Scottie Scheffler impregnable in 4th major victory
Scheffler and caddy, Ted Scott, enjoying yet another major win – image Stuart Franklin R&A via Getty Images
In yet another display of his amazing golfing skills and, equally important, his impressive course management, Scottie Scheffler has won his 4th major championship title with a four-shot victory over Harris English at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
If his chasers through 54 holes were hoping for any chinks in the 29-year-old’s armour today, then three birdies in his opening five holes essentially put the title beyond doubt. Although he would double bogey his 8th hole after taking two to exit from a fairway bunker, he was quickly back in cruise control, playing the next ten holes in 2 under for a round of 68 and yet another emphatic victory.
It was Scheffler’s 13th PGA Tour victory since his the Open Championship two years ago and his 17th overall and with earnings now just over US$90 million his earnings he now sits behind only Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson in that category and with seemingly much more to come he is on track to become the greatest ever money winner on the PGA Tour over the next couple of years.
It is not only the number of wins that has been so impressive, but that Scheffler has produced 21 other top tens in that time highlights his amazing consistency brought about by outstanding on-course management and the skill to benefit from such, has his fellow players wondering just how they might challenge his domination of the game.
Scheffler came under a little pressure early today when he faced lengthy par putts at the 6th and 7th holes, but he converted both, and from that point on, he never missed a green with his pinpoint distance control.
“It’s a very special feeling,” said the champion. “It takes a lot of work to get to this point in my career.
“This was a tough week. It was challenging. The golf course was playing really tough, and I had to focus very hard over the course of the weekend.
“Really, the only blemish over the last 36 holes was the double on 8, but I did a good job of resetting and coming back with a birdie on 9.
“I guess this one was different from the PGA in terms of I had a decent lead to start the day. PGA, I felt like I struggled a bit on the front nine and was able to kind of push forward and win it on the back nine, whereas this one, I felt like I built up a lead. It got a little close there after the double on 8, but like I said, bounced back on 9 and was able to keep a pretty sizable lead for most of the day.”
Scheffler was asked about the now iconic walk to the last green for the champion.
“It’s a very special walk. To be honest with you, walking up 18, I didn’t really know if I was going to get that much support from the crowd. The crowd, I think, wanted somebody else to win this week, and I kind of got to play spoiler a little bit, which was fun as well.
“It really was, it was a great reception. I heard a lot of the fans supporting me out there today. It was a really cool environment to be able to play in. You had a lot of guys out there supporting the local favourites, and you had some people from the States coming out and supporting us. It was a really interesting day, but it was a lot of fun.”
“At the end of the day, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude towards moment like these. I literally worked my entire life to become good at this game and play this game for a living. It’s one of my greatest joys of my life to compete out here. To be able to win The Open Championship here at Portrush is a feeling that’s really hard to describe.”
The great battle for second place was eventually won by American Harris English whose final round of 66 saw him edge clear of last week’s Scottish Open winner, Chris Gotterup, while Wyndham Clark, Haotong Li and Matthew Fitzpatrick shared 3rd place but seven further players were within two shots of that trio, highlighting a great final round contest for podium honours.
Australian Marc Leishman had a final round battle after a solid week to that point, eventually finishing in 52nd place after a final round of 75 in a week where the Australasians performed well below expectations.
Image courtesy of Stuart Kerr R&A via Getty Images
