EDDIE Pepperell stormed up the leaderboard at the Open Championship to enter the clubhouse amongst the leading pack ahead of tomorrow's final round.

The 24-year-old, from Abingdon, carded a six-under-par 66 to finish eight-under and two shots behind overnight leader Dustin Johnson, who had not started his third round.

At one stage, he shared the lead on ten-under-par, but a double bogey on the 17th saw him fall two shots behind.

Pepperell parred the last hole to enter the clubhouse in tied for fourth position.

The Frilford Heath ace started the day on two-under-par, safely making the cut on his Open Championship debut despite a ten-hour delay due to high winds at St Andrews.

Pepperell got off to a flying start, birdying five out of the first six holes.

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A five-under-par 31 on the front nine lifted him up to fourth and the 24-year-old continued in the same vein on the way back in by making up another shot on the par four tenth.

Four successive pars were followed by a birdie on 15 as he closed to within a shot of Johnson.

Another birdie at the 16th hole put him at the top of the leaderboard on ten-under-par, but after driving out of bounds on the penultimate hole he was forced to tee off again.

After two-putting for a six, he parred the last hole to finish on eight-under.