Scottie Scheffler’s march towards his first Claret Jug continued unimpeded on Saturday, as the three-time major champion moved ever-closer to his first Open Championship title. The world No. 1 shot a 4-under 67 to put further distance between himself and the field, and Scheffler will go into Sunday’s final round at Royal Portrush with a four-stroke advantage over Haotong Li. 

Scheffler has converted his last nine 54-hole leads into wins, and looks primed for another runaway major victory. He’s made a habit out of eliminating any Sunday drama in his major conquests, as his first Masters win came by three strokes (including the four-putt on the 18th), his second was by four strokes and he won the PGA Championship earlier this year by five. 

He’ll look to follow that pattern on Sunday and capture the third leg of the career grand slam in dominant fashion. If he does so, he’ll join some exclusive company to win the Masters, PGA and Open before their 30th birthday; a list that includes just Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. 

There was some hope early in the round that we might get some weekend drama, as Matt Fitzpatrick tied him for the lead with an eagle on the second hole. Scheffler dragged his feet to start the round, starting with six consecutive pars on a front nine that the rest of the field tore up, creating a bunched chase group behind him. 

Leading the charge was Rory McIlroy, who came out of the gates red-hot, making three birdies in his first four holes to make an early move up the board and get the home crowd into a frenzy. But just as things started to get interesting, Scheffler put a stop to any thoughts that he might slip back and leave the door open to the field. 

A 380-yard drive on the par-5 7th left him just 206 yards in, and he stuffed a mid-iron to just outside 10 feet for eagle. He poured that putt in and backed it up with a birdie on the 8th to quickly dart out to a three-shot lead. 

The back nine was much of the same, as Scheffler made a couple rare miscues, but each time he put himself in trouble he calmly excavated himself from the thick rough and fescue and poured in long par putts to stay right on track. 

Once again, with some hope building from the rest of the leaders that he might stall out on the back and allow them to close the gap, he found some brilliance in the midst of a wobbly back nine. His lone birdie of the second side came on the 239-yard 16th, as he conquered the 7th hardest hole on the course with a cutting long iron that skipped up to 14 feet short of the pin. 

It was his third straight day birdieing the hole known as Calamity Corner, as he’s made Royal Portrush’s iconic hole the sight of his signature moments this week. 

Scheffler will be joined by Li in the final pairing on Sunday, as Li has refused to fade away all week, but it will take something unbelievable for Li or anyone to catch him. Scheffler does not come back to the field, and a round in the 60s feels like the bare minimum that he’ll produce tomorrow. 

The chase group is headlined by Rory McIlroy at 8 under, as he shot a spectacular 66 on Saturday that was one of the great rounds of his career given the stage. The home crowd in Northern Ireland was begging for McIlroy to make a move on Moving Day and he obliged, but he’ll need to conjure up the course record 61 he shot as an amateur on Sunday if he’s going to reel in Scheffler and prevent the final round from being a coronation walk for the world No. 1.Â