Adam Scott and caddie Stevie Williams debate strategy. (Getty Images)

Holding the lead going into the final day of a major can be the proverbial blessing-or-curse choice. Some players handle a Sunday-morning lead like a newborn, protecting it and nurturing it right on to victory. Others handle it like a greased watermelon, fumbling an already-heavy load and surrendering to the inexorable charge of the field.

Following a third-round 68 that left him 11 under and four strokes up on the field at the 2012 British Open, it's now Adam Scott's chance to preserve a lead. How's it going to go for him? We're about to find out.

In Scott's favor: these days, those in front at majors tend to stay in front. This marks the fourth time in the last nine majors that a player has taken at least a four-shot lead into the final round. The only one who didn't win? Rory McIlroy at Augusta in 2010.

Plus, Scott has Stevie Williams on the bag, the guy who was present (and took an inordinate amount of credit) for 13 of Tiger Woods' 14 major wins. Williams ought to steady any nerves that Scott has on the final day ... and he'll surely have plenty.

But first and foremost, let's credit Scott's own play. He was nothing short of relentless on Saturday, blowing right past Snedeker as if the shellshocked Tennesseean was standing still. He carded three birdies against a single bogey on 13, and appeared in control of his find-the-fairway tee shots, his laser-guided approaches and his big-stick belly putter all afternoon.

"If I play a solid round [on Sunday], it makes it very difficult for the other guys," Scott said, and there's no indication that he'll choke  up a lead just because of his relative inexperience in majors. After all, he was leading the Masters in 2010 with two holes to play, and only an astounding four-birdie closing run by Charl Schwartzel snatched the green jacket from his grasp.