Sweden's Ludvig Aberg briefly surrendered the lead before posting 5-under-par 65 to finish the third round of the Scottish Open with a two-shot lead Saturday at North Berwick, Scotland.
Aberg is at 17-under, with Robert MacIntyre, in his home country, in second place at 15-under after carding a 7-under 63 on Saturday.
Australia's Adam Scott shot 64 and is at 14-under in third place.
Golfers had to contend with rainy conditions at The Renaissance Club after what was described as ideal conditions a day earlier.
Sahith Theegala (66), Collin Morikawa (66), France's Antoine Rozner (68) and South Korea's Sungjae Im (67) are tied for fourth at 13-under. Rozner began the day a shot off the lead.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot 67 to move to 12-under. He's in his first tournament since last month's late-round struggles on the final day of the U.S. Open.
McIlroy dropped a stroke on the final hole when he took a bogey, chipping from one side of the green and off the surface to the other side before recovering to prevent further damage.
Aberg posted 3-under across the first nine to head to the backside with a share of the lead with MacIntyre. Aberg shook off consecutive bogeys to record a birdie on No. 13 and get back on track.
Aberg's three-putt bogey on the par-3 12th created a temporary two-shot advantage for MacIntyre.
Following a front-nine 30 that included an eagle on the par-4 fifth hole, MacIntyre took the lead briefly after birdies on Nos. 10 and 11.
He tried to scramble on No. 18, hitting an approach shot from the rough. But he ended up needing three putts from nearly 90 feet and settled for a bogey.
MacIntyre, who was this tournament's 2023 runner-up, won the Canadian Open on June 2 for his first PGA Tour title.
The Scottish Open is the first of two tournaments co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and European Tour.
More must-reads:
Joaquin Niemann shot 65-63-68 at JCB Golf and Country Club to win LIV Golf United Kingdom by a comfortable three shots. The Chilean now has more wins than Scottie Scheffler in 2025, but it's still hard to take him seriously. All five of Niemann's victories this year have come in the LIV Golf League. He's won nearly half of LIV's 11 tournaments this season, and four of them were by a margin of at least three shots. When you look at the leaderboards of these tournaments, though, the victories lose their luster. At LIV Golf UK, Niemann outlasted 46-year-old Bubba Watson, who has only three top-20 finishes in major championships since his 2014 Masters win. He beat 45-year-old Graeme McDowell and 38-year-old Anirban Lahiri by three shots at LIV Golf Virginia. At LIV Golf Singapore, a struggling Brooks Koepka and journeyman Ben Campbell were the only players within six shots of Niemann's winning score. LIV Golf doesn't have a deep talent pool. When Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm don't have their A games, it's quite easy for a player with Niemann's skill to separate from the pack. What Niemann is doing on LIV Golf is impressive. There's no denying that. The 26-year-old has nine worldwide wins since the start of 2024, but he could win nine more in similar fields, and he still wouldn't be considered one of the elite players in the world. Niemann has played in 26 major championships in his career, and he has only one top-15 finish. He's missed the cut nine times. Niemann finished T29 at the Masters this year after making the cut on the number. Two weeks later, he won LIV Golf Mexico City. After winning LIV Golf Virginia in June, he showed up to the U.S. Open the next week and shot +10 to miss the cut. He missed the cut again at the Open Championship, and—you guessed it—won a LIV event seven days later. Professional golfers are remembered for their performances in major championships. Niemann can win all the exhibition tournaments he wants, but none of those victories will matter until he contends at a major.
Would the New York Yankees still be a heavyweight contender without Aaron Judge? Most fans would doubt it. What comes as a shock is that Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman, appears to agree. According to MLB insider Andy Martino of SNY, Cashman had explored the option of selling ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline (6 p.m. EST) if Judge’s flexor strain had turned out to be something worse. Martino wrote this: “[On Saturday], we relayed that the Yankees were floating some of their free-agent-to-be relievers in preliminary trade talks. We have since learned through league sources that last week the Yanks brought up Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt in talks with at least one other club.” It would be strange to see a team with a record well above .500 shop core hitters at the deadline. Both Bellinger and Goldschmidt — hitting .281/.333/.507 with 19 home runs and .283/.341/.419 with eight home runs respectively entering Tuesday — have been valuable producers for the Yankees this year. Goldschmidt signed a one-year deal with the Bronx Bombers over the offseason while Bellinger was acquired via trade with the Cubs. He is signed through 2026 but has a player option at the end of the year. Either player would bring a nice haul back to the Yankees. Of course, the reigning AL MVP’s injury doesn’t seem to be a season-altering, ‘abandon ship’ type of event. Optimistically, Judge should be back soon. But this does serve to illustrate how the team’s success is dependent on one player. Beyond Judge, the Yankees’ batting order doesn’t feature a star-caliber player, or at least a player the lineup can be built around. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, New York lacks enough solid hitters to be considered a worthy contender without Judge. The Yankees’ three bottom-of-the-order hitters — Austin Wells (.214), Anthony Volpe (.213) and newest acquisition Ryan McMahon (.223) — all own batting averages below .230 entering Tuesday. And this doesn’t include J.C. Escarra (.205), Oswald Peraza (.152) or even Ben Rice (.229). If Judge was lost for the season, selling wouldn’t have been a bad idea. He is insoluble glue holding the battered Yankees’ roster together, especially with Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt gone for the year. No one on the trade market could replace him, but with Judge coming back, the Yankees might have enough firepower to at least limp to the finish line.
Cincinnati Bengals star defensive end Trey Hendrickson has been holding out from training camp as he seeks a new contract, and it does not sound like the two sides are all that close to a deal. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler said on "SportsCenter" Monday that there has been "some progress" in negotiations between the Bengals and Hendrickson's representatives over the past week or so. The real disagreement has to do with guaranteed money, and Cincinnati's brass is not budging. "Hendrickson wants a stronger guaranteed structure, particularly later in what should be a multiyear deal. In talking to people with the Bengals they feel like, 'Hey, we've probably relented as far as we can go.' So this is a classic stare-off right now, and it's time to buckle up," Fowler said, via Andrew Peters of Bleacher Report. Hendrickson is set to earn $16M in base salary in the final year of his contract this season. He recently said he has shown a willingness to take less than market value on a new deal, but the Bengals do not want to guarantee him money beyond the 2026 season. Based on what he has said, the 30-year-old Hendrickson is not seeking to become the highest-paid defensive player in football. In order to accomplish that, he would have to top the three-year, $123M extension T.J. Watt signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Hendrickson had 35 sacks over the past two seasons, which was the most in the NFL during that span. He had 17.5 sacks each season and finished second in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2024. The Bengals took care of one major offseason issue on Sunday when they finally signed first-round pick Shemar Stewart to a rookie deal. All it will take is one side to budge in the team's ongoing stalemate with Hendrickson, but all parties seem to be dug in as training camp rolls on.
The Yankees have interest in Pirates left-hander Andrew Heaney, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman adds that the Yankees, and the Mets, have checked in on Joe Ryan of the Twins and MacKenzie Gore of the Nationals. However, he downplays the likelihood of anything coming from those pursuits. Similarly, Heyman mentions that the Yankees reached out to the Pirates about Oneil Cruz but says nothing is likely to come from that either.P The Yankees have been connected to plenty of starting pitchers recently. That includes some potentially notable upgrades like Dylan Cease or Mitch Keller, as well as more back-end types like Chris Paddack, who was traded from the Twins to the Tigers yesterday. Heaney is more in the latter category at this stage of his career. He’s had some tantalizing strikeout stuff in the past but that’s not the case this year. In 107 innings for the Pirates, he has a 4.79 earned run average and a subpar 17.2% strikeout rate. His season got off to a strong start but he’s been in a rough slide lately. Through his first 14 starts, he had a 3.33 ERA, though with a subpar 18.5% strikeout rate. He was getting a bit of help from his .234 batting average on balls in play and 81.8% strand rate. His FIP and SIERA were both 4.44 for that span, suggesting those metrics thought it was a mirage. They were proven correct when Heaney posted an 8.79 ERA over his next six starts. It’s not the most exciting set of numbers but the Yanks might just want a veteran to take the ball every five days. As mentioned, they were interested in Paddack, who has similar numbers to Heaney this year. Paddack posted a 4.95 ERA with a 17.6% strikeout rate before his trade. The Yankees have lost Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt to Tommy John surgery but still have a strong one-two atop the rotation in Max Fried and Carlos Rodón. They have been without Luis Gil all year so far but he’s on the cusp of a return. Will Warren is having a good season on the whole. Adding a vet would allow the Yanks to perhaps move Cam Schlittler back to Triple-A or bump Marcus Stroman to long relief or off the roster. It’s been a rough stretch for the Yankees, as they have fallen into a tight Wild Card race. Entering today, they are only a game and a half ahead of the Rangers, who are the top team not currently in possession of a playoff spot. Heaney wouldn’t be in the club’s planned playoff rotation but he could upgrade the staff for the stretch run. Schlittler has just two big league outings under his belt while Stroman has a 6.08 ERA in his eight starts this year. Heaney shouldn’t cost much in terms of prospect capital and is also making just $5.25M this year. There’s now less than $1.75M of that still to be paid out. Since the Yankees are a third-time competitive balance tax payor and are over the top tier, they face a 110% tax on any additional spending. The Yankees could pursue a more impactful upgrade and it seems like they have looked into the possibility. However, all reports have suggested that a trade of either Gore or Ryan would be a long shot. Both pitchers are affordably controlled for two years after this season, making them very valuable to their respective clubs. It would likely take a massive prospect haul to pry either player loose. It’s basically the same story with Cruz, who is controlled for three seasons after this one.
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!