish on the PGA TOUR by a player from China
• 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (3^rd/-9) trails by five in bid to become the 20^th player to win The Open and the U.S. Open during their career (most recent: Jordan Spieth/2017); making his 10^th start at The Open Championship, with a T20 at Royal Portrush in 2019 his best finish
• 2025 Masters Tournament champion and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy (T4/-8) trails by six in bid to become the first player to win the Masters and Open Championship in the same year since Tiger Woods in 2005
• 2025 Genesis Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup (T4/-8) trails by six in bid to become the first player to win on TOUR and win a major the following week since Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, 2014 PGA Championship)
• First-round co-leader Harris English (T4/-8) trails by six in his 10^th Open Championship start, with his lone top-25 finish coming in 2013 (T15); 2025 Farmers Insurance Open champion is seeking to become the TOUR’s seventh multiple winner of the season
• Following a T4 finish at the U.S. Open, Tyrrell Hatton (T4/-8) is attempting to record back-to-back top-10 finishes for the second time in 42 major championship starts (2016 Open Championship/T5, 2016 PGA Championship/T10)
• Xander Schauffele (8^th/-7) eagles Nos. 7 and 12 en route to a 5-under 66, posting two eagles in a round for the seventh time in 197 PGA TOUR starts; currently trails by seven in his bid to become the first player to successfully defend at The Open Championship since Padraig Harrington (2008)
• John Parry (T29/-3) aces the par-3 13^th hole with an 8-iron from 192 yards; it marks the 31^st ace at The Open since records have been officially kept since 1981 (51^st including those known about before 1981)