Scottie Scheffler’s name lurked menacingly on the leaderboard early at the 2025 Open Championship after a 68 sent him into Round 2 just one shot back of the leaders. He wound up five off the pace set by Brian Harman and Haotong Li when he teed off Friday only to conclude his second round in a flurry, entering the weekend standing alone atop the leaderboard.

Scheffler produced a special bell-to-bell effort entering Moving Day as the world No. 1 dominated Royal Portrush with the low round of the tournament — and his major championship career — with a 7-under 64. Though Scheffler has shot 65 four times at the PGA Championship, this 64 stands above the rest putting him 10 under through 36 holes and in position to both win his second major of the season and complete the third leg of the career grand slam. 

Scheffler got off to a quick start with a birdie on No. 1 before pedaling off and plotting around with pars as the sky opened up, pouring rain for about an hour. Once the storms passed, conditions calmed down and Scheffler pounced with three straight birdies on the 5th, 6th and 7th holes to pull within one of the lead. He opened the back nine with another birdie on No. 10 only to be greeted by another torrential downpour on the 11th tee, (perhaps the worst place to be for a pop-up shower). A wayward tee shot led to a bogey, but once again, the rains receded and the reigning PGA champion got back to work. 

With a pair of birdies on par 3s, including the 222-yard 16th that has been one of the most difficult holes on the course all week, Scheffler stormed into position to take the top spot entering the weekend. He followed with a birdie on No. 17, this after spraying a drive into the gallery. Seemingly nothing could prevent his ascent to the top of The Open leaderboard. 

Scheffler holds a one-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick while standing two in front of Harmon and Li. Those three are well ahead of of a five-man trailing group at 5 under led by Harris English, Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton.

Harman posted the clubhouse lead early with a 65 that was temporarily the best round of the tournament (until Scheffler bested him). Li refused to fade away, matching Harman at 8 under while playing the cleanest golf of anyone the first two days with just one bogey to date. 

Fitzpatrick was going stride-for-stride with Scheffler for much of the afternoon, taking a two-shot lead midway through his back nine after making four straight birdies from No. 10 to No. 13. He could have been the one to take control but stumbled coming home with a bogey on No. 14 while struggling to post even one more birdie coming in.

As many have learned over the years, giving Scheffler too much runway proves costly. When Scheffler combines his top-tier ball striking with a hot putter, there just is no stopping what is the golfing form of destiny. The only question going forward? Whether he can keep the putter warm for the rest of the weekend. It has been the lone real weakness of his game in past Opens, as until this week, he had never gained strokes on the greens. 

Through 36 holes in Northern Ireland, he’s first in the field putting and first in approach play, which is a terrifying combination for the rest of the leaderboard. The ball-striking skill travels, but the putter can be more fickle. 

Scheffler’s battle this weekend will be with himself and the golf course. If he does his part and keeps rolling it like this, it’s hard to see him not hoisting the Claret Jug come Sunday. Everyone else will be hoping Scheffler’s putter cools off and he somehow leaves the door open just enough to sneak through.

Even then, given his ball-striking and the way he grinds to solid scores — even when he’s off his A-game — simply catching Scheffler will require something special. 

2025 Open Championship leaderboard, Round 2

1. Scottie Scheffler (-10): The afternoon at Royal Portrush became a two-man race between Scheffler and Fitzpatrick, and that will now be the pairing for the final game on Saturday. Scheffler won that battle on Friday and is now the overwhelming favorite to win his fourth career major and first Claret Jug. It’s too early to crown the world No. 1 just yet, but he seems motivated to prove that, even while winning may not be fulfilling, it’s something he still desperately wants to do. 

2. Matt Fitzpatrick (-9): Fitzpatrick has been trending in the right direction for the last couple months and looks to be back in the form that made him a U.S. Open champion. He caught fire in the middle of the second round, making four straight birdies to start the back nine to get into the lead alone. Fitzpatrick stumbled a touch coming home but kept some positive momentum for the weekend with a 24-footer for par on the 18th to post what was the clubhouse lead at the time at 9 under.

T3. Brian Harman, Haotong Li (-8): Harman, 2023 Open champion, posted the first 65 of the day and held the clubhouse lead until Fitzpatrick bested him by one late in the evening. Harman has become an Open Championship ringer, and he looks like a real threat for his second Claret Jug. Li was a name most expected to fade off of the leaderboard, but instead, he backed his opening 67 up with another Friday to stay right in the thick of the hunt. He’s been playing well this year on the DP World Tour and has carried that performance over into this week.

T5. Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, Rasmus Højgaard, Harris English, Chris Gotterup (-5): This is a particularly fascinating group. Hatton and MacIntyre were popular picks entering the week, English is a steady performer in majors, Gotterup is riding a wave of confidence after besting Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open last week, and Højgaard is a guy folks have been waiting to break out at a major for some time. All of them feel like threats to shoot a good score on Saturday, but with Scheffler at the top, it’s probably going to take more than just two good rounds to catch him from five back. 

T10. Tony Finau, Nicolai Højgaard (-4)
T12. Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Lee Westwood, Jordan Smith (-3)
T17. Ludvig Åberg, Justin Rose, Harry Hall, Shane Lowry and three others (-2)
T26. Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and six others (-1)

If it was anyone else at 10 under, you would feel the stars back as far as 1 under would have an outside chance, but they now need to produce some 63s — like Lowry did six years ago — if they’re going to challenge Scheffler. McIlroy, Schauffele, Åberg and Rahm have the gear to do that, but they haven’t showed it so far this week. One of them will need to find their A++ game if they are going to sniff the No. 1 player in the world come Sunday. McIlroy is probably the best equipped given not only his level of play this season but the inherent homefield advantage he possesses. We have seen European crowds rally McIlroy during Ryder Cups, and it’s quite possible his incredible galleries will fuel him into contention on Moving Day and behind. After all, McIlroy generally performs as the hunter as opposed to being the hunted at the top of the pack.