PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — For one glorious moment in the sun on Saturday evening at the Open Championship, the three golfers at the gravitational center of Royal Portrush shared a single ovation.

First and nearest was the main character of this year’s final major: Rory McIlroy, the golfer facing some of the largest, loudest and most exuberant crowds in 153 playings of golf’s oldest championship. He arrived in a red Nike shirt and black pants — an ensemble mirroring another famous Nike golfer, and befitting the enormity of the spectacle that followed him. Second and furthest was the leader, Scottie Scheffler, the man whose vice grip on this 153rd Open felt quite suffocating by the time his wiry build appeared within view, stroking his beard with a quiet focus. Third, in an area that might be called the middle distance, arrived the man whose role in the day’s festivities could perhaps be described similarly: Jordan Smith.

Through some divine accident of course design, the 13th and 17th holes at Royal Portrush share a spine. The two holes — a par-3 and a par-4 — sit back-to-back in a manner that one imagines causes grave issues for golfers with a handicap of 15 or higher, but produces tremendous amphitheater viewing for those attending a tournament of the best golfers in the world. Through another divine accident, McIlroy and Smith made it to the 17th green just as Scheffler appeared on the back side of the 13th, giving each of the 5,000 or so encircling the two greens an unusual moment of clarity: Here, for a few seconds, were the golfers everyone wanted to see.

Smith, the No. 89 golfer in the world, was an unusual fit in the trio, and his movements were any indication, he knew it. No. 89 stood between Nos. 1 and 2 for just a few seconds before quickly shuffling to stare down a 20-foot birdie putt. When the putt settled up next to the hole, he shuffled some more down to the hole, and quickly tapped in to tidy it up for par.

Smith shared this moment with McIlroy and all the others on a particularly magical Saturday afternoon in Portrush. Through a third divine accident, McIlroy, the hometown kid and owner of five majors, including the career Grand Slam, spent Saturday paired with Smith, the 32-year-old journeyman and part-owner of the Guinness World Record for the “most golf balls caught in one minute.” As McIlroy recorded a Saturday 66 featuring “some of the loudest roars [he’d] ever heard on a golf course” to vault into contention at his home Open, Smith watched as an already-electric crowd devolved into several moments of downright delirium.

“I mean, I was crapping myself in the first tee there, but that’s that’s understandable,” Smith said with a laugh on Saturday evening. “Once we got around, we enjoyed it. I had fun, like I said, didn’t play the best, but we enjoyed it.”

In the aftermath of one of the loudest rounds in recent major championship Saturday history, Smith carried a commendable sense of levity. Sharing a major championship pairing with one of the biggest stars in the world is a difficult draw for any pro, let alone one of Smith’s comparative anonymity. Saturday’s crowds spent most of Smith’s shots shuffling into position to see McIlroy’s next shot, sometimes forgetting the Masters winner was not the only golfer on the hole. On the 18th fairway, utter silence for McIlroy’s approach shot was replaced by the noticeable murmur of chatting fans and stomping feet for Smith.

The journeyman responded impressively, firing a one-over 72 that slotted him 22 spots lower on the leaderboard, but featured a pair of noteworthy birdies on the par-5 7th and 12th.

“It was just constant noise for four and a half hours, to be honest,” Smith said. “I knew it was going to be loud, rowdy, everyone cheering on Rory, which, you know, he played really well today. But that was pretty special.”

Saturday was actually Smith’s second afternoon in Ireland alongside McIlroy — but Saturday’s round was “nothing” like the Irish Open tee time they once shared. About the only common thread Smith could point to was McIlroy’s demeanor, which he termed friendly and chatty, nothing like the “silence” that McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau allegedly shared in a raucous environment on Masters Sunday.

“Yeah, we chatted plenty,” Smith said. “We’re both on holiday next week. I’m in Mykonos, and he’s I think in Santorini — so that was nice.”

The vacation will be well-earned for both parties after the energy poured into Saturday’s insanity at Portrush. The crowds only seemed to grow as McIlroy’s flurry of early birdies vaulted him up the leaderboard. Smith had spent much of the 12 hours preceding his round preparing for the scene he expected to greet him on Saturday at the Open — McIlroy’s first weekend round at Portrush — but as the pair strutted down the first fairway, he could hardly suppress his surprise.

“[The loudest moment] was probably when we were walking off the first tee,” he said. “That was insane.”

As it turned out, the surprises were not done.

“Heard a couple of shouts for me,” he said after the noise was over with a grin. “That was quite nice, quite surprising.”

Soon, Smith said, this Saturday at the Open will fade into one of the most memorable days of his golfing life.

For now, though?

“It’s nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

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