Matsuyama and Song continue to struggle at The Open

Hideki Matsuyama and Song Young-han slipped further down the leaderboard after they failed to take advantage of the more benign weather conditions earlier in the day, ending their third rounds at The Open in a share of 70^th and 76^th place respectively.
 
Matsuyama started his round at The Royal Troon Golf Club with six straight pars before a birdie on the par-four seven brought renewed hope of a fightback on Saturday. However, five bogeys in his back-nine snuffed all that out as he eventually signed for a four-over-par 75 and a three-day total of nine-over-par 222.
 
“The conditions were calmer today and I was actually hoping to get a decent score. But I just couldn’t play the way I wanted to and everything just went wrong in the back-nine. Hopefully, the birdies will come tomorrow as I look forward to ending the week here on a positive note,” said Matsuyama.
 
It was a similar tale for Song, a two-time JGTO winner, as he signed for a 77 after finding himself trapped in the treacherous bunkers despite the less windy conditions.
 
“The conditions were certainly very different from yesterday. There was no wind so I thought it would be easy. But this course is generally very challenging and I had a hard time today because I ended up in the bunker on several occasions,” said Song.
 
Meantime, American Billy Horschel will start his final round Sunday with a one-shot lead over a group of six players, including Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele.
 
Twelve players, all fighting for the ultimate prize in golf- the Claret Jug,  are within four strokes, including world number one, Scottie Scheffler.
 
"This round in The Open is by far the best I've played in a major. I had to grind out a score coming in. It would be the biggest win of my career. I have won a lot of great events but this one would top all of them and it's something I've wanted in my professional golf career,” said Horschel.