The Open: Scottie's Irish high! World no. 1 strolls to a fine win along the coast for his 4th major
Portrush (Northern Ireland):
Scottie Scheffler was like a lonely man taking a leisurely walk along the Irish coast on a crisp morning, except that it was at the crowded sun-bathed Royal Portrush late on Sunday evening.
Starting the day at 14-under and four clear of the field, he had no problems save that errant bunker shot, which stayed back in the fairway bunker on the eighth hole. He came out with a double bogey, but did not have to sweat much.
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He repaired that damage and ended the day with a 68 after earlier rounds of 64-67-68 for a 17-under total and a four-shot win over Harris English (66) and five clear of Chris Gotterup (67) to make it a 1-2-3 for the Americans.
Scheffler's fourth Major brought him his maiden Open and he has now completed three-fourths of his journey to the inevitable Career Slam.
Meanwhile, English and Gotterup wrote their unique stories. English for the second time finished runner-up behind Scheffler in a Major this year. This one came despite his regular caddie, Eric Larson, being denied a work visa to enter the UK on account of a past drug related conviction.
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Undo
Larson served ten years in prison for dealing cocaine to his friends before being released from a halfway house in 2006. Then he turned his life around as a caddie.
English took on his longtime putting coach Ramon Bescansa as his bagman, who came from over Spain, where he was caddying for Liv golfer, Abraham Ancer.
Gotterup, playing alongside English, won the Genesis Scottish Open last week to qualify for the 153rd Open and he made a it a successful first trip across the pond by finishing third.
There seemed to be two battles out there at the picturesque Royal Portrush Club. One featured Scottie Scheffler versus Scottie Scheffler and the other featured a dozen others battling for minor places.
As English and Gotterup finished second and third, Wyndham Clark (65), Matt Fitzpatrick (69) and Li Haotong (70) were tied fourth.
Defending champion Xander Schauffele (68), who moved nicely from 7-under to 10-under by the 12th, stayed alongside Rory McIlroy, who ebbed and flowed through the day.
Rory rose from 8-under to 10-under only to fall back to 8-under with a double and then rose again to 10-under at the finish.
Completing the trio at tied-seventh was Robert MacIntyre, who again showed his Major promise after a runner-up finish at US Open last month and it was his third Top10 at the Open since his debut at the same Portrush. Bryson DeChambeau (64), the day's best scorer, came back from the brink after Day 2, and was tied-10th. Indian American Akshay Bhatia finished T-30th. IndoBritish Aaron Rai finished T-33rd.
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