The Open: Offaly's Shane Lowry takes a four shot lead into final round after astounding eight under par 63

Irishman Shane Lowry will take a four shot lead into the final round of The 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

The Offaly man shot an incredible eight-under 63 on Saturday to lead England's Tommy Fleetwood by four at 16-under par.

Behind Fleetwood, JB Holmes is at ten under, one clear of both Justin Rose and four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, with his Portrush caddie Ricky Elliott.

Lowry's round is a record for the Dunluce Links since the new holes came into play and just two shy of Rory McIlroy's famous 61 on the old layout.

Rory McIlroy's close cut-miss last night was a very a difficult atmosphere to top, but it's been beaten inside 24 hours with the local support erupting into roars and songs through Lowry's closing stretch and long after the final putt dropped.

Even those with double-digits of Open Championships under their belts are reporting the scenes to be something never seen before at the tournaments.

Imagine what Sunday could bring as Lowry looks to become the fifth Irishman, after Fred Daly, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy, to lift the Claret Jug.

It is worth pointing out, however, that Lowry has been in this position in a Major before.

In the 2016 US Open, he held a four-shot advantage after three rounds, only to card a six over par final round and finish second. That was, it must be said, under strange circumstances as weather problems meant he finished his penultimate round on Sunday morning, just hours before he took to the course once again.

And that wasn't at Portrush.

Lowry held a share of the overnight lead at the halfway stage, eight-under par alongside playing partner JB Holmes.

Two-under thru eight, there was a long-standing four-way tie at the top, with Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood and Holmes joining Lowry at ten-under.

However, a birdie at the ninth was to spark a quite incredible finish to Lowry's bogey-free round. He made it back-to-back at the par-four tenth and then took advantage of the short par-five 12th to reach five-under par for the day.

The Dunluce Links' closing stretch is becoming increasingly notorious this week but Lowry became its master, making a tidy three on 15 and following it up with what is potentially the shot of the tournament.

At the world-famous 236-yard par-three, Calamity Corner, Lowry launched a dart straight at the back-right pin, the toughest on the green, and calmly converted from inside 10 feet.

Another birdie followed at the short par-four 17th, playing a neat bump and run to set up a tap in.

He played the 18th superbly, splitting the fairway and finding his 17th green of the day to set up a long birdie putt that almost dropped.

Hometown boy Graeme McDowell was one of the early starters and put together another impressive round, carding a three-under par 68 to reach -2 for the week and sneak inside the top 30.

Relive round three as it happened:

Belfast Telegraph Digital