The Open: Scottie Scheffler clinches fourth major title

The National

3 days ago

Scottie Scheffler cruised to a magnificent four-shot victory to seal his first Open championship at Royal Portrush on Sunday, clinching his fourth major success.
The world No1 eased to a three-under par final round of 68, finishing on 17-under for the tournament after shooting in the 60s on all four days.
It was the 10th successive time Scheffler has converted a 54-hole lead into a win.
His dominance over the past two years has been such that once he birdied the first hole, it seemed as though the chasing pack had already lost any belief of challenging.
Scheffler, who took a lead he would never relinquish with a seven-under 64 on Friday, extended his run of successive top-10 finishes to 11 events.
That streak now includes the PGA Championship and British Open titles.
Scheffler's victory at Royal Portrush was his fourth this year, despite a slow start after a freak hand injury caused by broken glass when he was making pasta.
The American became only the second world number one to lift the Claret Jug after Tiger Woods, completing the third leg of a possible career Grand Slam.
Scheffler began with a shot into 10 inches for birdie. One hour into the final round, his lead already was seven shots and no got closer than four the rest of the way at Royal Portrush.
He goes into the US Open next year with a chance to make it a clean sweep of golf's biggest titles.
Scheffler won the Masters by three shots in 2022 and by four shots last year. He won the PGA Championship by five shots in May.
Harris English finished in a distant second place, ending the tournament on 13-under courtesy of a closing round of 66.
Chris Gotterup completed a dream two weeks after last weekend's Scottish Open triumph, carding a 67 to end a shot further behind in third.
Home favourite Rory McIlroy could not launch a serious charge, with his challenge finally snuffed out by a double-bogey on the 10th hole.
He had to settle for a tie for seventh place on 10-under and a standing ovation from his thousands of fans surrounding the 18th green.
Li Haotong, the first Chinese man to go out in the final group of a major, finished tied fourth on 11 under with England's Matt Fitzpatrick and American Wyndham Clark.
Bryson DeChambeau lauded the improvement made by Scheffler as the American closed in on victory.
DeChambeau produced a remarkable final three rounds after shooting a seven-over 78 on Thursday, to set the clubhouse lead on nine under.
However, his quest for a first Claret Jug had to wait as Scheffler hit the turn for the back nine at 16 under par.
'It was a fun three days. I was really proud of the way I turned it around,' said DeChambeau, a two-time US Open champion.
'Scottie's in a league of his own right now. I played with him a lot in college, and he was not that good, so he's figured out a lot of stuff since then. It's really impressive to see and something we can all learn from for sure.'
Even world number two McIlroy was blown away by Scheffler's consistency.
'Scottie Scheffler is inevitable,' said McIlroy. 'He's just so solid. He doesn't make mistakes.'