Scottie Scheffler is your Champion Golfer of the Year — and he left no doubt.
Entering Sunday at Royal Portrush, Scheffler held a four-stroke lead over Haotong Li, his closest competitor, with Matthew Fitzpatrick another shot behind. The quartet of Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Chris Gotterup and Harris English were the only other golfers within six of the World No. 1. Barring a historic collapse, Scheffler’s second major title of the season was all but assured.
NBC analyst Kevin Kisner put it best when speaking on Live From Saturday evening: “[He’s] just not the guy you want to be chasing.”
It took all of one hole Sunday for Scheffler to remind everyone why. Despite facing one of the nerviest opening tee shots in all of golf with out of bounds flanking both sides of the fairway, Scheffler kept his ball in play off the tee and then hit his approach shot to within kick-in range. Birdie.
The rout was officially on.
Scheffler parred the next two holes and then made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to reach 17 under. His nearest competition was six shots back. The question no longer remained if Scheffler would claim the Claret Jug. The only mystery was how large the final margin would be.
Alas, even in the midst of one of his greatest triumphs, Scheffler showcased a brief moment of mortality. On the par-4 eighth hole, he found a fairway bunker and was unable to escape on his first try. Once he did find the short grass, he missed the green and could not get up-and-down for bogey.
“Really the only blemish over the last 36 holes was the double on 8, but did a good job of resetting,” Scheffler said. “Bounced back on 9 and was able to keep a pretty sizable lead for most of the day.”
The 6 on the scorecard would be his only dropped shots of the day. For the remainder of the round, Scheffler was nearly perfect. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but with two birdies and eight pars after the slip-up, he posted a ho-hum Sunday 68.
Scheffler’s 267 four-day total was four better than English, who finished alone in second place. Gotterup, the winner of last week’s Scottish Open, finished another shot back for solo third, while Wyndham Clark, Fitzpatrick and Li rounded out the top five.
There may never be another player who dominated the game as Tiger Woods did in the early 2000s, but Scheffler is certainly doing his best impersonation. The advanced analytics illustrate as much, with Scheffler’s Strokes-Gained stats only being bested by those of Woods himself. But even with that in mind, Scheffler remains unconvinced.
“I still think [the Tiger comparisons are] a bit silly,” he said. “I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf.”
Woods may stand alone in the game’s history, but Scheffler’s win did allow him to share a bit of history with the 15-time major winner. It was 1,197 days between Woods winning his first major title and winning his fourth. Scheffler’s win at Royal Portrush comes exactly 1,197 days since his triumph at the 2022 Masters, his first major. With the win, Scheffler has now won 17 tournaments, four majors, two Players Championships and a gold medal over the last three seasons.
Scheffler may not be Woods, but he sure is on a Tiger-like run.
