Rory McIlroy won this British Open almost as much as Scottie Scheffler did
There are times by the end of some sporting events when there's more than one winner, even though there's only one trophy awarded.
Scottie Scheffler put the tournament to sleep with his utter dominance, winning his fourth career major championship and leaving no doubt for at least the final 36 holes.
We've seen this before. You may remember Tiger Woods, in his height of dominance, coldly closing events down long before official closing time arrived.
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Associated Press
37 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Scottie Scheffler comparisons might be closer to Jack Nicklaus than Tiger Woods
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Even with four majors, three legs of the Grand Slam and 20 victories around the world, it's a little early to be making Scottie Scheffler comparisons. And yes, it's a bit silly. But one moment is worth noting. His four-shot victory at the British Open complete, Scheffler saw 15-month-old son Bennett coming toward him on the 18th green at Royal Portrush. The toddler face-planted going up the slope. Scheffler eventually scooped him into his left arm, his right hand holding the claret jug. This was pure joy. It was reminiscent of Canterbury in the 1973 PGA Championship. Jack Nicklaus, who that week broke the record for most major titles, was coming off the 18th green after the second round when 4-year-old son Gary ran out to meet him. The Golden Bear carried off his cub. 'My favorite photo in golf,' Nicklaus said years later in a Facebook post that he ended by saying, 'Family first, golf second.' Sound familiar? 'He plays a lot like I did,' Nicklaus said in late May at the Memorial, and perhaps that's where any similarities should start. Comparisons with Tiger Woods are natural because they are separated by a generation, and no one has been this dominant for such a long stretch since Woods. Scheffler has stayed at No. 1 for the last two years and two months. But their games, their styles, their paths are not all that similar. Everyone saw Woods coming when he was on 'The Mike Douglas Show' at age 2, when he won the Junior Worlds six times and both the U.S. Junior and the U.S. Amateur three straight times. He made a hole-in-one in his pro debut. He won his first PGA Tour event in his fifth start. Scheffler spent his first year as a pro on the Korn Ferry Tour. 'I played with him a lot in college, and he was not that good,' Bryson DeChambeau said with a laugh. He now refers to Scheffler as being 'in a league of his own.' Woods was all about power and putting. Scheffler is fairways and greens. Woods was overwhelming, winning the Masters by 12 shots, the U.S. Open by 15 and the British Open at St. Andrews by eight for the career Grand Slam at age 24. Scheffler is relentless. He can take the drama out of a major without notice. He's the first player to win each of his first four majors by at least three shots since J.H. Taylor more than a century ago, when the British Open was the only major and had fields smaller than a signature event. Nicklaus picked up on this at the Memorial without ever talking to Scheffler about it. Before the tournament, Nicklaus spoke about his approach to golf — more emphasis on the tee shot (left-to-right shape, like Scheffler) and the approach, less dependence on putting for a good score. And when he got the lead, Nicklaus did what was required. Scheffler won that week by four shots. 'Once I got myself into position to win, then you've got to be smart about how you finish it,' Nicklaus said. 'And that's the way he's playing. He reminds me so much of the way I like to play.' Scheffler was quick to point out he was just over one-fourth of the way to matching Woods' 15 majors (and his 82 tour wins, for that matter). Scheffler most likely can never reach his appeal. Woods was special, a corporate dream. He came back to win at Pebble Beach when trailing by seven with seven holes to play. Fans didn't dare turn away without fear of missing a shot they might never see again. Scheffler won the British Open and mentioned Chipotle. He was trying to explain, as he did when he first reached No. 1 in 2022, that golf doesn't define him. That's what was lost in his remarkable monologue earlier in the week at Royal Portrush. The joy comes from getting to play, getting to work, getting better. The goal is to win. And then he goes home to a wife and son. He is about faith, family and then golf. Fame isn't part of the equation. Scheffler mentioned two Chipotle restaurants at home in Dallas. He can no longer go to one of them because he is recognized. At the other one he's just a guy at the counter trying to decide if he wants extra guacamole. 'I try to live as normal of a life as possible because I feel like a normal guy,' he said. 'I have the same friends I had growing up. I don't think that I'm anything special just because some weeks I'm better at shooting a lower score than other guys are.' There was one other Scheffler comparison. Nicklaus doesn't believe he could have achieved all that he did without his wife, Barbara, whom he honored this year at the Memorial and who is universally regarded as the first lady of golf. Nicklaus played his 164th and final major at St. Andrews in 2005 and said that week: 'I'm not really concerned about what my legacy is in relation to the game of golf, frankly. I'm more concerned with what my legacy is with my family, with my kids and my grandkids. That's by far more important to me.' Scheffler's emotions began to pour out at Royal Portrush only when he saw Meredith, the girl he first met as a high school freshman and finally dated as a senior. He made his PGA Tour debut at the Byron Nelson that year at 17. He recalled being at her house the week before when a promotion about the tournament came on TV. Meredith said to him: 'Wait a minute. Isn't that what you're doing?' Scheffler said she's a fast learner. 'Every time I'm able to win a tournament, the first person I always look for is my wife,' he said Sunday. 'She knows me better than anybody. That's my best friend. It takes a lot of work to be able to become good at this game, and I wouldn't be able to do it without her support.' To the rest of golf world, he's the No. 1 player in the world, now the 'champion golfer of the year.' Fame won't escape him now even if it doesn't define him. ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. ___ AP golf:
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rory: Got all I wanted this week except claret jug
Rory McIlroy talks about the experience at Royal Portrush, calling it an "awesome week" that came close to all he wanted -- and hoping the R&A can bring The Open back soon. Then, Live From debates Player of the Year.
USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Ryder Cup: Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson will not return to site of 2019 PGA Championship showdown
At first, it didn't appear we'd have much drama for the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Brooks Koepka, who would regain the world's No. 1 ranking later that day, was a comfortable seven shots ahead of the current No. 1, Dustin Johnson, in Farmingdale, N.Y. But the Palm Beach County residents suddenly were in an epic battle. Two of the most dominant, ruthless golfers of that time battling on a course that matched their intimidation as Johnson cut Koepka's advantage to one stroke on the back nine. In the end, Koepka prevailed by two shots for his fourth major in 23 months, and the two once again held the top two spots in the Official World Golf Ranking. 'To be standing here today with four majors is mind blowing,' Koepka said. And if you think that is "mind-blowing," consider this: In two months, Bethpage Black will host another major event, possibly the biggest and rowdiest this country has ever seen, the 2025 Ryder Cup. And six years ago, heck, three years ago, it would have seemed inconceivable that neither Koepka or Johnson would be wearing the red, white and blue in 2025. But that is the reality now. With the four majors in the books, the two most dominant figures in their sport from 2016 to 2021 and two of the biggest names to defect from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, have gone from royalty to irrelevant. While Koepka was an easy captain's pick for Zach Johnson two years ago, neither will even occupy one second of captain Keegan Bradley's time as he fills out his 12-man roster in one month. The lone LIV golfer who will be part of the team looking to avenge its 2023 loss to the Europeans: Bryson DeChambeau. Dustin Johnson says it will 'suck' watching Ryder Cup Johnson, 41, showed some life at the British Open, the final major of the season, finishing tied for 23rd. But the two-time major winner and a man who has spent 135 weeks at No. 1 in the world, fourth most all-time, is in the midst of a steady decline. The Jupiter resident had missed the cut in all three majors this season, entering the British Open, and six of the last eight. Koepka showed some life at the U.S. Open, finishing T12. Otherwise, he, too, missed the cut at three majors this season, including the British Open. This is the man who one time said he believed majors were the easiest events to win, his rationale explained in this quote before the 2019 PGA Championship: 'There's 156 in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I'm just going to beat. From there, you figure about half of them won't play well from there, so you're down to about maybe 35. And then from 35, some of them, the pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more, and you've just got to beat those guys.' Since winning his third PGA Championship in 2023, Koepka has two top-20 finishes in majors. His three missed cuts in majors this year are one more than he had in his last 11 years combined. And it's not just against the elite fields where these two former champions have struggled. They have become middle-of-the-pack players in LIV Golf. Neither has won on the Saudi-backed tour this year, finishing in the top 5 one time each in 10 LIV events. Two years ago, Dustin Johnson told the Palm Beach Post he was disappointed captain Zach Johnson left him off the Ryder Cup team, admitting he did not play well but believed he "played well enough to be on the team." Before the British Open, he told The Athletic, "It's going to suck watching (the Ryder Cup) from home. I just haven't played well enough this year." As easy a choice as Koepka was for the team in 2023 after finishing tied for second at the Masters and winning the PGA Championship, his fifth major, he'll be just as easily dismissed this year. Koepka, 35, hinted in April that he believed he figured out what's held him back and then missed the cut at the Masters with a 74-75. He admitted from around the Masters until just before the U.S. Open, "I haven't been happy. It's been very irritating. … you didn't want to be around me.' A brief resurgence at the U.S. Open buoyed that confidence, but now that's likely gone after a 75-74 at Royal Portrush in the year's final major. Is complacency to blame for many LIV golfers fading? For both, it's back to LIV's 54-hole, shotgun-start events to close out the season. Theories abound as to why so many marquee names who sacrificed their legacies to join LIV have faded. Koepka and DeChambeau are the lone LIV golfers to have won a major since leaving the Tour, but only DeChambeau and Jon Rahm currently are thriving and move the needle when it comes to the world stage. While LIV does little to prepare its golfers for the majors with its format and being forced to play on many courses that are less challenging, the ongoing debate will center on the financial security these top-tier stars obtained with their initial contracts. For the elite few, those deals exceeded $100 million. "It's hard to make an argument that LIV prepares you to win major championships," Irishman Paul McGinley, a former Ryder Cup captain, recently said. "They are playing team events, they're not playing on the most difficult golf courses, traveling around the world and then having to come back to America to play three to four majors." Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at tdangelo@
