Overnight pressure?

Scottie Scheffler leads Haotong Li by four heading into the final round of The 153rd Open – putting the world number one in pole position to claim his first Claret Jug.

The 29-year-old has been in cruise control at Royal Portrush so far this week, compiling three sub-70 rounds with consummate ease.

He came within one stroke of the course record on Friday. That came 24 hours after he found just three fairways in round one, and somehow still managed to shoot a three-under 68.

Scheffler already has three majors to his name; two Masters titles and the PGA Championship. He converted a 54-hole lead in each one.

But this is The Open. This is links golf at its finest, and most difficult. When history beckons, pressure mounts.

Shane Lowry perhaps put it best. Heading into the final round of any Championship with the lead is both the exact position a golfer wants to be in but also the most difficult.

For the Champion Golfer of 2019, holding the lead after three rounds at Royal Portrush brought back memories of a major lead relinquished, as well as thoughts of what would happen if he could not complete the job.

And yet, surely it is better to go into the final 18 holes of 72 with an advantage over your rivals?

That was the case for Lowry six years ago. Thanks to a sensational 63 on the Saturday, including birdies in three of his last four holes, the Irishman took a four-stroke lead into the final round.

An advantage of that size was particularly familiar for Lowry, who led by the exact same margin three years previously at Oakmont in the US Open, only to shoot a final-day 76 to finish T2.

When he birdied 18 to lead by four, that collapse was his first thought.

Speaking on The Open Podcasts, he said: “Straightaway, I tapped in on 18 on Saturday evening, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw myself in yellow, four ahead of Tommy Fleetwood. I said to Bo [caddie Brian ‘Bo’ Martin], ‘at least I won’t get asked too much about Oakmont, being four ahead again’. I was ready for it.

“The next 24 hours were among the most difficult of my life. Anyone who says to enjoy something like that is absolutely mad. You can’t enjoy it, I enjoy look back on it and it’s very fond memories, but it’s just such a nerve-wracking time.

“It is a difficult position to find yourself in. It’s the position you want to be in but it’s also a difficult position to be in. Looking back on it, it was incredible obviously.”

Part of the challenge, for Lowry, and many others, is around timing. Generally if you are leading after three rounds, it means that you are among the final finishers on Saturday.

A late finish, followed by media duties and the adrenaline of being on the brink of major glory, makes sleep difficult. In Lowry’s case, knowing how much support he had at Portrush, even eating proved a challenge.

He recalled: “It was horrible. On the Saturday night, you are still buzzing. I didn’t leave the golf course until 8.30pm. You get back and have dinner and you are still absolutely buzzing and wired from the adrenaline.

“Sunday morning I was probably fortunate that the tee times were brought forward a little bit. I was up at 6, I didn’t go to sleep until 12 or 1, so I only got a few hours’ sleep. I barely ate breakfast, I didn’t have any lunch, I basically didn’t eat that day, I was so sick with nerves.

“That stuff goes through your head on the Sunday. Imagine the headlines that will be written about you on the Monday morning if you don’t win.”

Thankfully for Lowry, those headlines were never written. He went on to win by six strokes from Fleetwood.

Interestingly, over the last 11 Open Championships, the person leading going into Sunday has gone onto lift the Claret Jug just five times.

Of course there are leads, and then there are leads.

Rory McIlroy was six strokes clear at Royal Liverpool in 2014 when he went on to win. Eight years on in The 150th Open at St Andrews, he had a share of the lead with Viktor Hovland, but neither man triumphed as Cameron Smith trumped everyone.

Back at Royal Liverpool in 2023, Brian Harman held a five-stroke lead on Saturday evening. Having never previously won a major, and six years on from his most recent victory, there could have been nerves. He managed the occasion well, however.

He recalled: “I got done at 7.40pm or so, went and hit balls for about 25 minutes, putted for about 10 minutes, and went and had dinner up here.

“Then had a session with my physical therapist and then ice bath for five minutes, and then I probably got to sleep at 11.30. As far as being a bundle of nerves, I did pretty good.”

It clearly worked, as Harman was just as impressive in his final round, finishing six strokes clear.

In some ways, you have to accept the nerves that come with leading. That was the case for Jean van de Velde back in 1999.

While his Carnoustie collapse went down in golfing folklore, he acknowledged the challenge even as he led through 54 holes.

“My knees are going to touch each other on the first tee tomorrow,” he said after his third round. “Maybe I'm going to blow it, but let me tell you that I will enjoy. I'm going to force myself to enjoy it.”

The scenario is best encapsulated by Tiger Woods. Until his remarkable 2019 Masters win, Tiger had famously never won a major where he was not leading through 54 holes.

Jordan Spieth has won all three of his major titles to date in that manner. And yet, in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, he played the role of hunter and hunted.

Leading by three on the Saturday night, Spieth saw his lead evaporate – just a year after he had suffered an even more dramatic collapse at Augusta.

On this occasion, however, the release of pressure allowed him to turn it around, thanks in part to a miraculous bogey on 13.

He explained: “After the putt on 13, I felt a lot more comfortable because I felt I made a putt that really mattered from seven feet, six feet, that just was enough to say we're still in this tournament and create a new type of scenario.

“So I became the challenger instead of the leader at that moment.”

In the end, as Lowry put it, leading a major championship after three rounds is not enjoyable.

But Scheffler would not want to be in any other position.