That man again

 That was a hell of a thing Rory McIlroy did Saturday, in case you missed it. Not only did the native son cup all of Northern Ireland in the palm of his hand on a sun-washed day at the British Open, he also won the coveted (or not) Word Of The Day championship.

Rory's winning word was "inevitable."

Which was what he thought after trudging up and down through a sea of chanting humanity (Rory! Rory! Rory!) to put up a 5-under 66 -- and then stealing a glance at the leaderboard.

There at the top of it was -- surprise! -- Scottie Scheffler. Despite Rory's 66, he was still six strokes ahead of McIlroy with one round to play in The Open, and four strokes to the good on the field.

"Inevitable," McIlroy said of that a little later.

Sure seems so.

Sure seems as if Scheffler has gone all Tiger Woods on the game of golf, and if that sounds sacrilegious it's a burden we'll have to bear. This will happen when you scorch the Royal Portrush track with a 64 to steal the halftime lead from a bunch of Nicolai Hojgaards and Tyrrell Hattons, then pile on a third-round 67 to create his four-stroke separation coming to Sunday.

On Saturday, Scheffler played bogey-free golf, continuing a week in which he's made bogey just three times in 54 holes. He's also turned the long par-3 16th the locals call Calamity Corner into Scottie's Corner; while virtually everyone else has struggled there, he's made birdie all three days. 

And, sure, that doesn't mean it's actually inevitable he'll be hoisting the claret jug at the end of today. But, again, it sure seems so.

Scheffler has never held a larger 54-hole lead before, and, like Tiger, he's a stone killer on Sundays. The last nine times he's led after three rounds, he's won the tournament.

To re-work the old motorsports line: Lead on Saturday, win on Sunday.

"He's just so solid," McIlroy said. "He doesn't make mistakes ... There doesn't seem to be any weakness there. Whenever you're trying to chase down a guy like that, it's hard to do."

And if no one chases him down today, Scheffler will have captured the third leg of a career Grand Slam. At 29, he'll have won the Masters, the PGA and The Open.

The last guy to do that before the age of 30?

Come on. Do I really have to tell you?