Fleetwood still dreaming as Burns leads an open Open

The Open Championship, round three leaderboard

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

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

The sides of the shuttle buses ferrying Open fans to Royal Birkdale are plastered with a picture of Tommy Fleetwood holding the Claret Jug.

Everyone knows it is an AI-generated image.

It is also a representation of the vision which has been in Fleetwood's mind ever since he was a small Southport kid, who occasionally used to sneak over the fence at the iconic course.

The reality is the 35-year-old Englishman has never got his mitts on the Open trophy.

He still might finally do that on Sunday, but his hopes were set back on Saturday by a couple of late bogeys in a third-round 69.

Fleetwood is five shots adrift of American Sam Burns, who carded a five-under 65 and holds a two-shot advantage over New Zealand's Ryan Fox and South Korea's Kim Si-woo going into the final round.

American superstar Bryson DeChambeau remains in the mix after shooting a one-under 69, four behind Burns after seeing two shots dramatically docked on Friday, while Sweden's Ludvig Aberg crept into contention at six under after a 67.

Two-time US Open champion DeChambeau is the only player inside the top 10 with the experience of winning a major and a tight leaderboard means it is an open Open going into Sunday's finale.

Home favourite Fleetwood might have seen his challenge falter, but he has not stopped dreaming.

"I've done it most days since I was seven years old and it still hasn't stopped," he said.

"That's what life's about, right? You daydream and you dream about the biggest things possible. Then you try and make it a reality."

The love for Fleetwood, who was raised three miles up the road and continues to have a strong bond to the area, is unconditional.

Packed galleries on each hole all week have provided a visual and audio reminder, in case anybody had forgotten.

The roar which went up when he birdied the par-four fifth could be heard across the site, only bettered in volume after another putt went down for a two on the par-three seventh.

That put Fleetwood into a share of third place before he moved within one of the lead with another birdie on the par-four 11th.

If there was anyone who did not believe that he was in contention, they did now.

But, as he has been accused of doing before, Fleetwood did not show a killer instinct when it counted.

Bogeys on the 15th and 18th did not soften the adulation as he played the last - the crowd carrying home with a tidal wave of noise - but they have jeopardised his hopes of finally winning a major title.

Nevertheless, Fleetwood says the day was close to his golfing utopia.

"I was within one of the lead at The Open playing on the back nine," he said.

"It's been pretty close already, and then you've just got the ultimate at the end of it, which would be holding the Claret Jug."

Following the surreal scenes on Friday night, DeChambeau returned to the course on Saturday with fire in his belly.

Questions about the reception the 32-year-old American would receive from the fans were answered unequivocally when he was given a rousing welcome on the first tee.

But sarcastic warnings about watching his lie in the longer grass were regular, especially as he kept finding the rough in an untidy start.

There was isolated barracking with the odd shout of 'cheat' being heard at both ends of a solid round.

DeChambeau looked focused though as he smashed monster drives, cleanly struck his irons and showed nice touches around the greens.

Three birdies and two bogeys, including one on the 18th, meant he signed for a one-under 69.

Following his round, he spent several minutes in the R&A's office talking to chief executive Mark Darbon. The Guardian reported, external DeChambeau asked for his Friday scorecard, but his request was declined.

Afterwards, DeChambeau dodged speaking to the media for the sixth successive round at a major.

Instead, the LIV Golfer, who has built a sizeable social media following, walked past reporters and headed to the practice range, where he hit a few balls before spending time signing autographs for a group of young fans.

A four-shot deficit is surmountable, although there would likely be a seismic fall-out if he misses out on the Claret Jug by the two shots which were taken away from him on Friday.

While most eyes were on DeChambeau at the start of the round, Burns managed to steal the spotlight from his playing partner with a brilliant display of skill and control.

Burns shot a record-equalling 62 in Friday's second round and quickly picked up where he left off with four birdies on the front nine.

A bogey on the ninth tempered his progress, but he picked up two more shots at 14 and 17 to take command.

Burns' total of 127 shots from rounds two and three (62, 65) is the lowest total across any two rounds in men's major championship history.

The two-time US Ryder Cup player going on to win his first major would be another extraordinary storyline.

Burns, who finished runner-up at last month's US Open, was not even planning to play at Birkdale as it clashed with the due date of his second child.

The 29-year-old thought he had "zero per-cent" of going to Merseyside, but when his second child, daughter Belle, arrived on 3 July - almost a fortnight early - his wife Caroline persuaded him to play.

The paternal joy has allowed Burns to play freely and he believes he has nothing to lose on Sunday.

"I'm going to have to go out and execute," said Burns, who goes out with Fox at 14:20 BST.

"I know that I can accept the outcome, and life's going to move on. I'll get to go home and see my family.

"I hope I'm taking some hardware with me, but if I'm not, that's fine too."