It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2019t made a bogey in 25 holes and is leading the field in strokes gained\/putting \u2013 arguably the worst aspect of his game \u2013 it\u2019s 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n RELATED: There are two stories that matter on the final day at Royal Portrush \u2013 the best vs the favourite<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s three-for-three when holding the lead entering the final round of a major. You sort of get the idea.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s a guy better than you can be a problem. Yet it\u2019s a reality that many understand, and a few even articulated after the third round. Here\u2019s a sample:<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, look, Scottie Scheffler is\u2026 it\u2019s inevitable. Even when he doesn\u2019t have his best stuff. He\u2019s improved so much with his putter. Yeah, it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris English<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s unbelievable. Just from a\u2026 I call Scottie a friend. I\u2019ve known him for a good while since his amateur days. I\u2019m just so impressed with his work ethic. No.1 in the world for I don\u2019t know how many weeks, but he works harder than anybody I\u2019ve ever seen. He\u2019s got a great system. He\u2019s got\u2026 just his belief, and he works like he\u2019s never going to play in another major championship ever again. It\u2019s really impressive. Just a great guy overall. He\u2019s easy to [cheer] for. I can\u2019t say anything bad about the guy. It\u2019s impressive to watch, and what he\u2019s doing is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: This one stat is why Scottie Scheffler is dominating at Portrush<\/a><\/p>\n Matt Fitzpatrick<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s be realistic, he\u2019s [four] ahead. It\u2019s 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\u2026 His putting is night and day, obviously. From what you guys all talk about how bad it was at one point, I didn\u2019t play with him really in that period. He\u2019s just not missed a putt today. There isn\u2019t one putt that he\u2019s missed, and that\u2019s obviously the difference that\u2019s taken him to this unbeatable run, which is annoying for me that Phil Kenyon shared those secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n Robert MacIntyre<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s 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\u2019s an exceptional player, great guy. Yeah, works so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n