American Brian Harman will take a commanding five-shot lead into the final round of the 151st Open Championship, after holding the chasing pack firmly at bay at Royal Liverpool, while Rory McIlroy was in no mood to speak afterwards.
The Holywood golfer failed to capitalise on an electric start to leave his hopes of ending his major drought all but over as he trails Harman, who is on 12-under par, by nine strokes.
The other Irish player to make the cut, Padraig Harrington, is towards the tail-end of the field after a third-round 73 left him on five-over par.
At the other end of the leaderboard, Masters champion Jon Rahm claimed he felt "invincible" as he surged through the field with a record-breaking 63, but that adjective could equally apply to Harman as he remained on course for a maiden major title at the age of 36.
As crowd favourites Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy frustratingly failed to fire, Harman recovered from a shaky start to compile a third round of 69.
Fleetwood was part of a five-way tie for fourth on five under which included Ryder Cup team-mate Viktor Hovland and former world number one Jason Day.
Rahm only made the cut with a shot to spare following rounds of 74 and 70, but took advantage of unexpectedly benign conditions to card eight birdies in a flawless 63, just one shot outside the lowest score in major championship history.
The world number three is the first player to shoot lower than 65 in an Open at Hoylake and had closed to within four shots of halfway leader Harman just two minutes before the left-hander got his round under way.
The gap was down to two when Harman dropped shots at the first and fourth, but he responded superbly with birdies on the fifth, ninth, 12th and 13th to maintain the five-shot advantage he held at halfway.
Only two players in history have lost a five-shot lead after 54 holes of the Open, Macdonald Smith in 1925 and Jean van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999.
But the American, who failed to close out victory in his only other third-round lead – albeit only by a stroke – in a major at the 2017 US Open, is taking nothing for granted.
Having seen his enjoyment of hunting fully explored by the media this week, he intends to fall back on what he has learned in that discipline when he goes out with compatriot and last year's runner-up Cameron Young.
"You’d be foolish not to envision (lifting the Claret Jug) and I’ve thought about winning majors for my whole entire life," said Harman, who added that he was hoping to get a good 10 hours’ sleep ahead of the biggest day of his career.
"It’s the whole reason I work as hard as I do and why I practise as much as I do and why I sacrifice as much as I do.
"Tomorrow if that’s going to come to fruition for me, it has to be all about the golf. It has to be execution and just staying in the moment.
"The patience and the strategy (of hunting) for sure (has helped). When I go out turkey hunting I can spend all day out there. Hunting is something else that I do that makes me lose track of time."
It was another impressive display today by Harman, especially as he was playing with local favourite and Everton fan Tommy Fleetwood and was on the receiving end of some "unrepeatable" comments from fans rooting for the man from Southport.
"I’d be lying if I didn’t hear some things that weren’t super nice towards me," he added.
"I hear them, but, at the same time I don’t try to let that influence the decision I’m about to make."
Rahm compared his 63 to the opening round of 65 at Augusta National in April which set him on course for a second major victory following the 2021 US Open.
"That is the best round I have played on a links course ever," said Rahm, who followed a birdie on the fifth with four in succession from the ninth before picking up further shots on the 15th, 16th and 18th in a back nine of 30.
"Starting on 11, everything became downwind and it got easier.
"It is my lowest round on a links course and it's in the Open Championship right? It's the lowest round shot on this course. It feels really good but there is a lot of work to do."
Rahm had cut a frustrated figure over the first two days, complaining about too many people being inside the ropes following his group with McIlroy and Justin Rose.
"To be fair, I look frustrated very often," Rahm joked.
"I was playing good golf and I knew what I was capable of. I was frustrated because it was basically mistakes that I made. That was it. I gave up the shots at major championships that are very costly, and that’s mainly it.
"I knew my swing and my game felt better than the scores I was shooting. Today was the complete opposite, obviously.
"Today was one of those days where I felt invincible. I’ve been very comfortable from the tee, so it’s easier to stay aggressive."
McIlroy, who triumphed at Hoylake in 2014, had made the ideal start with birdies on the first, third and fifth, but covered the remaining 13 holes in one over par to card a disappointing 69.
The world number two, who had cancelled his formal pre-tournament press conference for the second major in succession on Tuesday, declined to speak to waiting reporters and headed straight to the practice putting green.
McIlroy ended the day as he started it, nine behind Harman, while Fleetwood fell two shots further back following a 71 containing one birdie, one bogey and 16 pars.
England’s Alex Fitzpatrick equalled the previous lowest Open score at Hoylake with a superb 65 to climb into the top 10 on four under, two shots better off than older brother and 2022 US Open champion Matt, who returned a 67.
