2026 Scottish Open leaderboard: Matt Fitzpatrick surges, Rory McIlroy stumbles as fog causes Round 3 delays

The third round will resume at 7 a.m. local (2 a.m. ET) on Sunday morning and they will regroup into threesomes for the final round, but still all go off the 1st tee, starting no earlier than 10:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m. ET). 

Provided there's no more fog, they can play until 9:30 p.m. local time, which should give them a good chance at finishing play on Sunday and not delaying players from getting to Royal Birkdale to start their Open Championship preparations on Monday. 

For the second time today the horn has sounded to stop play due to foggy conditions at the Renaissance Club at 7:55 p.m. local time. Due to how late it is, they will not attempt to resume play on Saturday. 

They were hoping to play until 9:30 p.m. local (4:30 p.m. ET), but they'll stop play again just shy of 8 p.m. local due to unplayable conditions with extremely thick fog and mist. The final groups got through the coastal holes which is where the fog is the worst, but the fog continued to creep inland and got to the point where it was no longer playable.

Matt Fitzpatrick would've liked to hear the horn one hole sooner, as he bogeyed the 8th after missing the fairway left off the tee and found a pot bunker on his approach. That dropped him back into a share of the lead at 11 under alongside Michael Thorbjornsen. 

As quickly as Roy tied the lead, Fitzpatrick grabbed it by himself again with his fourth birdie in seven holes, taking advantage of the par-5 7th to reach 12 under. Fitzpatrick had to get up-and-down from the fescue short and left of the green, but managed that challenge well and was able to pour in another birdie putt. 

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy's disastrous third round continues with a bogey 6 on the par 5 after finding the thickest fescue on the course off the tee and barely advancing the ball 20 yards. From there he had 208 yards into the par 5 and came up short and right, failing to get up-and-down resulting in his third bogey of the day to fall all the way back to 6 under, which is tied for 26th currently. 

Fitzpatrick's time as the solo leader didn't last long as he now has company at the top in the form of Kevin Roy. Roy is threatening the low round of the day (64) and trying to tie or better the course record (63) as he's got it to -6 thru 15 on what's become a challenging evening at the Renaissance Club. Roy's been on cruise control today with six birdies and no bogeys, rolling through the fog without any issues. He will try to get into the clubhouse and post a new mark to beat and see how the rest of the field fares as darkness creeps in alongside the fog. 

A heavy fog has returned, but it hasn't bothered Fitzpatrick who is now -3 thru 6 in his third round. His latest birdie came on the 6th as he curled home a 23-footer to become the first man to reach 11 under this week, breaking out of the five-way tie at the top to grab the solo lead. 

We'll see exactly how much golf gets played this evening, as the fog that caused a delay this morning before clearing in the early afternoon has returned with a vengeance. The penultimate group will have very different feelings on whether they'd like to hear a horn to halt play again, as Fitzpatrick will want to keep it rolling, while McIlroy would be thrilled to halt play again as he's 2 over and has nothing positive going on his third round. 

McIlroy has shot under 68 at the Renaissance Club in each of his last 13 rounds at the Scottish Open, but he has some serious work to do if he's going to extend that streak on Saturday. The co-leader heading into the third round has now bogeyed both of the par 3s to start his round, most recently making a 4 on the 5th hole after his tee shot came up woefully short of the green with a wedge and he failed to get up-and-down. McIlroy can't get it out of first gear after tee times were delayed nearly 2.5 hours, and he's watched his playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick surge into a share of the lead with two early birdies. 

After stuffing his approach tight on the 4th, Matt Fitzpatrick cleaned up for his second birdie of the day to get to 10 under and tied with Gotterup, Vilips and Keefer for the lead. 

Fitzpatrick is playing in the penultimate pairing with Rory McIlroy, who was the strong overnight favorite after grabbing a share of the lead, but it's been Fitzpatrick that has gotten off to a flying start while McIlroy has stalled a bit to start his round at 1 over after four holes. 

Gotterup is off to a flying start with three early birdies and is now tied with Karl Vilips and Johnny Keefer at 10 under -- with Keefer getting into the clubhouse with a 6-under 64 to match the low round of the day and post -10 as the early clubhouse lead. 

The defending champ seems right at home in the cool conditions that have swept through North Berwick on Saturday, but still has some serious star power behind him. Wyndham Clark's heater continues as he's gotten to 9 under, alongside Matt Fitzpatrick, while Rory McIlroy has dropped a shot early to fall back to 8 under, but is still very much in the hunt. In total there are 16 players within two shots of the lead, as things have bunched up tremendously at the Renaissance Club. 

The defending champion is off to a fast start in his third round, birdieing the par-5 1st to move to 8 under, tied for fifth behind what is now a four-way tie on top at 9 under. 

Gotterup arrived at the Scottish Open not only with great vibes as the defending champion, but in fantastic form having just won last week at the John Deere Classic. He'll try to chase down Rory McIlroy and the rest of the leaders on Moving Day in Scotland, as the final groups get a late start after a lengthy fog delay this morning. 

With the leaders still over an hour away from their tee times, Mac Meissner is in the clubhouse with the early score to beat on Saturday. Meissner's 6-under 64 vaulted him from on the cut line to tied for fourth place currently at 8 under, one shot off the lead. While he's likely to finish the day outside the top 10 once the leaders get on the course, he has certainly given himself a chance to contend for a top 10 finish on Sunday -- or better if he can produce another round like his 64. 

As of now, his round is the best of the day by three shots over J.J. Spaun and Jesper Svensson, but he'll have a challenge from the likes of Tommy Fleetwood (-4 thru 12) and others on the course at 3 and 4 under in the middle of their round. 

Those who teed off first this morning before the lengthy fog delay got the worst of the weather conditions, which is a bit of a cruel twist of fate for guys who already were at the bottom of the leaderboard. After the delay, conditions have steadily improved and there are low scores to be had out at the Renaissance Club. 

Two players are 4 under on their front nine already -- Matti Schmid (thru 8) and Tom McKibbin (thru 7) -- offering a glimpse at what could be possible this afternoon. With a leaderboard that's incredibly bunched up at the top, that could make for an extremely fun Moving Day in Scotland, particularly given the names scattered about the top 10. Rory McIlroy shares the lead and will be chased by Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup, Robert MacIntyre and others -- all of whom will have to be thinking about rounds in the mid-60s if they want to stay around the lead heading into Sunday. 

The fog delay stretched for 2 hours and 25 minutes in North Berwick, as conditions deteriorated to the point that it was nearly impossible to see the fairway from the tee box on some holes. 

That led to a shuffling of the tee times, with play resuming with Jon Rahm's pairing starting at 1:13 local time (8:13 a.m. ET). The marquee pairing of Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy in the penultimate group will now tee off at 6:04 p.m. local (1:04 p.m. ET), with the final pairing 11 minutes behind them. It does stay light extremely late in Scotland at this time of the year, but it's still unlikely play gets finished this evening.