Scottie Scheffler’s march towards his first Claret Jug continued unimpeded Saturday as the three-time major champion moved ever-closer to his first win in The Open Championship. The world No. 1 shot a 4-under 67 to create further distance between himself and the field. He will go into Sunday’s final round at Royal Portrush with a four-stroke advantage over Haotong Li and a six-stroke margin over Rory McIlroy at his home nation’s course.

Scheffler has converted his last nine 54-hole leads into wins, and he looks primed for another runaway major victory Sunday in Northern Ireland. He’s made a habit out of eliminating Sunday drama in major conquests as his first Masters win came by three strokes (despite a four-putt on the 18th), his second green jacket was earned with a four-stroke margin, and he won his first Wanamaker Trophy at the PGA Championship earlier this year by five shots.

Whether that pattern will follow Sunday remains to be seen, but Scheffler will be a massive favorite to claim the Claret Jug. Should he do so, he will capture the third leg of the career grand slam in potentially dominant fashion with just a U.S. Open to go.

Recently having turned 29 years old, Scheffler is seeking to join a short list including Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — golfers who on the Masters, PGA Championship and Open before their 30th birthday.

There was some hope early in the round that weekend drama might get created as Matt Fitzpatrick tied Scheffler for the lead with an eagle on the 2nd hole. Scheffler dragged his feet to start the round, starting with six consecutive pars on a front nine that the rest of the field tore up, creating a bunched chase group behind him. 

Leading the charge was McIlroy, who came out of the gate red-hot, making three birdies in his first four holes to move up the leaderboard and get the home crowd into a frenzy. But just as the tournament started to get interesting, Scheffler put a stop to any thoughts that he might slip back and leave the door open to the field. 

A 380-yard drive on the par-5 7th left him just 206 yards in, and he stuffed a mid-iron to just outside 10 feet for eagle. He poured that putt in and backed it up with a birdie on the 8th to quickly dart out to a three-shot lead. 

The back nine was much of the same as Scheffler made a couple rare miscues; however, each time he put himself in trouble, he calmly excavated himself from the thick rough and fescue and poured in long par putts to stay right on track. 

With hope building from the rest of the leaders that Scheffler might stall out on the back and allow them to close the gap, he once again found some brilliance in the midst of a wobbly back nine. His lone birdie of the second side came on the 239-yard 16th, as he conquered the 7th hardest hole on the course with a cutting long iron that skipped up to 14 feet short of the pin. 

It was his third straight day birdieing the hole known as Calamity Corner as he’s made Royal Portrush’s iconic hole the sight of his signature moments this week. Scheffler also completed his fourth bogey-free round at a major while separating himself from many of golf’s brightest stars. 

Scheffler will be joined by Li in the final pairing on Sunday as Li has refused to fade away all week, but it will take something unbelievable for Li or anyone to catch the No. 1 golfer in the world. Scheffler does not generally come back to the field, and a round in the 60s feels like the bare minimum that he’ll produce Sunday on his way to putting both hands on the Claret Jug. 

The chase group is headlined by McIlroy at 8 under, as he shot a spectacular 66 on Saturday that was one of the great rounds of his career given the stage and setting. The home crowd in Northern Ireland was begging for McIlroy to make a move on Moving Day and he obliged, but he’ll need to conjure up the course record 61 he shot as a 16-year-old amateur this Sunday if he’s going to reel in Scheffler and prevent the final round from being a coronation walk for the world No. 1.