The Open Round 3 Leaderboard: Scottie Scheffler puts one hand on Claret Jug at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler put one hand on the Claret Jug on day three at the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush. 

Scheffler, 29, held a narrow one-shot lead starting the third round and he then strengthened it to four shots courtesy of a flawless third-round 67.

The World No.1 is going in search of his first Claret Jug.

Should he win The Open on Sunday then he will be just one leg away from completing the career grand slam.

Scheffler has two Masters titles and a PGA victory to his name. 

China's Haotong Li has emerged as Scheffler's biggest threat on 10-under par. 

Matt Fitzpatrick, who was playing alongside Scheffler, is a further shot back on 9-under par. 

Home favourite Rory McIlroy holed a couple of bombs during a brilliant round of 66.

McIlroy told Sky Sports Golf after the round that it was "one of the coolest moments I've ever had on a golf course."

The Northern Irishman has hauled himself up to 8-under par, which is six shots off the pace heading into Sunday. 

"Scottie Scheffler is inevitable, even when he doesn't have his best, he has become a complete player, so good around the greens and has improved so much with the putter," said McIlroy. 

"It's going to be tough to catch him if he keeps playing the way he does. But if I can get off to a similar start to what I did today, get the crowd going and hopefully he feels that a couple of groups behind me then you never know, but I need to play another good round of golf and see what happens."

Other players in the hunt for The Open include last week's Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup, Harris English, Tyrrell Hatton and defending champion Xander Schauffele, who matched McIlroy's round of 66. 

Here's how we stand heading into Sunday: 

Scroll down to see how the third round of The Open played out at Portrush...