In the year Open 2026: Tommy Fleetwood still dreams of emotional victory as Sam Burns leads at Royal Birkdale

Open Championship, Round Three Leaderboard

-10 S Burns (US); -8 R Fox (NZ), SW Kim (Cor); -7 R Gerrard (US), L Herbert (Aus)

Chosen: 6 B DeChambeau (US), L Aberg (Swe); -5 T Fleetwood (Engineer); -4 D Brown (Eng), S Lowry (Ire), S Scheffler (US), J Rahm (Spa); -3 R McIntyre (Sco); -2 R McIlroy (NI), M Wallace (Eng), J Smith (Eng).

Shuttle buses to Royal Birkdale have been plastered with a picture of Tommy Fleetwood holding a claret jug for open fans.

Everyone knows it’s an AI-generated image.

It’s a representation of the vision that’s been in Fleetwood’s mind since he was a small Southport boy, occasionally sneaking over fences on the scenic course.

But the truth is that the 35-year-old Englishman has never won the iconic trophy.

He could still finally do that on Sunday, but his hopes were put on Saturday by a couple late rounds in a third-round 69.

Fleetwood, who carded a 65-under 65 and has a two-shot lead over New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and South Korea’s Kim Si-woo entering the final round, is five shots behind American Sam Burns.

American star Bryson DeChambeau remains in the mix after shooting a one-under 69, four shots behind Burns on Friday, while Sweden’s Ludwig Aberg is six under par on 67.

Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau is the only player with top 10 Premier League wins and his tight leaderboard is wide open heading into Sunday’s final.

Home favorite Fleetwood may have seen the challenge fade but he hasn’t stopped dreaming.

“I’ve done it most days since I was seven and it still hasn’t stopped,” he said.

“That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? You daydream and dream about the biggest things possible. Then try and make it happen.”