It’s golf, and anything can happen. Until Scottie Scheffler finishes the job on Sunday at Royal Portrush, the claret jug and the Champion Golfer of the Year remain unclaimed at the 2025 Open Championship, no matter how hard everyone tries to decide things early.
But…
How do you look past the facts in front of you? When the most dominant golfer of the past four years holds a four-shot lead, hasn’t made a bogey in 25 holes and is leading the field in strokes gained/putting – arguably the worst aspect of his game – it’s hard to think of a scenario in which Scheffler gets chased down over the final 18 holes. No matter how hard the Northern Irish fans cheer for their beloved Rory McIlroy.
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Consider that Scheffler has won his past nine events when holding an outright lead after 54 holes, including the PGA Championship two months ago. He’s three-for-three when holding the lead entering the final round of a major. You sort of get the idea.
Such conjecture is usually only reserved for media types, but the way Scheffler has played has also got his peers saying the quiet part out loud. If an unconditional belief in yourself to beat everybody else is necessary to win on the PGA Tour, admitting there’s a guy better than you can be a problem. Yet it’s a reality that many understand, and a few even articulated after the third round. Here’s a sample:
Rory McIlroy
“Yeah, look, Scottie Scheffler is… it’s inevitable. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff. He’s improved so much with his putter. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to catch him tomorrow if he keeps playing the way he does. But if I can get out tomorrow and get off to a similar start to what I did today, get the crowd going, hopefully he tails out a couple groups behind me, and you never know.”
Harris English
“He’s unbelievable. Just from a… I call Scottie a friend. I’ve known him for a good while since his amateur days. I’m just so impressed with his work ethic. No.1 in the world for I don’t know how many weeks, but he works harder than anybody I’ve ever seen. He’s got a great system. He’s got… just his belief, and he works like he’s never going to play in another major championship ever again. It’s really impressive. Just a great guy overall. He’s easy to [cheer] for. I can’t say anything bad about the guy. It’s impressive to watch, and what he’s doing is incredible.”
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Matt Fitzpatrick
“Let’s be realistic, he’s [four] ahead. It’s not easy. But if you get off to a good start, then obviously put a bit of pressure on early doors and hope for the best really… His putting is night and day, obviously. From what you guys all talk about how bad it was at one point, I didn’t play with him really in that period. He’s just not missed a putt today. There isn’t one putt that he’s missed, and that’s obviously the difference that’s taken him to this unbeatable run, which is annoying for me that Phil Kenyon shared those secrets.”
Robert MacIntyre
“He’s by far the best player in the world. I remember the start of this year, [I] asked Mike the stats guy, asked Mike to look at all the stats to see how close we are to No.1 in the world. Mike stopped after a couple of stats checked and he went to No.2 because he realised it. I mean, when we checked the stats, Scheffler was further ahead of No.2 in the world than I was at wherever I was, 15, 16 in the world, to No.2. Yeah, he’s an exceptional player, great guy. Yeah, works so hard.”
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Xander Schauffele wasn’t asked specifically about Scheffler after his third round, but spoke about what he needed to do on Sunday to contend. And in that description, last year’s Open Championship winner came around to paying his own personal brand of respect to the world No.1.
“I’m so far back, who knows with the weather and whatnot. I believe in myself and what I can do. So just blackout hopefully. No luck boxing, blackout – there’s your headline – and try to shoot something and give myself a lot of opportunities.”
And just what does “blackout” mean?
“Blackout would just be you’re so in your own world. For me, when I use the word blackout in golf, it’s like when a guy is just… when I watch Scottie play a lot, he just looks blacked out to me, just doing his thing. He’s just in his own world and nothing’s going to bother him. He gets to that place often, which is a good thing for him.”
But is it really inevitable come Sunday at Portrush?