Open Championship: American Billy Horschel edges ahead after Shane Lowry sunk by ‘coffin’ bunker nightmare

Billy Horschel will carry the slenderest of leads into the final 18 holes of the Open Championship in Scotland, as the American capitalized on Shane Lowry’s grisly slide to edge clear in a rain-soaked third round.

Billy Horschel will carry the slenderest of leads into the final 18 holes of the Open Championship in Scotland, as the American capitalized on Shane Lowry’s grisly slide to edge clear in a rain-soaked third round. The eight-time PGA Tour winner navigated a testing Royal Troon in two-under 69 to edge clear by a stroke but will have to hold off a chasing group of six players in his rearview mirror to clinch his first major title. A closing bogey put a dampener on what had been another strong showing from Horschel, who tore out of the blocks with four birdies across his first nine holes. The 37-year-old has often struggled at the Open – missing the cut in six of his previous nine outings – but continues to impress amid brutal wet and windy conditions that sent half of the world’s top-10 ranked players tumbling towards an early exit. “I’ve wanted to be here my entire life. I’m finally here. I’m embracing it,” Horschel, whose career best major performance was a tied-fourth finish at the 2013 US Open, told reporters. “Something I’ve done this year … is manifest seeing myself holding the trophy before I go to sleep every night, envisioning myself holding that trophy on 18, walking out to the crowd and being congratulated as Open champion.