Matt Fitzpatrick keeps Claret Jug dream alive at Portrush as Scottie Scheffler storms into Open lead
As such, there were two ways to look at the Open leaderboard with 36 holes played and 36 to go.
If we were to be parochial about it, the temptation would be to zero in on a Yorkshireman in the envious position of contending for the Claret Jug going into the weekend.
A round of 66, taking Fitzpatrick to nine under par, has so far made him the most compelling English candidate to end the 33-year search for Sir Nick Faldo's successor at this tournament.
Alas, the 'but' is a rather big one. Huge even. Because Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, is one shot better and playing the kind of golf that suggests his existential questions around the meaning of life are no barrier to being the best at this silly game. His round was one of the last to finish and his score of 64 was the finest we saw all day.
He was immense. Can he do it on a wet Friday on a links course in Northern Ireland? It would seem he can and we should moderate our enquiries.
Chasing him down will be tough, but Fitzpatrick did so in winning the 2022 US Open and has plainly found enough in his game to pose a major threat of his own. He is one of three men in a breakaway group that stands within one or two of the lead, but will take no comfort from the proximity of Brian Harman, who is at eight under and not the sort of chap to whom you wish to present a target.
The latter, of course, was the champion in 2023, or as he became known, the 'Butcher of Hoylake' due to his love of hunting anything from alligators to turkeys.
The American's magnificent round of 65 put him alongside the resurgent force of China's Li Haotong. Tyrrell Hatton, thriving here on a routine of Netflix and three pints of Guinness per night, is part of the cluster on five under with Bob MacIntyre.
We can return to their chase in a moment.
First, to Fitzpatrick, who between March 2024 and May 2025 plummeted from eight in the world to 85th. Even now he is only 59th, but after sacking his popular caddie Billy Foster in March and rediscovering how to hit a decent iron shot, he is rising fast. Recent Tour results have trended from 17th to eighth to fourth in Scotland last weekend, but he is having a great time on the links of Northern Ireland.
That was most clearly shown with his ignition after the turn, when having played the front in 34, he blitzed four straight birdies. They included one of only 16 claimed all day from 156 players at the 11th.
If there was a sour note, it was the three-putt that limited him to a five for par at the second, and a worse one from inside three feet at the 17th when hunting a birdie to go 10 under. That stroke horseshoed around the hole and issued a mule-kick in the guts, only for the former US Open champion to save par from 23-feet at the last.
It was a stellar effort on a day when Fitzpatrick and the rest of the later starters had to navigate the heaviest of the rains. Naturally, those in the earlier waves, including Rory McIlroy, who is six off the lead on three under after a 69, might argue they had to contend with stronger winds. Swings and roundabouts.
Fitzpatrick said: 'I felt like every facet of my game was on today and I felt like I really played solid. To take advantage of the opportunities I had out there was obviously really positive.
'I've given myself an opportunity to win the golf tournament, but there's still a hell of a long way to go. Obviously the aim of the game is to stay in it for as long as possible and hopefully you can pull away right at the death. I'm obviously 50 percent there. We'll see what the weekend brings.'
Which feels like the right time to talk about Scheffler. His mind has been swinging all over the place this week, when he volunteered that winning has become so routine that he doesn't find it so fulfilling anymore. He suggested a victory here for a fourth major, and three-quarters of the way to a career Slam, would make him satisfied for approximately 20 minutes.
He is in position to test the theory, while simultaneously silencing those of us who queried if he was ready to conquer this quirky, bumpy, original form of the game. Like Fitzpatrick, he played in the driving range, and his round was sublime.
Having struggled mildly off the tee on Thursday, he hit six of the seven fairways on the front nine in his second and burned his way to four birdies, including three on the trot from the fifth.
Playing the inward nine, his only blip came at the 11th, when he drove through the bend to the left-hand rough and couldn't get up-and-down from 72 yards to save par after bunting out his recovery. There are limits to what he can do, but not many – there were four birdies on that journey in. Sublime.
We might say similar of Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 65, but his success comes from making the cut after the debacle of his 78 on day one. At one over, he won't win the tournament, but in making the weekend he proved his resilience.
Elsewhere, the 2019 Shane Lowry carded a 70 to sit two under, but it involved a rules controversy on the 11th. Having addressed his ball in the rough, he abruptly changed plan and attempted a practise swing, with the complication that his ball then moved. It was clear to see and as he didn't return it to the original spot, he was at risk of a retrospective two-stroke penalty.
MacIntyre certainly left the course with a bigger smile than his Ryder Cup team-mate after his 66. 'There's potential,' he said. 'It could be anyone's time. I'm in a good spot. I feel happy, confident, comfortable. I'm going to go out and give it my best shot all the way through Sunday afternoon
'I'm not scared. I'm not going to back away.'
Among those to miss the cut were Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith, who plummeted to eight over with a 78. Buried lower down was his fellow Australian Adam Scott, armed the smoothest swing in golf and only able to extract a 79 from these conditions.
Of lesser renown was South Africa's Shaun Norris, notable mainly for taking a sextuple-bogey 10 on the fourth.
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BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
How 'Tiger-like' Scheffler is conquering golf
As Scottie Scheffler steamrolled his way to the Claret Jug, there was another name which kept being mentioned in the discourse surrounding his impending Open Woods. Remember him?Scheffler's peers regularly referred to Woods when they came off the Royal Portrush course last Sunday. So too did the television and radio commentators analysing the comparisons between the current world number one and 15-time major champion Woods - the pre-eminent superstar who elevated golf to a new stratosphere in the late 1990s and early 2000s - continued in the aftermath of Scheffler's fourth major eye-catching statistic further fuelled the frenzy. Exactly 1,197 days had passed between each player's first major win to their response to the parallels being drawn? "I still think they're a bit silly," he said."I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf."One thing is undebatable. Scheffler is conquering the men's game like nobody since Woods in his pomp. Here, BBC Sport analyses how the 29-year-old American is doing it. Creating a 'Tiger-like' dominance The first sign of Scheffler's special qualities came at the 2021 Ryder had been raised about the young American being picked as a Whistling Straits wildcard, but the manner in which he bossed European talisman Jon Rahm in the Sunday singles - putting the hosts on the path to a rare routine win - was a sign of things to the four seasons since, Scheffler has won four of the 15 majors - the 2022 and 2023 Masters, plus this year's US PGA Championship and Open - and earned a further eight top-10 finishes. Throw in 12 PGA Tour victories, along with the Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, and it is clear why he is the undisputed world number one."Scottie is the bar that we're all trying to get to," said world number two Rory McIlroy."You could argue there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run like the one that Scottie's been for the past 24 to 36 months." One of those players is - obviously - securing victory at Portrush, Scheffler became only the second player to win The Open while world number one. The first was Woods, who did it three times in 2000, 2005 and machine-like ability, which is apparent even when he does not seem to be playing at his peak, is similar to his fellow is little wonder several of his peers have described Scheffler this week as being "Tiger-like"."I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon and here's Scottie taking that throne," said 2024 Open champion Xander Schauffele."He's a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us."For some, the parallels between Scheffler and Woods - who has claimed a joint record 82 PGA Tour victories - might feel has a long way to go to match the longevity of his compatriot, whose major triumphs stretched from 1997 to the comparisons continue to persist because of the way Scheffler imperiously tears through fields like Woods did in his pomp. At Portrush, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome once Scheffler moved four shots ahead after Saturday's third unerring consistency and ruthless ability to close out victories is what sets him apart from the was the 10th tournament in a row Scheffler had converted an outright 54-hole lead, although he still has a long way to go before matching the 37 consecutive times which Woods did it. "Back in the day that's what separated Tiger," said English former world number one Justin Rose."You get a lot of guys leading tournaments and typically it is hard to close out, but Scottie and Tiger are able to put these tournaments away better than most. "That's how you are judged at the end of the day." Staying emotionless in the heat of battle Scheffler's emotionless expression as he patiently and precisely carved up the Dunluce Links was a far cry from the energy often shown by a final Sunday lacking any sort of jeopardy, one of the most colourful moments came on the sixth green. There was a rare flicker of emotion from Scheffler.A vigorous pump of the fist signalled his pleasure at dropping one of several par-saving putts on his way to who demand high-octane energy from their sporting stars were disappointed. But Scheffler's calm demeanour is exactly why he is so successful."He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did," said Jordan Spieth, who a decade ago was being compared to Woods after winning three majors and finishing runner-up in two others between 2015-17."I think it's more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you've seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport. "I don't think anybody is like him."While Scheffler's mind is mechanical, his technique is not. His unorthodox footwork looks clumsy at times and is another reason - according to Ireland's Shane Lowry - why many do not consider him in the same breath as Woods. "If Scottie's feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott's, we'd be talking about him in the same words as Tiger," said Lowry, who won his solitary major at Royal Portrush in 2019. "I think because it doesn't look so perfect, we don't talk about him like that. "I think he's just incredible to watch, and his bad shots are really good. That's when you know he's really good." Having the inner fire to be the best As soon as Scheffler's long-time coach Randy Smith spotted the youngster at their practice range in Dallas, he knew there was something which set the kid was working with PGA Tour professional Joel Edwards and saw 10-year-old Scheffler, sat crosslegged nearby, absorbing everything he witnessed."He's not comparing himself to other eight-year-olds or other 10-year-olds," Smith, who also coached Justin Leonard to the 1997 Open, wrote for Golf Digest last year., external"He's comparing himself to a player on the Korn Ferry Tour, a PGA Tour winner or to the guy who just won the Open Championship."Scheffler successfully put what he had learned into practice on the US junior circuit, then started cleaning up in the collegiate game as he juggled his golf with a finance degree at the University of inevitable move into the professional ranks came in 2018. But it was not a straightforward had to scrap for his qualifying card to the Korn Ferry Tour, only clinching his playing status in 2019 with a dramatic up-and-down par save - which he later described as the most important scramble of his that point, his career accelerated. In 2020, Scheffler earned the first major top-10 finish of his career at the PGA Championship and his development led to being named the PGA Tour's 'Rookie of the Year'.A year later came the Ryder Cup breakthrough which marked his arrival as an elite force. "What separates Scottie is his fire," Smith added."It's not just competitiveness - though he has more of that than anyone I've ever coached."It's the pure love of practicing and experimenting and learning things on your own. It's determination."At the start of this Open week, many wondered if the fire continued to raised eyebrows by admitting he regularly questions why he is still playing golf and lamented how he has little opportunity to digest his the manner in which he celebrated winning the iconic Claret Jug - roaring towards his loved ones before sobbing on the shoulder of his wife Meredith and hoisting son Bennett into the air - demonstrated his burning desire to win majors had not fanned."When I wake up in the morning, I try and put max effort in each day I get to go out and practise," he said."When I'm working out, when I'm doing the cold tub, doing recovery, I feel like I'm just called to do it to the best of my ability. "It's just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing." Improving weaknesses in his game Even after he had climbed to the top of the world rankings, there were some doubts about Scheffler's statistics proved he was the best from tee to green. They also proved he was among the worst with the putter.A call was made to English putting guru Phil Kenyon - whose client list is a who's who of major champions - in a bid to improve with the was particularly paid to Scheffler's reading of the greens and increasing the stability of his to a claw grip - where the right hand acts as a pincer lower down the shaft - has transformed Scheffler into one of the most reliable putters in the tweak helped him become the first player to defend the PGA Tour's Players Championship, win a second Masters, Olympic gold and five other titles in a stellar 2024 that also had echoed the putting statistics after three rounds at Portrush, having holed 97% of his putts inside five feet and 90% of those within 10 feet, put him in command. He holed putts of 14, 15 and 16 feet on Sunday."[The grip] was something we tested out last year and felt comfortable from the start," Scheffler said."I use it as we get closer to the hole, lag putting. Outside of 15 to 20 feet, I'm still putting conventional."It was something we felt could help us improve, and so far it has."While improved putting has taken Scheffler to Woods-esque heights, will it help him move closer to replicating Woods' achievements over the longer term? That remains to be seen.
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Rory McIlroy hails Scottie Scheffler after his Open triumph at Royal Portrush - insisting world No 1 is 'on a different level' to his rivals
Rory McIlroy expressed his admiration for Scottie Scheffler after the world number one denied him the chance of an emotional win in his home Open with a runaway victory at Royal Portrush. The Northern Irishman began the day six off the lead and he probably knew it was a bridge too far to reel in the in-form American, who had already won the US PGA this year to add to his two Masters titles. It would have required a fast start and shooting something close to the 61 McIlroy shot on this course as a 16-year-old - virtually impossible in a major setting. 'I wish I had have been closer to Scottie going into today and been able to make a real push but he's been on a different level all week and he's been on a different level for the last two years to the rest of us,' he said after his rival won the third leg of the career Grand Slam which McIlroy completed at Augusta in April. 'None of us could live with what he had this week. He is the bar that we're all trying to get to at this point, so hats off to him. 'I think all you can do is admire what he does and how he does it. I think what he does is one thing, but how he does it is another. 'He just goes about his business, doesn't do anything overly flamboyant, but he's the best at executing in the game right now. '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. 'He's been absolutely amazing over these past two to three years. He's an unbelievable player, an incredible champion and a great person too.' After missing the cut six years ago when The Open returned to Portrush, McIlroy was determined to make it up to the thousands of fans willing him on this week. But he had too much to do on the last day and a two-under-par 34, including three birdies and a bogey, on the easier front nine, was just not enough. He was still six shots back at the turn but a double-bogey at the 10th, where he mis-hit a chip, represented the end of his challenge despite two more birdies coming home to finish seventh on 10 under, seven behind Scheffler. 'I felt like I did well. Eight, nine and and 10 were the ones that killed me - not that I was ever going to get to 17-under I don't think,' he added. 'I could have maybe finished second, which would have been better than where I did finish, but only making par off those tee shots on eight and nine and then the double off of 10 after the flier did me in. Then I just tried to play a good back nine and finish as well as I could.'
The Sun
42 minutes ago
- The Sun
Horse racing tips: ‘No penalty for hammering rivals last time out' – Templegate's Monday NAP
TEMPLEGATE'S Monday picks are below. Back a horse by clicking their odds. RECOBELLA (8.20 Beverley, nap) Hammered her rivals at Nottingham last week and crucially escapes a penalty for that win in an apprentice race. It was her second run for the yard and first try over 1m2f in Britain, which brought about marked improvement. With conditions ideal and confidence high, she can follow up with plenty to spare. MILTEYE (8.50 Beverley, nb) Got his reward for a string of consistent runs when landing a big-field handicap at Carlisle on soft ground. A 3lb rise looks lenient, he stays well and the rain is a plus. OPAL STORM (6.50 Beverley, treble) Was second in this last year and went close in a higher grade at Ayr last time. She handles soft ground and has a good record over today's trip. JUDGE FRANK (8.40 Windsor, Lucky 15) Returned to form with a close third at Bath last time and is close to his last winning mark. Templegate's tips Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who:
