There is no doubt that we are witnessing the era of Scottie Scheffler. In golf, there is a tendency to unfairly compare the performance and merits of those who reach number one with what Tiger Woods achieved, and the truth is that of the current players, only Scheffler can hold his gaze. Scottie, 29, may be lifting his first Claret Jug a little late, but he does not seem to be a player who will take his foot off the accelerator in the coming years unless something unexpected happens. Unlike Woods, he took his time in college and did not blossom until after the pandemic. Since then, he has been almost unstoppable. As a matter of fact, this week’s champion has 111 under par in majors since the beginning of 2020, which translates into 46 strokes better than any other player in that time frame.
Scottie has added his first Open Championship and only the US Open remains to complete the Grand Slam. Interestingly, since Tiger Woods, a world number one had not won the oldest tournament in the world. It is the second major that the New Jersey native has won this year and his fourth victory of the season. Only Rory McIlroy comes close, having won the AT&T Pebble Beach, The Players and the Masters. And that’s despite the fact that this Open champion started the season late due to a cut he suffered on his hand during Christmas dinner that required surgery.
Scheffler’s game was sublime throughout the week and this meant that the final round was not exciting, not even when the leader scored a double bogey. There was no approach from any rival, which will have hurt the audiences. Haotong Li threatened to get within four and thus tighten the final outcome of the tournament, but was unable to do so. Harris English was the one who finally climbed with an eagle on 12 and a couple of late birdies. Among them all they paved the way for Scottie, even McIlroy, who did not find a moment of momentum in his round. In any case, Scheffler has won his four majors by more than three strokes and this is to his credit.
The winner signed a birdie on the 1st hole to lay the foundations for a controlled finish to the Major. He repeated on 4 and 5; a double bogey came on 8, countered immediately with another birdie. Tee to green play was impeccable and no more birdies fell because he didn’t hole any more putts. On the back nine he only made the one on 12, although his play was as solid as it had been all week. If a neophyte only saw Scheffler’s shots, he would think that playing golf should not be so difficult.
The Spaniards Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia finished with rounds of 70 and 68 respectively and are outside the top 30. And it’s not that it’s a surprise, but the second place of Harris English transports him almost directly to the Ryder Cup, as he was also second in the PGA Championship and 14th in the Masters.
The best card of the day (64) was signed by Bryson DeChambeau, who was very proud of his comeback, although he admitted that he still has to “learn the codes of links courses when there is wind and rain”. If he hadn’t shot 78 on the first day, things would have been different for him. However, he admitted: “I’m very proud of how I turned things around and gave myself hope in the third round after the first nine holes”. What’s more, the ‘Scientist’ dreamed of something more, although he is overwhelmed by the evidence: “I even thought I could be up there on Sunday and give Scottie a beating, but he’s playing in a different league right now. I played against him a lot in college and he wasn’t that good. He’s learned a lot since then and it’s impressive. We should all learn from him”.
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