PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The best players in the world of professional golf have become accustomed to Scottie Scheffler’s other-worldly ball striking performances on an almost weekly basis. But when he putts the way he did this week on the greens of Royal Portrush Golf Club, it’s not a fair fight. Scheffler topped the field in both Strokes Gained: Approach and SG: Putting to win the 153rd British Open on Sunday in a rout by four strokes over Harris English.
Scheffler won his second major of the year, having previously claimed the PGA Championship in May, his fourth career major title, and joins Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson as active players with three legs of the career Grand Slam. The other 155 golfers in the field could only stick out their hands, palms up, and ask, “What’s the point?”
That was the question Scheffler posed during his pre-championship press conference when he explained that the euphoric winning feeling only lasted a few minutes, and added, “This is not a fulfilling life.”
But it’s the life he leads, and the world No. 1 went out and shot a scrappy 3-under 68 in the toughest conditions of the week while hitting just three fairways. On Friday, he put on a clinic with eight birdies en route to 64 and claimed the 36-hole lead.
“I played with him the first two days, and honestly I thought he was going to birdie every hole. It was incredible to watch,” Shane Lowry said. “When he starts getting on that roll, he’s a hard person to beat.”
Scheffler shot a bogey-free 67 on Saturday to stretch his lead to four. Even Rory McIlroy conceded that Scheffler’s name being etched on the Claret Jug was a safe bet. “It’s inevitable. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s become a complete player. He’s improved so much with his putter.”
On Sunday, County Antrim’s summer stretched two full days long. It was shorts and sunscreen weather. Bathed in sunshine, Scheffler spun his approach at the first to kick-in range for a birdie. He rolled in birdie putts at Nos. 4 and 5 and for a moment his lead had grown to eight. Scheffler’s putter bailed him out with lengthy pars at Nos. 6 and 7 but he got a little greedy from a fairway bunker at the eighth and hit the steep slope of a revetted bunker that resulted in a double bogey. Still, he only made three bogeys all week and avoided any calamity – playing Calamity Corner, the treacherous par-3 16th, in 3 under.
Scheffler’s lead was trimmed to four shots but he bounced back with an angry 350-yard drive at No. 9, stuffed a lob wedge inside 10 feet and rolled in another birdie putt. He tacked on a birdie at the par-5 12th and cruised to his 17th career Tour title and fourth of the season. It marked Scheffler’s 10th consecutive win when holding the 54-hole lead. He just needs to do it 27 more times to match Tiger. But the comparisons to Tiger are growing.
“Having watched Tiger play in his prime – and I think Tiger is the greatest player I’ve ever seen – I never thought in my lifetime I’d see a player as close to Tiger as this man currently is,” said Jim “Bones” Mackay. “Scottie Scheffler just blows my mind every time I watch him play.”
English closed with birdies on two of his final three holes to shoot 66 and claim second, a stroke better than Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup (67), who had a great two-week stretch on this side of the pond. Wyndham Clark fired a 65 to finish T-4 with Matt Fitzpatrick and Haotong Li, who was Scheffler’s final-round playing partner. Defending champion Xander Schauffele (68) tied for seventh with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre. Bryson DeChambeau made 19 birdies over the final three rounds and posted the low score of the final round, a 64, to rally from an opening-round 78 and finish T-10.
But it was Scheffler who got to enjoy his two minutes of ecstasy as he blew away the field at Royal Portrush to be the Champion Golfer of the Year.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Open Championship: Scottie Scheffler blows away field at Royal Portrush