TROON, Scotland — Justin Thomas almost got in the house before the heavy stuff started coming down Saturday at the British Open. Early in his third round, he took advantage of dry, calm conditions at Royal Troon to play the front nine in five-under 31. For the record, that was 14 shots lower than how he played the front nine on Friday and two shots better than his impressive start on the outward holes Thursday.

But the predicted rain came in off the coast, and Thomas held on over the closing holes, shooting one over on the back nine for a four-under 67 that left him even par for the championship.

“I played really, really well, made some great putts,” Thomas said afterward. “It’s hard to not put too much pressure on yourself, I think, going out early on a Saturday in an Open. You know it can be gettable sometimes. With the wind being calmer, I felt good enough about my game where I could be aggressive off the tees like I was, but I also capitalized on them. So it was nice.”

Thomas started the week with such promise, shooting a three-under 68 early on Thursday. But then nothing went right on Friday, the two-time PGA champion making four bogeys, a double and a triple on his opening nine holes for his wild 45. To his credit, Thomas hung on, playing the back nine in two under to post a 78 and find his way into the weekend.

Asked on Saturday what might explain how he can go 68-78-67 for three days, Thomas offered a perfect one-word answer.

“Golf,” Thomas said bluntly. “Golf is how I would sum it up. It’s a crazy sport and a lot of things can happen in a lot of conditions. But that’s what I signed up for, I guess.”

Thomas answered honestly, too, when asked what he hoped to see from the rest of play on Saturday. “I hope it continues to rain and gets windy. I think I’d be crazy if I said otherwise.”

When Thomas was done for the day, he was tied for 10th, seven back of leader Shane Lowry. Recall that when Thomas won his second major—and most recent PGA Tour title—at the 2022 PGA at Southern Hills, he was seven off the lead as well heading into the final round. That obviously helps inspire him but with a caveat as he waited to see how things shake out on Saturday.

“The biggest thing is just going to be even if I am five, six, seven back, it’s just the amount of people that are ahead of me,” Thomas said. “Like at Southern Hills I was seven back but I only had five people ahead of me. That’s a big difference, even very different than being four back but there’s 15 people ahead of me. But I can’t do anything about what those guys do about the conditions. I did my part and I just gotta hope for the best, and hopefully we have a chance tomorrow.”

Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.