Everything you need to know for the fourth round of The Open

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- There are the makings of a mini-Ryder Cup showdown on Sunday at The Open, with Rory McIlroy needing to find the afterburners to make a challenge. Meanwhile, Carnoustie might bite back and become "Car-nasty" all over again, and Xander Schauffele makes an impact.

McIlroy to lead European charge?

The end-of-play leaderboard Saturday was split between an American-laden top half, and then a European contingent lying ready to pounce.

With America holding all four majors, there is a will to break the stranglehold from those on the outside looking in. Francesco Molinari of Italy leads the challenge at 6 under, alone in fifth and paired with Tiger Woods on Sunday. After him comes Sweden's Alex Noren, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and England's Tommy Fleetwood (all at 5 under, tied for sixth), then Justin Rose (4 under, tied for 13th).

From being a shot away from going home on Friday, to equaling the 11-year-old Carnoustie record for The Open a day later, Rose had quite a 24 hours. His 64 on Saturday included two birdies on the fearsome final two holes -- just the fourth player to manage that feat this week.

Rose's overnight emotion was "gratitude" at having managed to progress through to moving day, needing a 14-foot putt at the last hole on Friday to secure his spot. But he refocused, relaxed and found the sort of form that sees him sitting at No. 3 in the world.

"I thought 4 or 5 under was going to be a good round but nothing special," Rose said. "[A score] not going to do enough for me going into tomorrow. I felt like those late couple birdies certainly will make tomorrow at least interesting."

And then there is Molinari. His 6-under 65 means he is well in the mix, and it came as a result of golf he described as "aggressive." With rain and wind forecast for Sunday, Molinari is doing his best to prepare for the unexpected.

"You put the flags where it will be harder," Molinari said. "I think it's up to the elements, and like I said, we need to be ready for anything at the moment. We'll turn up tomorrow and see what it looks like and do our best."

And then, of course, there is McIlroy. As other big names seemed to be hitting the afterburners on Saturday afternoon, McIlroy kept misfiring at key moments, including bogeying two of the last three holes.

"I just need to get off to a fast start tomorrow," said McIlroy. "I'm obviously disappointed after the way I finished, but I'm still in the tournament. I'm only a few shots behind. The wind is supposed to pick up a little bit. So it will make things interesting."

So what's the game plan going to be? "Go out and hit a lot of drivers," said McIlroy. Hold on to your hats.

Don't give up on Car-nasty just yet

This was not Car-nasty as we know it.

In the 1999 Open, there were just seven sub-70 rounds of the course. Yet on this Saturday alone, the first 10 groups topped that tally with eight. The pace never relented, and eventually the count would reach 31.

Initially, the question was: What test will the tournament committee produce for Sunday? But the fact is that Mother Nature will be playing a hand of her own.

The breezes and zephyrs of Thursday through Saturday will be replaced by a constant 20 mph wind that will gust to as much as 30 mph by midafternoon. A multiple-choice examination just got harder, so on Sunday the players will need to seek answers all of their own.

Woods was unconcerned by the news. "If I am 5 shots back," he said, "and if we get the forecast wind, that is certainly doable. They [the leaders] won't be too far out of reach."

He got more than his wish: By day's end, his 5-under total was only 4 behind the 54-hole lead of Spieth, Schauffele and Kevin Kisner.

Spieth was excited by the prospect of defending the Claret Jug and eyeing the possibility of conditions producing a chaotic finale.

"It's ideal for Carnoustie to have a bunched leaderboard and 25 mph winds on Sunday," said Spieth. "It means that someone could post a score from six hours out and potentially win the golf tournament. You're in a scenario almost like the U.S. Open this year at Shinnecock Hills."

Molinari believes flexibility will be key if he is to break his major duck. "It's up to the elements and we need to be ready for anything," he said. "I like it tough, and I trust myself at the moment."

Noren agreed. "I am happy with it being tough," he said. "I can deal with that, and it will suit the chasers. This course has proved that in the past."

It's one thing to sit and speculate what the wind might do. For the tournament committee, there is a potential headache. It needs to create an examination that is not too ridiculous if the wind blows as strongly as expected, but also does not yield too many birdies if weather predictions prove flawed.

Webb Simpson was confident the committee would deal with the dilemma and avoid any USGA-style drama.

"I think they'll do a good job," he said. "This is my seventh or eighth Open Championship, and I've never seen one bad pin or bad setup. I think they'll be prepared for whatever happens."

Perhaps the most blasé man in the field is co-leader Schauffele. Asked what his hopes and plans were for Sunday, he shrugged. "I'll let you know on the first tee," he said with a smile, like a lovely fellow who really didn't know how Car-nasty this devilish stretch of linksland can get.

For the full list of tee times on Sunday, click here.

The X factor

Xander Schauffele won the Xander-Zander battle over Zander Lombard on Saturday, trumping the South African's level-par 71 with a 4-under 67 to vault himself into the final pairing with Spieth on Sunday. But despite playing in just his second Open, Schauffele won't be cowed by the defending champion.

"He's such a nice guy," he said of Spieth. "If anything, we can hopefully get something going, and we can start feeding off each other. Like you said, he won last year, and he's playing great golf right now. So I think he'd be a lot of fun."

Schauffele tied for 20th in his Open debut at Royal Birkdale last year and has adapted quickly to links golf. His strategy of "try to have some fun, stay out of the pot bunkers and make some putts" seems to work.

"I think I just enjoy playing links golf overseas because versus parkland golf, you have a lot of options off the tee, and you can play shots off the greens in so many different ways."