![\"CHARLOTTE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/4a55ec90-658b-11f0-affe-e15f4da46310.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThere are major tournaments that only begin on the back nine on Sunday. There are major tournaments that come down to the final putts on the 72nd hole. And then there\u2019s the 2025 British Open, which was pretty much over the moment Scottie Scheffler\u2019s plane touched down in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Scheffler won the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush on Sunday. But that sentence, while factual on its face, doesn\u2019t even touch the level of dominance Scheffler exhibited throughout the entire week. This technically wasn\u2019t a wire-to-wire win \u2014 Scheffler was one stroke off the lead after the first round \u2014 but it sure felt that way.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Sunday wasn\u2019t even a fair fight. Scheffler entered the day four strokes ahead of the field \u2014 and his two closest pursuers were a guy who had played in just two majors since 2020, and a guy who hadn\u2019t won a tournament in nearly two years.<\/p>\n
Scheffler didn\u2019t waste any time snuffing out hopes on Sunday. He birdied his first hole and three of his first five to extend his lead over the field to a full touchdown. Only one hole on the front nine gave him any trouble, and he quickly erased a double-bogey on the 8th with birdies on the 9th and 12th. From there, he cruised to victory without a single serious challenge. He finished at 17-under, four shots ahead of runner-up Harris English.<\/p>\n
With the British Open over early, and the 2025 major season now over entirely, it\u2019s worth starting the conversation: Where does Scottie Scheffler rank right this moment among golf\u2019s all-time legends, and how much higher can he climb?<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Rory\u2019s challenge wasn\u2019t much of a challenge<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one player in this generation who can mount any kind of a challenge to Scheffler\u2019s domination \u2026 and Scheffler simply walked into his house and looted the place. The galleries at Royal Portrush tried to rally Rory McIlroy, the hometown kid, from the dunes to the sea. But McIlroy, like everyone else, was up against a generational opponent.<\/p>\n
Were it not for Scheffler\u2019s parents meeting all those years ago, this absolutely would have been Rory McIlroy\u2019s tournament to lose. McIlroy embarrassed himself six years ago at The Open\u2019s return to Northern Ireland; he hit his first shot out of bounds and missed the cut entirely. Since then he\u2019s won just one major, but it was a big one \u2014 the 2025 Masters, the one tournament McIlroy has chased forever. He struggled in his first two majors after that Masters win, playing well below his capabilities, but found some steadiness and solace in himself this week.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost a celebration of what I’ve been able to accomplish,\u201d McIlroy said Saturday night, speaking of the reception he received this week. \u201cI want to celebrate with them, too. I’ve just really tried to embrace everything this week. I’m having an incredible time. I’m really enjoying myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t able to summon up any real momentum on Sunday, two double-bogeys dragging down his score, but he appears to have shaken off whatever doldrums dogged him after Augusta.<\/p>\n
“None of us could hang with Scottie this week,” McIlroy said afterward. “He’s an incredible player. He’s been dominant this week. Honestly, he’s been dominant for the last couple years. He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to. In a historical context, you could argue that there’s only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie’s been on here for the last 24 to 36 months. Incredibly impressive.”<\/p>\n
Worth noting, in the current context: McIlroy ended that 11-year quest to achieve the career grand slam earlier this year. Eleven months from now, Scheffler will be at the U.S. Open, in position to claim a career grand slam of his own.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Sure, there were other good stories in the field. Bryson DeChambeau figured out links golf in real time, starting Thursday with a +7 round that had him four strokes ahead of last place \u2026 and then, over the next three days, fighting his way all the way up to -9. English (-13), Chris Gotterup (-12), Haotong Li (-11), Wyndham Clark (-11) and Matt Fitzpatrick (-11) all had unexpected moments of brilliance. But since golf doesn\u2019t do podium finishes, all were fighting for, at best, a yellow top-10 square on their Wikipedia page, nothing more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In May, Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship, his third career major, but earlier this week made headlines when he said winning golf tournaments isn’t what fulfills him in life. (Joe Robbins\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Scheffler set the stage earlier this week<\/p>\n
Aside from the fact that he\u2019s, you know, the No. 1 player in the world, we probably should have known earlier that this was Scottie\u2019s week. Each major week begins with a series of press conferences where the game\u2019s most prominent players take a few minutes in front of the media to answer questions about either the state of their game or the current topic of the week (PGA Tour vs. LIV, slow play, golf ball rollback, et cetera). Most often, these are pro forma affairs, producing a few aggregation-worthy news nuggets but little of real substance.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n