Australia's Marc Leishman threatened to create Major Championship history on Sunday as the early starters took advantage of a defenceless Old Course at St Andrews.
Torrential rain on Friday and winds gusting up to 45 miles per hour on Saturday had forced The 144th Open Championship into an extra day, but conditions were almost perfect for Sunday's delayed third round.
Leishman began the day nine shots off the lead held by American Dustin Johnson but carded four birdies in a front nine of 32 and picked up further shots on the tenth, 11th, 13th and 15th.
That meant he needed to play the last three holes in two under par to shoot the first 62 in any Major - there have been 26 rounds of 63 - but the 31 year old narrowly missed good chances on the 16th and 17th before his approach to the 18th span back into the Valley of Sin.
The resulting 64 left Leishman in a tie for second on nine under, one shot ahead of England's Eddie Pepperell, who had covered the front nine in 31 and picked up another shot on the tenth.
Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open winner and last year's joint runner-up Rickie Fowler was seven under after a 66, while 2001 Open champion David Duval was two shots further back after a 67 in the first group out at 8:15am.
Duval had recorded just one round in the 60s in The Open since shooting a closing 67 to win at Royal Lytham, the former World Number One having birdied the 18th on Saturday to make his first cut in the event since 2008.
Birdies on the 15th and 16th gave Pepperell a share of the lead, only for the 24 year old to drive out of bounds on the 17th, slicing his tee shot off the wall of the Old Course Hotel.
The World Number 85, who finished joint fourth in the Scottish Open last week, found the fairway with his second ball but the resulting double bogey dropped him back to eight under par.
Jordan Spieth had moved to six under in pursuit of his third consecutive Major title, the World Number Two holing from seven feet for birdie on the first, where Charl Schwartzel had followed Phil Mickelson in finding the Swilcan Burn off the tee.
Pepperell parred the 18th for a round of 66 to finish eight under par as the final group of Johnson and England's Danny Willett finally prepared to start their rounds.
"I felt very confident on the tee shot on 17 and maybe did not focus on one or two things that would help me into the left-to-right wind that I tend to struggle with," Pepperell said.
"You could argue a bit of complacency there but I did not want to bail out left because that's admitting defeat on a tough hole."
