Scottie Scheffler proved his class at Royal Portrush, defeating his closest challenger by four shots to add The Open Championship to his growing collection of major titles.
Scottie Scheffler cheekily asked if he was being booed after admitting his failure to explore the town of Portrush following his Open Championship win.
Scheffler was simply a class above the rest at Royal Portrush. Having seized control of the tournament on Friday with a second-round 64, the world No. 1 carded a three-under-par 68 on Sunday to get his hands on the Claret Jug at 17-under.
Scheffler defeated Harris English, his nearest rival, by four shots to seal the fourth major title of his career, having won two Masters titles and the PGA Championship. He will look to become just the seventh man to complete the career grand slam when he tees off at next year’s U.S. Open, which will be held at Shinnecock Hills.
During his winners’ speech after emerging victorious at The Open, Scheffler admitted he didn’t have a lot of time to go into Portrush and explore the town. “I wish I could have seen more of the town but it was bit of a business week with home on the golf course…”
The Northern Irish crowd immediately reacted with boos ringing out, and the confused world No. 1 asked: “Was that a boo or a cheer? I wasn’t sure.”
The crowd responded with laughter at Scheffler’s joke. Scheffler praised the tremendous fan support throughout the week, pointing specifically to how Shane Lowry, whom he partnered with through the first two rounds, was cheered on.
“Thank you so much to the fans this week for all the support. I know I wasn’t the fan favorite today, but I did hear a lot of ‘USA’ and ‘Dallas, Texas’ chants, so I appreciate you guys for coming out to support.
“Overall, it’s been a great week. The fan support all week was tremendous. It was a ton of fun to get to play here- I got to play with Shane the first couple of days, and for you guys to come out and support Shane the way you did was special, and it was a really fun week to get to play in front of such a great crowd.”
Ahead of the final major of the year, Scheffler insisted that his family means more to him than anything else, and he stayed true to his word immediately after winning The Open. He went straight over to his wife, Meredith, and one-year-old son, Bennett, to celebrate.
As a result of his victory, Scheffler has become just the fourth player to win a Masters, US PGA, and The Open before the age of 30. He joins Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods in the exclusive club.
Scheffler has won three times this year, with one runner-up finish and eight other top-10s in 15 events. He has not finished outside the top 25 this season, and last missed the cut at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2022.
His performance at Portrush has only added to the conversation that he could well reach the levels of arguably golf’s greatest ever player in Woods. The stars are aligning too; Scheffler took exactly the same number of days (1,197) as Woods between winning his first and fourth major.
When asked about the comparisons to the 15-time major champion, Scheffler said: “I still think they’re a bit silly. 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. I don’t focus on that kind of stuff.”
