Joint overnight leader Clarke was spared the sheeting rain and 25-kph gusts that ‘welcomed’ the earlier starters at the exposed links course on England’s south-east tip, posting a one-under round of 69 and a one-stroke lead over big-hitting American Dustin Johnson.
Johnson managed a two-under 68, as did young compatriot Rickie Fowler, who surged up the leaderboard into a tie for third spot, three shots back, with Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn who could yet exorcise the demons of Sandwich 2003 when victory slipped through his fingers in an excruciating late collapse.
Fowler’s round, together with veteran Tom Watson’s, was the most impressive, however, as the 22-year-old Californian, who looks more Malibu surf-dude than a grizzled links golfer, showed tremendous maturity and nous in diabolical conditions.
With four holes on the bunker-riddled Royal St George’s layout offering not a single birdie all day, only Clarke, Johnson and Fowler signed for below-par rounds and just six players are in red numbers ahead of Sunday’s climax.
Arguably the best performance of the day, however, was from 61-year-old five-times champion Watson who, a day after thrilling crowds with a hole in one, schemed his way round in 72 shots when pretty much everyone else out on the rain-lashed course was going backwards at a rapid rate of knots.
“It can tear you up and spit you out. It’s done it to me,” Watson, who two years ago came agonisingly close to winning at Turnberry, said after a masterful display of control and patience that had his rivals in awe and Phil Mickelson suggesting Watson was peerless in the wind.
“One of the things that you learn is there’s an old saying, ‘swing with ease into the breeze’,” explained Watson.
Watson, who refuses to fade away into the shadows, will start nine shots back on Sunday, as will U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy who played with Fowler for the third day in succession but was eclipsed by the young American.
McIlroy was poised for a weekend tilt at the title after rounds of 71 and 69 but he never mastered the conditions and when he double-bogeyed the demanding par-five 14th his challenge appeared to have evaporated.
“If the conditions are similar to what they were this morning, then it’s going to be very tough to make ground up on the leaders,” he said.
Fowler, dressed in white waterproofs, birdied the fifth on the outward nine and rattled off three more in four holes on the way back, then afterwards said he had been inspired by watching Watson battle the elements.
“Watched a little bit of the coverage prior to us going out, and just saw kind of how he looked like he was having fun, smiling, and embracing the conditions,” Fowler said. “The best way to deal with tough and hard conditions is just go out and try and make a good time of it.
“I’ve just got to make sure I keep having fun. I think that’ll keep me for the most part kind of mellow and not getting too far ahead of myself,” added Fowler who has yet to win on Tour but impressed many on his Ryder Cup debut last year.
LUCKY CLARKE
The 42-year-old, cigar-loving Clarke, who finished tied third in 2001 but has not made the top 10 in a major since, was also enjoying himself although he admitted he had been lucky with the weather.
“We got very lucky,” Clarke, the only man to birdie the first - one of three birdies in his round which also included two bogeys - told reporters. “We started off in terrible conditions and then it sort of cleared up after four or five holes, so we got lucky with the weather again.
“I’ve failed 19 times to try and lift the Claret Jug and tomorrow I have an opportunity.”
As well as Fowler and Johnson, several other Americans are handily placed, although former U.S. Open winnerLucas Glover is four shots back after a disappointing 73 playing with Clarke.
Phil Mickelson is five shots behind after a damage-limitation 71 in the worst of the weather while Anthony Kimand Davis Love III are also in a group of six players on level par.
One shot further back are four more Americans in the shape of Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Tom Lehmann and Chad Campbell.
Forty-two players began the day within five shots of the lead shared by Clarke and Glover but one by one the wind shredded their hopes as it did many of the multi-coloured umbrellas that illuminated a dismal sea of green and grey.
Player after bedraggled player trudged to the scorers’ hut with tales of woe, none more so than FrenchmanGregory Havret, the 2010 U.S. Open runner-up, who was hanging in bravely until a calamitous 10 at the brutal par-five 14th.
“It’s a tough course even without these conditions and today was just a nightmare for us but that’s the way it is, it’s the British Open,” the 34-year-old told Reuters.
Stewart Cink, who denied Watson an improbable British Open victory in 2009, could manage only a seven-over 77 while Briton Paul Lawrie, the Open champion 10 years before that, carded a humbling 81, one of 11 scores of 78 or over.
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