Latest news with #153rd
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
British Open champion Scottie Scheffler says comparisons to Tiger Woods ‘a bit silly'
Scheffler fiercely pumped his fist when it dropped, evoking memories of Woods and his 15-shot win at Pebble Beach in the 2000 US Open. Woods had a 12-foot par putt on the 16th hole of that final round, and it was the most emotion he showed all day when he made it. He wanted a clean card and wound up going his final 26 holes bogey-free. Woods was so utterly dominant that his only competition came from himself. That's how it felt with Scheffler when he won the claret jug for the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Advertisement Scottie Scheffler gives a fist pump after making a par save at the sixth hold during the final round of the 153rd British Open at Royal Portrush. Jon Super/Associated Press Scheffler went 32 holes without a bogey until he took two shots to get out of a fairway bunker on No. 8 and made double bogey. What stood out to Scheffler in his 'To only have one double — really one over-par hole in the last 36 holes of a major championship — that's how you're able to win these tournaments,' he said. Advertisement He won the British Open by four shots. There are plenty of numbers to consider, starting with his position at No. 1 in the world. No one has held it longer since Woods. Scheffler and Woods are the only players in the last 50 years to win two majors in the same year by at least four shots. Researchers with time on their hands at the PGA Tour discovered that Scheffler and Woods each went 1,197 days between winning their first and fourth majors. Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler. The list of players to have won The Open while holding top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. — The Open (@TheOpen) Enough of the comparisons, Scheffler said. 'I still think they're a bit silly,' he said. 'Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.' Tiger Woods won the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach by a major-record 15 shots for his third of 15 major titles. ELISE AMENDOLA/Associated Press For majors alone, a better comparison would be with Rory McIlroy. He also won four majors in three years, including two of them in 2014. McIlroy won a US Open and a And then he went 11 years without a major. Greatness in golf is also about longevity. Advertisement Scheffler won for the fourth time this year and now has 20 victories worldwide. He has won 11 straight times with the 54-hole lead. The 29-year-old from Texas was introduced as champion golfer of the year, a title the R&A has used for more than a century. Scheffler at this rate might be champion golfer of his generation. The winning putt. This is the one. — The Open (@TheOpen) And to think he was slowed at the start of the year recovering from a The year's top highlight still might be 'I also had the three wins when Scottie wasn't quite on his game,' he said. Also driving the comparisons to Woods are high praise from just about everyone who has had to face Scheffler since that first win in 2022. 'He is the bar that we're all trying to get to,' McIlroy said. 'I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here's Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance,' said A statement start from Scottie. — The Open (@TheOpen) Any hesitation about comparisons — besides the 15-4 tally in majors, as Scheffler is quick to point out — is their style of play. Woods was as dynamic as he was relentless, especially with recovery shots. Scheffler doesn't have that many because he's rarely out of position. Advertisement Woods was groomed for stardom when he appeared on 'The Mike Douglas Show' at age 2. Scheffler never cared about anything other than playing golf and getting better at it. 'He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did. He's not bringing it to a non-golf audience necessarily,' Jordan Spieth said. 'He doesn't want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do, corporately, anything like that.' He works. He competes. He wins. That's what Woods did, and that's what matters to Scheffler. 'I don't focus on that kind of stuff,' Scheffler said of the comparisons. 'That's not what motivates me. I'm not motivated by winning championships. I don't look at the beginning of the year and just say, 'I want to win X amount of tournaments.' I don't do that. 'When I wake up to practice, what motivates me is getting to live out my dream,' he said. 'I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I'm called to do it to the best of my ability.'
New York Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Scottie Scheffler improved upon his own greatness — and golf is left to reckon with it
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Come and get me. This is the message Scottie Scheffler has delivered — in a subliminal way — to the rest of the golf world. Advertisement That was a recurring theme heard from those competitors of the 29-year-old world No. 1 who nearly lapped the field en route to winning the 153rd British Open on Sunday at Royal Portrush. Scheffler's final margin of victory at the Open was four shots, but it felt like double that with the way he completely controlled the tournament, particularly the final 36 holes.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Scottie Scheffler blew away the field to win British Open for his fourth major championship
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The best players in the world of professional golf have become accustomed to Scottie Scheffler's other-worldly ball striking performances on an almost weekly basis. But when he putts the way he did this week on the greens of Royal Portrush Golf Club, it's not a fair fight. Scheffler topped the field in both Strokes Gained: Approach and SG: Putting to win the 153rd British Open on Sunday in a rout by four strokes over Harris English. Scheffler won his second major of the year, having previously claimed the PGA Championship in May, his fourth career major title, and joins Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson as active players with three legs of the career Grand Slam. The other 155 golfers in the field could only stick out their hands, palms up, and ask, 'What's the point?' That was the question Scheffler posed during his pre-championship press conference when he explained that the euphoric winning feeling only lasted a few minutes, and added, 'This is not a fulfilling life.' But it's the life he leads, and the world No. 1 went out and shot a scrappy 3-under 68 in the toughest conditions of the week while hitting just three fairways. On Friday, he put on a clinic with eight birdies en route to 64 and claimed the 36-hole lead. 'I played with him the first two days, and honestly I thought he was going to birdie every hole. It was incredible to watch,' Shane Lowry said. 'When he starts getting on that roll, he's a hard person to beat.' Scheffler shot a bogey-free 67 on Saturday to stretch his lead to four. Even Rory McIlroy conceded that Scheffler's name being etched on the Claret Jug was a safe bet. 'It's inevitable. Even when he doesn't have his best stuff, he's become a complete player. He's improved so much with his putter.' On Sunday, County Antrim's summer stretched two full days long. It was shorts and sunscreen weather. Bathed in sunshine, Scheffler spun his approach at the first to kick-in range for a birdie. He rolled in birdie putts at Nos. 4 and 5 and for a moment his lead had grown to eight. Scheffler's putter bailed him out with lengthy pars at Nos. 6 and 7 but he got a little greedy from a fairway bunker at the eighth and hit the steep slope of a revetted bunker that resulted in a double bogey. Still, he only made three bogeys all week and avoided any calamity – playing Calamity Corner, the treacherous par-3 16th, in 3 under. Scheffler's lead was trimmed to four shots but he bounced back with an angry 350-yard drive at No. 9, stuffed a lob wedge inside 10 feet and rolled in another birdie putt. He tacked on a birdie at the par-5 12th and cruised to his 17th career Tour title and fourth of the season. It marked Scheffler's 10th consecutive win when holding the 54-hole lead. He just needs to do it 27 more times to match Tiger. But the comparisons to Tiger are growing. 'Having watched Tiger play in his prime – and I think Tiger is the greatest player I've ever seen – I never thought in my lifetime I'd see a player as close to Tiger as this man currently is,' said Jim 'Bones' Mackay. 'Scottie Scheffler just blows my mind every time I watch him play.' English closed with birdies on two of his final three holes to shoot 66 and claim second, a stroke better than Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup (67), who had a great two-week stretch on this side of the pond. Wyndham Clark fired a 65 to finish T-4 with Matt Fitzpatrick and Haotong Li, who was Scheffler's final-round playing partner. Defending champion Xander Schauffele (68) tied for seventh with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre. Bryson DeChambeau made 19 birdies over the final three rounds and posted the low score of the final round, a 64, to rally from an opening-round 78 and finish T-10. But it was Scheffler who got to enjoy his two minutes of ecstasy as he blew away the field at Royal Portrush to be the Champion Golfer of the Year.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Bryson DeChambeau testing prototype golf ball to reduce curve, increase wedge spin
Bryson DeChambeau is testing a prototype ball that he claims flies straighter and spins more with wedges — but it's not ready yet. Bryson DeChambeau's quest for golf equipment that suits his unique swing and game continued this week at Royal Portrush in the days leading up to the 153rd British Open. This time, however, the equipment in question wasn't a driver, a set of 3D-printed irons or a golf shaft stiff enough to do pull-ups on. This time, Bryson was testing golf balls. 'I'm working with somebody that's going to get me a ball that works better for my speeds,' he said Friday after signing his card for a 65 that earned him tee times for the weekend. 'Hopefully there's some more improvements to be made there. That's something I hope to complete in the next year.' For all of DeChambeau's obsession with power, the prototype ball he tested during practice rounds before the tournament doesn't aim to enhance his driver distance. His primary concern, he said, is finding a ball that flies straighter off the tee but spins more with his wedges. 'I compress down on it really hard and the thing just — I spin it like crazy (off the tee), and then on my wedges I don't spin it,' DeChambeau said. 'Launches high with no spin.' DeChambeau feels that his current ball — the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash — slides up the face of his wedges too easily, leading to unpredictability on approach shots and around the green. On Friday, he didn't identify the manufacturer of the prototype ball, but NBC Sports on-course analyst Smylie Kaufman helped fill in the details on his Instagram page. During one of DeChambeau's practice rounds, Kaufman spotted the American and chatted with him briefly. Kaufman said DeChambeau received prototype balls last week in Spain from Polara Golf and that he had just one with him at Portrush during the practice round. 'He's on a mission to find a ball that is going to curve less,' Kaufman said. What kind of golf ball is Bryson DeChambeau using? Polara is best known for selling the Ultimate Straight, a ball it claims reduces hooks and slices by up to 75 percent, thanks to a unique dimple pattern that reduces drag and sidespin. However, that ball is explicitly designed for amateur golfers and has a compression rating of 85. The Pro V1x Left Dash has a compression of around 102, making it significantly firmer and more suited to deliver the ball speeds fast-swinging pros want. If Polara were to create a firmer version of the Ultimate Straight ball, it would also need to put a different cover on it for DeChambeau. The current model has an ionomer cover, while the spinniest tour balls use urethane. If DeChambeau wants his high-lofted wedges to grab the ball and spin it more effectively, he'll need the softest cover available. DeChambeau said the version he tested isn't ready for competitive play and that the manufacturer — without naming it — is working to produce more. 'They can't make enough as quickly as they'd like,' he said. He expects to have an updated prototype to test within weeks, with a more finalized version targeted for September. And when that day comes, it won't just be a ball designed for links golf or the Open Championship. 'It might be for everything,' DeChambeau said. 'Most likely for everything. I need a golf ball that on wedges can click on the face more consistently. I get a lot of slipping on the face just because of how vertical I am and how much loft I have, and it just rolls up the face and launches with no spin most of the time.' For a player always looking for every edge — and never afraid to chase an unconventional solution — that's one more variable he's determined to control.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Keegan Bradley makes first British Open cut since 2018 as playing captain questions persist
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Keegan Bradley's decision about whether to be a playing captain at the 2025 Ryder Cup keeps getting easier or harder, depending on one's perspective. Bradley shot a bogey-free 4-under 67 at Royal Portrush Golf Club on Friday to put himself in contention at the 153rd British Open and make his first cut at the Open since 2018. The 39-year-old Team USA captain continues to make his case for being the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963. Entering the week ranked No. 9 in the Ryder Cup point standings and seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking, Bradley could earn some valuable points given that majors receive 1 ½ times the points of a regular Tour event. The top six in the final Ryder Cup points rankings automatically qualify for the team and Bradley will be given six captain's picks to round out the team. Asked what he will do if he finishes seventh in the standings, Bradley said, 'it certainly won't be easy. Nothing about picking whoever it is is going to be easy, but if I get to that position and I feel like I'm going to help the team, then I'll consider playing. But I really get asked that question 10 times a day, and I don't really have an answer.' He's also in unchartered territory as he considers being a playing captain. He's said that he can't call up Arnold Palmer for advice on how to do it. But he has picked the brain of Tiger Woods, who did double duty at the 2019 Presidents Cup. 'I've spoken to him a ton about this. There's a few other guys that have done it in the Presidents Cup. The Ryder Cup is a much different animal,' he said. 'But we have a plan. We have a 'for instance' that could happen. That can obviously change during the week. You've got to see how each player is playing. But we're learning as we go just like everybody else.' Despite winning the Travelers Championship last month, Bradley said his work to make the team is far from done. 'I had a very similar year at (in 2023) and didn't make the team. I have to keep going. I really need to play well this event and then in the Playoffs,' he said. Bradley had missed the cut at his last five British Opens, including at Portrush in 2019. His best career finish is 15th. 'He's got the highest ball flight on the PGA Tour. He sends it into orbit,' said Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee ahead of the Open. 'I'm not sure that he fully appreciates or understands how to play links golf and to work his way around these golf courses.' But Bradley, who conceded he has struggled with the slower greens at the Open, is controlling his ball flight and got off to a roaring start with an eagle at the second hole, ripping 5-wood from 258 yards to 17 feet and rolling in the putt. 'The shot I hit in there was one of the best shots I've hit all year,' Bradley said.
