Early starters make hay as wind drops on day three of Open

Birdies were the order of the day in benign conditions on the third day of The Open as the chasing pack sought to take advantage early on.

With winds dropping from Friday’s 25mph gusts to a more gentle steady breeze, Royal Troon’s front nine was at its most vulnerable and offered plenty of opportunities.

South Korea’s Sungjae Im seized the chance with five birdies to turn in 31, the lowest score of the week on the front nine but dropped a shot at the 14th to sit two over.

That was still nine behind leader Shane Lowry , who was not scheduled to tee off until 3.45pm, when rain was forecast to arrive.

However, former Masters champion Adam Scott , pipped to the Scottish Open last weekend by home favourite Robert MacIntyre , had four birdies on the front nine to move to one over through 12 holes.

MacIntyre, who battled back from a nightmare start on Friday to make the cut, had two birdies in his first six holes but bogeyed the 10th and 11th to fall back to five over.

American John Catlin picked up four shots in six holes to get back to level par and then successfully escaped the notorious Coffin bunker at the Postage Stamp eighth to maintain his position just outside the top 10.

But not everyone found scoring easy with Darren Fichardt , the first man to tee off at 8.55am, failing to make a birdie in a round of 80.