British Open scores 2017: Jordan Spieth leads after Saturday at Royal Birkdale

The 23-year-old is on the verge of his third major win.

Jordan Spieth leads The Open Championship after 54 holes. If Spieth can hold his advantage for 18 more, he’ll win his third career major — and complete a third leg of the career grand slam — less than a week before his 24th birthday.

Spieth has had a brilliant young career, and that’s included both extraordinary highs and devastating lows on major Sundays. Closing out these championships is difficult, but Spieth is now so experienced in these situations that it’s hard to bet against him. He finished his third round by sinking a birdie putt from the fringe on No. 18.

Some of Spieth’s most obvious competition on Sunday will come from his fellow countrymen. American players will enter the day occupying each of the top three slots on the leaderboard: Spieth first at 11-under, Matt Kuchar 8-under, and Brooks Koepka 5-under. Koepka’s tied in third with 20-year-old Canadian Austin Connelly, who carded a 4-under 66 on Saturday and has been one of the stories of the tournament.

The star on moving day was Branden Grace, the South African who’s repeatedly been in contention in majors since 2013 but hasn’t yet won one. Grace’s 62 was the lowest score in a single round in major history. Grace enters Sunday in a tie for fifth place with Hideki Matsuyama at 4-under.

Grace’s dominance earned him shade from NBC analyst Johnny Miller, whose 63 at the 1973 U.S. Open is often regarded as the best round in the history of golf. Miller commented that Royal Birkdale offered a “really, really easy” setup on Saturday. Maybe so, but who cares? A 62 is a 62, and Grace will rightfully go into the history books.

The 39-year-old Kuchar will be a fan favorite on Sunday. He’s a star, the 18th-ranked player in the world, and shouldn’t wear an underdog hat easily. But Kuchar’s illustrious career doesn’t yet include a major championship. He has at least one top-10 finish in all four, but he’s never come in better than a tie for third, which he achieved at the 2012 Masters.

He’s been to the alter so many times, and if Kuchar were to mount a charge against Spieth, he’d be hard to root against. When he sank a long birdie putt on the 14th to pull within a stroke of Spieth on Saturday, the crowd in the grandstands broke into a sustained “Kooooooooooch.” He’ll be right in the thick of things down the stretch.

Sunday’s final round will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 4 a.m.-7 a.m. ET. After that, it’ll shift to NBC for the remainder of the day. It will stream all day long on Golf Channel Digital and the Golf Channel App.

Here’s the full leaderboard at The Open heading into Sunday’s round: