Scottie Scheffler leads by one at halfway stage of The Open

The National

2 days ago

While she offered up some bursts of pleasant weather on day two of the 153rd championship, she also hurled down a few frightful downpours that left everything so damp, there was just about moss growing on this correspondent's brolly.
The sight, meanwhile, of Scottie Scheffler moving to the top of the leaderboard late in the evening was such an ominous sign for the rest of the title challengers, it should've been accompanied by a yellow warning from the Met Office.
With a sparkling seven-under 64, the best of the day, the world No 1 reached the 10-under mark and will take a one-shot lead into the weekend over Matthew Fitzpatrick with the 2023 Open champion, Brian Harman, and Haotong Li a stroke further back on eight-under. Catch me if you can.
Scheffler was superb. The three-time major winner got himself up-and-running with four birdies over his first seven holes in a thrust which included three in a row from the fifth.
As the evening drew on, the 29-year-old delivered a late salvo as he made his assault on the summit.
He trundled in a 17-footer for birdie on the 16th to move into a tie at the top before fortifying his position with another birdie putt from a similar distance on the 17th.
Given his dominance these days, many would've predicted Scheffler to be exactly where he is on the order. At least he's easier to predict than fickle Mother Nature.
'It was super sunny when we were on the driving range,' said the reigning PGA champion. 'We get to the first hole, it's still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it's super dark and it starts pouring with rain.'
It didn't dampen Scheffler's parade, though.
Fitzpatrick, the former US Open champion who is returning to form after a prolonged spell in the doldrums, had hoisted himself into the lead during his inward half as the to-ing and fro-ing at the sharp end of affairs intensified.
On the 17th, he had a birdie putt from a couple of feet to increase his advantage to two. But he missed. On the 18th, Fitzpatrick faced a 23-footer to save par. And he knocked it in. It's a daft auld game, isn't it?
'Obviously disappointed on 17, but to roll one in on 18 was a huge bonus,' said the Sheffield man after a 66 left him sitting on a nine-under aggregate and in the hunt to become the first English champion since Nick Faldo in 1992.
'I'm giving myself an opportunity to win the golf tournament, but there's still a hell of a long way to go.'
There sure is. Harman looks like he could be in it for the long haul after a delightfully assembled 65 for eight-under.
The 38-year-old never looked in trouble as he put in the kind of controlled, polished display that was a hallmark of his mighty victory at a sodden Hoylake two years ago.
'I had to get up-and-down on 11 and made about a six-footer for par and that's the hardest putt I had,' he said of a stress-free day at the office.
If it's fireworks you're after, then Harman is not really your man. 'It's a very boring approach that I take,' he added of a considered strategy that can be as methodical as moving chess pieces.
'I'm not trying to be heroic or do anything crazy. I know that I've got the game to do it. It's just a matter of executing and staying in my own head.'
In his Open debut at Birkdale back in 2017, Li came roaring up the order on the final day with a 63 to claim third place.
Forty-six years earlier, the colourful, charismatic Lu Liang Huan, known affectionately as Mr Lu, finished second to Lee Trevino over the same Birkdale links in 1971.
Here at Portrush in 2025, it's a Mr Li who is hoping to go one better.
The 29-year-old from China is certainly not intimated by the company he is keeping.
'If I play my best again, I can compete with anyone,' said Li after a 67 kept him right in the thick of it.
It's an intriguing leaderboard. Oban's Robert MacIntyre is nicely placed on five-under in a posse that also includes Tyrrell Hatton and the new Scottish Open champion, Chris Gotterup. His splendid 65 was illuminated by a brace of eagles at the second and 12th.
Sibling rivalry is to the fore with Danish twins, Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard, both sitting in the top-10. Rory McIlroy is perched on the three-under mark.
Shane Lowry, the Open champion here in 2019, was given a two-shot penalty after he was judged to have caused his ball to move with a practice swing on the 12th.
Lowry still made the cut, but his mood was darker than some of Mother Nature's clouds.