ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- The birthplace of golf offered up more than anyone could have dreamed Sunday.
Fans who filled the two-story grandstand and watched from the tops of buildings on Golf Place witnessed a moment not seen at St. Andrews in 88 years as an amateur grabbed a share of the lead going into the final round of the British Open.
Paul Dunne, a 22-year-old from Ireland, rolled in putts like this was the prestigious St. Andrews Links Trophy for amateurs instead of the oldest championship in golf. He played bogey-free for a 66 and will join former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Day atop the leaderboard in today's final round.
Bobby Jones is the last amateur to win the British Open in 1930, when he came from one shot behind in the final round. He also was the last amateur to lead after 54 holes three years earlier at St. Andrews, and he won the claret jug that year, too.
"It's surreal I'm leading the Open, but I can easily believe that I shot the three scores that I shot," Dunne said. "If we were playing an amateur event here, I wouldn't be too surprised by the scores I shot. It's just lucky that it happens to be in the biggest event in the world."
Carried along by a home crowd and steadied by Alan Murray, his golf coach at Alabama-Birmingham who caddied for him, Dunne birdied five of his first 10 holes. With plans to turn pro and join the European Tourthis summer, he seemed to believe a victory as an amateur in the Open is within the realm of possibility.
"I don't see why not," he said.
To do that, he'll have to hold off Jordan Speith, among others.
The Masters and U.S. Open champion punched his golf bag in frustration after a careless bogey Sunday, perhaps sensing the British Open was slipping away, but just like that he salvaged his bid for a Grand Slam by making three consecutive birdies.
Spieth took only 10 putts on the inward nine, and when he walked off the 18th green he had a 6-under 66 and was one shot behind with one round left.
"I'm going to play to win," Spieth said. "I'm not playing for a place. I don't want to place third tomorrow. I want to win."
But if there is history in the making at the home of golf, it no longer has to come from just Spieth.
There are plenty of others in the mix as well going into the first Monday finish in 27 years at the Open.
Oosthuizen, the last player to lift the claret jug at St. Andrews in 2010 and a runner-up at the U.S. Open last month, birdied three of his last five holes for a 67. Day is just as big of a threat. He shot 67 and shared the lead for the second consecutive major, and he has challenged in four of them since 2011.
They were at 12-under 214, one shot ahead of Spieth, and plenty of others remain in the mix as well with 14 players separated by three shots. Half of them were major champions, and there was yet another amateur among them -- 21-year-old Jordan Niebrugge of Oklahoma State, the winner of the 2013 Western Amateur at The Alotian Club in Roland.
Spieth knows such an opportunity might not come around again. Only three other players won the first two legs of the Grand Slam since the modern version began in 1960. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods got only one shot at it, and none ever started the final round of the British Open so close to the lead.
So it was Spieth, a 21-year-old Texan with an uncanny sense of occasion, who brought the gray, old town to life in a mixture of sunshine and rain. He rolled in birdie putts on the 10th, 11th and 12th holes to share the lead. He saved par from the high grass on the 13th, stuffed his approach to 4 feet for birdie on the 15th and made another tough par save on the Road Hole at the 17th.
A victory would send him to the PGA Championship with a shot at the Grand Slam, and at worse put him in elite company. Ben Hogan in 1953 is the only other player to capture the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in the same year.
" I'd like to have a chance to do something nobody has ever done," Spieth said. "To be able to go into the last major and accomplish something that's never been done in our sport is something that only comes around to a couple people ever."
Rarely has the Old Course been as easy as it was Sunday.
One day after raging wind off the Eden Estuary caused a 10-hour delay and forced today's finish, the flags were soaked from passing showers and limp from no wind. The leaderboards were loaded with birdies, and seven players had at least a share of the lead at some point in the third round.
That's what made Dustin Johnson's collapse so shocking. With a one-shot lead after powering his way around St. Andrews for 36 holes, he was the last player in the field to make a birdie Sunday, and that wasn't until the 15th hole. He followed with three consecutive bogeys for a 75 to fall five shots behind.
Spieth, the youngest professional in the field, seemed calm despite the moment in front of him.
His goal at the start of the week was to treat the British Open like any other tournament. Even during the long delay Saturday, he said he hadn't thought much about the slam.
There is no escaping it now, and Spieth doesn't see that as a problem.
"If I have a chance coming down the stretch, if it creeps in, I'll embrace it," he said. "I'll embrace the opportunity that presents itself. As far as handling it, I don't look at it as a negative thing. I look at it almost as an advantage. Why should it add more pressure in a negative way?"
Sports on 07/20/2015