Key events
Rory’s travails on 10 have subdued the mood around Portrush. Everyone knows this is turning into a procession. The 2023 US Open champion Wyndham Clark hasn’t given up the ghost, mind you: out in 33, he’s subsequently birdied 11, 12 and 14, and has just fired his second at 15 into the heart of the green. He’ll have a long look at birdie from there. He’s currently in the group tied for second at -10 and going very well. Not good news for Portrush carpenters hoping to get a lucrative gig repairing lockers next week.
A fine end to the week for Canada’s Corey Conners. Back in 30 strokes, and his 66 will guarantee a high finish. He’ll be ruing his underwhelming opening-day round of 74. It’s not quite a DeChambeauesque recovery, but it’s in the ballpark, and they’ve both ended the week at -9. He joins Bryson in the clubhouse lead.
Chris Gotterup can’t make his par saver on 11. He slips back to -10. Haotong Li isn’t good for his on 10, either, and drops back to -10 as well. Bogey for Harris English at 11. Everyone’s going backwards … except Scottie Scheffler, who doesn’t make his birdie putt, but his seven-shot lead, recently cut to four, is back to six again in short order. Crisis? What crisis?
-16: Scheffler (10)
-10: Gotterup (11), Fitzpatrick (10), Li (10)
Scottie Scheffler looks concerned as he wedges into 10. No idea why, because the ball screeches to a halt pin high, 20 feet to the left of the flag, before taking a right-angle and rolling to ten feet. Haotong Li meanwhile, having flayed his tee shot into deep trouble, is forced to chip back out onto the fairway. He sends his third into the heart of the green, but he’ll have a 16 footer for par. And that’s the dilemma that Chris Gotterup is faced with, after sending a flyer over 11 and failing to get his chip back close.
Double bogey at 10 for McIlroy
Rory McIlroy’s race is run. His tee shot at 10 disappears into rough down the left. His second gets a flyer, and airmails the green. So far over that he’s on the wrong side of a bank at the back. He tries to get too cute off a tight lie, and almost whiffs his chip. The ball lands apologetically on the upslope and bounces back down into the bespoke gallery that has formed a horseshoe around him. Second time, he gets the ball onto the green, but he’s a good 20 feet away. Two putts later, and that’s a double-bogey six that drops him back to -8. Any outside chance of a romantic home victory gone in a flash.
Haotong Li makes his birdie putt. He’s out in 35. Realistically, he needed something lower. A fact rammed home when Scottie Scheffler tidies up for his birdie. What a way to respond to that double-bogey. He’s out in 34, and his lead is back to five. No signs of concern on his face, just the usual down-to-business look.
-16: Scheffler (9)
-11: Gotterup (10), Li (9)
-10: English (10), McIlroy (9), Fitzpatrick (9)
Li’s copped a half-decent lie on the bank to the left of 9, but he doesn’t have much green to play with. What a shot he manufactures, though. He stings his wedge into the bank to the left of the green, stunning the ball and kicking it right to six feet! That’s quite outrageous. Over to Scottie, who bounces a wedge from 100 yards to a similar distance. Bounce-back birdie coming up?
Scottie settles himself by battering his drive at 9 into the semi-rough down the right. That’ll be fine. Not so Haotong Li, who hoicks his tee shot into deep nonsense. Meanwhile up on 10, Chris Gotterup gets imaginative from the rough at the back of the green. He deliberately knocks his chip long and left of the hole, using the bank at the back to u-turn his ball to six feet. He makes his par putt, and that’s a magical momentum saver. He remains -11, four off Scheffler’s lead.
The chasing pack can’t rely on Scheffler offering them more gifts, though. They’ve got to do something themselves … and Rory McIlroy disappoints the gallery by cracking a monster 352-yard drive down 9, then leaving his chip 25 feet short. Two putts later, and what a waste. He remains at -10. Meanwhile Chris Gotterup finds rough at the back of the 10th green, pulling his approach, and the peloton is in danger of taking their collective foot off the pedal just as the leader wobbles for the first time this week.
Double bogey at 8 for Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler can’t make his bogey putt on 8, and that’s his first double bogey of the week. An incredibly daft decision to take a shy at the green from the bunker, and it’s cost him. All of a sudden, his seven-shot lead has been whittled down to four.
-15: Scheffler (8)
-11: Gotterup (9)
-10: English (9), McIlroy (8), Fitzpatrick (8), Li (8)
The new US Open champion JJ Spaun nearly holes out from 176 yards for eagle on 18. What a sign-off that would have been! It’s a tap-in birdie, and he’s back in 30 strokes, signing for a 68. He doesn’t half like the back nine on a major Sunday! He ends the week at -6.
Scheffler fires his wedge straight at the flag. He’s shooting four. He lands 15 feet short of the pin, but he’s got a chance to salvage bogey. Elsewhere, Chris Gotterup birdies 9 to turn in 33, and out of absolutely nowhere, there’s a little bit of jeopardy for the world number one.
… and on 8, Scottie Scheffler makes an absurd unforced error. Instead of taking his medicine out of the fairway bunker, he takes a long iron and goes for the green. The face of the bunker is way too steep, and he slams his ball into it. He’s fortunate his ball doesn’t roll back into his deep footprint. Then he does what he should have done in the first instance, wedging out. The leader will do well to avoid double bogey now. Hmm.
“Gosh, dang it!” Some wholesome cussin’ from Scottie Scheffler, in response to his third poor tee shot in a row. This one finds a fairway bunker down the right of 8. Perhaps understandably, his levels of intensity have dropped a little. That can’t be said for Matt Fitzpatrick, who has clearly decided to have one last shy at the title. He follows birdie at 7 by firing an arrow straight at the flag on 8. Another birdie, and now he’s -10.
From the theatre to the pantomime, as a chorus of highly amused oohs and aahs cascade down from the gallery. They’re the response to Scottie Scheffler knocking an uncharacteristically heavy handed wedge 15 feet past the hole. A first bogey since the 11th on Friday coming up? Nope! In goes the par saver, and this is an almost super-human display of golf. Two huge up and downs yesterday afternoon, at 11 and 14, and the same again today, at 6 and 7. It’s all part of it. Wow.
Harris English walks in a 25-footer on 8 to join the pack at -10. Meanwhile Scottie Scheffler takes his medicine out of the fairway bunker at 7 … then pulls his approach from 200 yards down a bank to the left of the green. Another up-and-down test coming up. “Two greens missed in a row, there’s a new stat!” quips the three-time winner Sir Nick Faldo on Sky Sports, his words just about audible over the theatrical hoisting of a large arched eyebrow.
Rory McIlroy recovers from his wild drive at 7. And how. He nearly holes out with his wedge from 80 yards, then tidies up for a birdie that raises him to -10. Back on the tee, Scottie Scheffler drives into a bunker. Let’s manage expectations: this is over. But it’s not quite over yet. Rory certainly isn’t giving it up.
-17: Scheffler (6)
-10: Gotterup (8), McIlroy (7), Li (6)
-9: DeChambeau (F), English (7), Fitzpatrick (7)
Matsuyama in with 66
Par for Hideki up the last. Out in 33, back in 33. A fine round, albeit one that unbelievably promised more when he was six-under for it through 12. A slightly diminuendo finish, with bogeys at 13 and 16, but overall he’ll take that. Whether it’s enough for his first top-ten finish at an Open since finishing tied for sixth on debut in 2013 is yet to be seen. It’s in the balance: he’s currently tied for 12th.
Birdie for Chris Gotterup at the par-five 7th, and the Scottish Open champion moves to -10. Back down at the tee, Rory McIlroy carves his drive into the thick rubbish down the right of the fairway. And is there a small chink of light for the peloton, as Scottie Scheffler comes up short of the par-three 6th, his ball funnelled into a valley by the false front, his chip back up none too close? Nope! He holes the 16-footer that remains, and punches the air with great determination. Scottie doesn’t care? Oh he cares!
-17: Scheffler (6)
-10: Gotterup (7), Li (6)
-9: DeChambeau (F), English (7), McIlroy (6)
-8: Fowler (F), N Højgaard, Schauffele (8), Hatton (8), Fitzpatrick (6)
A 64 for Bryson!
We have a new clubhouse leader at -9. Bryson DeChambeau sends a forensic second straight at the 18th flag, then rattles in the 12-footer that remains for birdie and a 64. Out in 32, back in 32. He punches the air, arm raised in the triumphant style of John Bender from the Breakfast Club, and soaks up the acclaim. He’s box-office all right! That opening round of 78 so costly. How has he not won a major this year? He’s been outrageously good. Scottie and Rory are the reason he’s not won a major this year. What can you do? Next year, maybe. Don’t you forget about him.
Rory McIlroy tries his best to trim that seven-shot lead to six. He knocks his tee shot at the par-three 6th pin high, then nearly drains the birdie putt. But it stays up on the high side, a dimple’s width to the left. The small margins … because seconds later, back on 5, Scottie Scheffler, having laid up from the tee, wedges from 90 yards to 14 feet, then rolls in the birdie putt. Eight clear momentarily … though his partner Haotong Li then follows him in for a birdie of his own to reduce the gap back to just (!) the seven.
-17: Scheffler (5)
-10: Li (5)
Seven-shot leads, then. If the King can ship one, with nine holes to go at the 1966 US Open, then you can be sure Scottie isn’t taking any liberties just yet.
Matt Fitzpatrick rolls in a 25-footer for birdie on 5. No celebration. He wears the expression of a man who knows the jig is already up. He returns to -9, as does his playing partner Rory McIlroy, who is also keeping things in perspective. And yet there’s a small bounce in his walk as he departs for the next tee. You’ve seen that bounce before. Tail up. He’s seven back, but won’t be giving this up just yet. The crowd roar him along, betraying a sliver of renewed belief.
If … no, let’s get real … when Scottie Scheffler wins this Open, he’ll join an elite club of players to win the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship and the Open Championship before the age of 30. The other three? Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. That is some company to be keeping. Scottie doesn’t look a man out of place.
Haotong Li drops another shot, the result of finding a fairway bunker at 4. But it’s another birdie for Scottie Scheffler, whose drive somehow evades the traps. He takes full advantage of the break, and sends his approach from 172 yards to seven feet. He walks in the putt, and this is all over. What a majestic display this is. What a majestic player he is.
-16: Scheffler (4)
-9: English (5), Gotterup (5), Li (4)
-8: Fowler (F), DeChambeau (17), N Højgaard (7), Schauffele (6), McIlroy (4), Fitzpatrick (4)
Hideki Matsuyama bounces back from bogey at 13 with birdie at 15 … then hands the shot back again at 16. He’s -7 and running out of steam a little bit after that earlier six-birdie blast.
Fowler cards 65
Rickie Fowler should have a major to his name. But another year goes by without the popular Californian nabbing a big one. He finishes up with three birdies in a row, though, and he’s back in 30 strokes, one off the Open record matched yesterday by Lee Westwood. A valedictory round of 65 and he ends the week at -8. Confidence restored, next year maybe. Make it happen, Rickie. Here, it’s been a while since we posted this. Any old excuse …
Scottie Scheffler is in complete control of his emotions. Like that’s breaking news. A no-fuss par at 3. Meanwhile up on 4, the gallery falls into a subdued funk, as realisation sets in that their hero Rory McIlroy is already running out of holes, and of hope. From the centre of the fairway, he shoves his approach into thick rubbish to the right of the green. Unable to control the chip coming out, it twangs on the downslope and races off 40 feet past the hole. That leads to bogey, and he’s back to -8.
“Sergio reaching C-level meltdown on the tee at 2, then going on to make birdie definitely deserves a mention on the blog,” write Patrick and Kelly Della, clearly fans of our not-completely-officially-sanctioned SERGIO MELTDOWN-O-METER. Your wish etc. Oh my. Oh dearie me. Oh Sergio! You’re right, that’s a full C and no mistake. For the record, our hero finished with a 68, ending his week at -3. Gotta love Sergio!
Chris Gotterup drains a monster left-to-right slinger on 4! That’s the line all right, like Xander Schauffele before him. Gotterup, the new Scottish Open champion, clearly likes a links. The 26-year-old from New Jersey one to watch at the Open in the coming years. He’s worth keeping an eye on now, actually, rising as he does to -9.
Haotong Li’s escape from the bunker at 2 is nearly a full-on blade. His ball whizzes through the green and into a depression on the other side, and he can’t get up and down. Bogey. Scottie Scheffler’s approach wasn’t all that, and he’s got to make do with par on a hole that’s been giving up birdies and eagles today. But despite handing 0.2 shots back to the field, his lead has increased. A reminder that he doesn’t have to make a move; the others do. (A fact hammered home on the par-three 3rd, where Matt Fitzpatrick airmails his tee shot over the green. His ball rests in a divot, he can’t scramble his par, and that’s bogey. Par for Rory.)
-15: Scheffler (2)
-10: Li (2)
-9: English (3), McIlroy (3)
-8: DeChambeau (15), R Højgaard (6), Schauffele (4), Hatton (4), Gotterup (3), Fitzpatrick (3)
Another birdie for Bryson DeChambeau! He whistles in a right-to-left slider from 30 feet on 15 and rises to -8. At the risk of belabouring the point, but it simply can’t go unannounced: he shot 78 on Thursday! This is turning into one of the great golfing what-ifs.
Rasmus Højgaard is this close to raking in a monster for eagle on 5, having driven the green. He tidies up for birdie and moves to -8. Back on 4, the defending champion Xander Schauffele fair rattles a left-to-right swinger into the cup for birdie. Had that not hit the hole, it was racing a long way past. But it did, and the Californian moves to -8 as well.
… but nothing’s certain yet, of course. Up on the 2nd green, Rory McIlroy, having sent his approach into a swale to the right of the green, nearly holes out for eagle with a Texas Wedge. He taps in to move to -9. Par for Matt Fitzpatrick. Then coming behind, Scottie Scheffler comes up short of the green, while Haotong Li finds a bunker guarding the front right. A reminder that there’s a long way to go. Bogey meanwhile for Hideki Matsuyama at the long and notoriously difficult par-three 16th (which Scottie has birdied every day, naturally) and he slips back to -7.
Scottie Scheffler and Haotong Li crack their drives down the middle of 2. Now then, we mentioned Henrik Stenson’s lowest winning total of 264 at Troon in 2016. If Scheffler wants to beat that mark, he’ll need to shoot 64 today. Meanwhile if Haotong Li wants to break the record for lowest total by a runner-up, he’ll need to card a final round of 63, which he’s done before at Birkdale in 2016. Should Li do that, he’d beat the mark of 267 set by both Phil Mickelson at Troon in 2016 and Jordan Spieth at Sandwich in 2021. Not that we’re making huge assumptions about the order in which everyone’s going to finish. Oh no no no.
Scheffler taps in for his birdie and moves five clear. All of a sudden, Li’s three-foot birdie putt, which looked a sure thing moments ago, looks double the length. So hats off to him for rapping it into the centre of the cup. Meanwhile birdie at 2 for Harris English, who is determined not to let this turn into a Watson-Nicklaus or Stenson-Mickelson style two-man duel.
-15: Scheffler (1)
-11: Li (1)
-9: English (2), Fitzpatrick (1)
-8: Hatton (3), Gotterup (2), McIlroy (1)
Haotong Li arrows his second at 1 to three feet. Gauntlet down! Scottie’s response? A 9-iron which lands softly ten feet to the right of the hole, then, using a mixture of spin and camber, pulls his ball back to kick-in distance! That’s simply sensational. Next!
Rory McIlroy’s birdie putt has a huge left-to-right swing. He doesn’t set it out wide enough. Opening par. And it’s the same for Matt Fitzpatrick, who chips up to three feet and tidies up for his saver. All good and well … but none of the chasing pack have made the early birdies they need. Well, Tyrrell Hatton did, but handed it back immediately. See also Rasmus Højgaard, who started with a birdie-birdie bang but has just bogeyed 4 to drop back to -7.
The final group take to the tee. Haotong Li whip-cracks an iron down the middle. Then the leader Scottie Scheffler, who tugs at his iron slightly. It looks like heading into the thick stuff down the left, but takes a lucky bounce to the right and settles in the semi-rough. But you make your own luck, and Scottie has made only three bogeys all week. Here we go, then!
Rory McIlroy is out and about, soundtracked by the usual ozone-layer-bothering roars. An iron straight down the middle. An approach straight down the middle and over the flag. He’ll have a 20-foot putt coming back for birdie. Matt Fitzpatrick has some work to do, though, having dispatched his tee shot into the rough down the left, then sent a flyer over the back of the green. Meanwhile Hideki Matsuyama’s eagle putt at 12 shaves the hole, Tyrrell Hatton’s bunkered tee shot at 2 leads to bogey, and here’s how the top of the leaderboard looks right now.
-14: Scheffler
-10: Li
-9: Fitzpatrick
-8: Matsuyama (12), R Hojgaard (3), Hatton (2), English (1), Gotterup (1), McIlroy
-7: DeChambeau (13), Fleetwood (11), Hall (7), MacIntyre (3), Henley (3), Schauffele (2)
What Bryson DeChambeau would give to play his Thursday round again. A 78 had him almost certainly going home early, but he’s responded like the two-time major-winning champion he is: a 65 to avoid the cut with something to spare, a 68 yesterday, and now he’s five-under for his round today through 12 holes! Birdies at 3, 4, 7, 9 and 12. He’s -7 for the championship, and if he’d got his act together like this for his first round, he’d be thinking about breaking Henrik Stenson’s record for lowest winning total of 264, set at Troon in 2016, and it’d be Scottie Scheffler doing all the chasing today. But he didn’t, so he isn’t, and Scottie won’t be, so here we are. Still, what a response!
Tommy Fleetwood is too far back to dream, but he appears to be in the mood to make up as much ground as possible anyway. He’s out in 32 after birdies at 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9. The Southport star is -7. Meanwhile irritation early doors for Bob MacIntyre, who nearly rolls in a 40-footer for eagle at 2, but his ball stops one dimple shy. His playing partner Rasmus Hojgaard meanwhile starts birdie-birdie. They’re -7 and -8 respectively.
The chasing pack need birdies immediately if they’re to cause Scottie Scheffler any concern. Tyrrell Hatton flies out of the traps with a pretty much perfect birdie on 1, his tee shot down the middle his approach stuck to three feet, the putt straight into the cup. He moves to -9, though he’s found a fairway bunker with his drive at 2, so there goes any hope of eagle.
Three birdies in a row for the 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. He moves to -7 after picking up strokes at 2, 5, 9, 10 and now 11, five under for his round like the aforementioned Maverick McNealy. Matsuyama tied for sixth on his Open debut at Muirfield in 2013, but hasn’t done much in the Championship since. He’s currently on target for just his second top-ten finish.
None of the amateurs made the cut this year, so nobody will be awarded the Silver Medal. For the record, the best-performing amateurs this year were Cameron Adam, a 22-year-old from Fife, and Ethan Fang, a 20-year-old Texan who won the Amateur Championship this year and of whom big things are expected. Both finished their week at +3, a couple of shots shy of weekend survival.
Maverick McNealy is the hottest property out on the course right now. He’s five under for his round, having followed up eagle at 2 with birdies at 3, 9, 10, 13 and 14. Bogeys at 4 and 7 clearly didn’t derail his momentum. The 29-year-old Californian is finally beginning to deliver on all the early hype, and he’s -6 overall.
Lowry shoots 66
Low scoring, then. Well, yeah! The big story of the morning was Shane Lowry, who six years ago did what Scottie Scheffler is likely to do today: amble around Portrush with the Claret Jug as good as already pocketed. Lowry’s gone out in style, in more ways than one: he went out in 32 strokes, and then nearly holed out from the bottom of the big swale to the left of 18. Inches away from a sensational valedictory blow. A 66 to bid farewell, and he ends the week at -2. Not what he was dreaming of, but the 2019 champion golfer will always have … er … Portrush.
Rain and possible thunderstorms were forecast for Sunday at the start of the week. But while the forecasters have got most things spot on, this call was way wide of the mark. It’s sunny and hot! Low scores ahoy! Not too much in the way of wind, either, though gusts may pick up a little later in the afternoon. The forecasters weren’t that far wide of the mark though: those showers and thunderstorms may heave into view in the evening, but by then everything most likely will be done and dusted. A glorious Open Sunday!
Preamble
Let’s not put too fine a point on it: the 153rd Open Championship is Scottie Scheffler’s to lose, and the final round at Portrush will most likely become a procession. Bigger 54-hole leads have been lost in the past … but Scheffler is of a different stripe to poor old Jean Van de Velde, who went into the final round at Carnoustie in 1999 five clear and so full of hope. It’s not totally beyond the realms that one of the chasing pack could overhaul the leader’s four-stroke advantage, but that’d surely take a perfect storm of a round in the mid-to-low 60s while the world number one suffers a series of absurdly bad bounces and/or an incomprehensible implosion. Having said all that, this is golf, so.
Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked after the third round …
-14: Scheffler
-10: Li
-9: Fitzpatrick
-8: McIlroy, Gotterup, English, Hatton
-7: Schauffele
-6: Henley, N Højgaard, MacIntyre, R Højgaard, Harman
-5: Clark, Wallace, Lindell, Reitan, Åberg, Rose, Hall, Westwood
… and here’s today’s tee sheet (all times BST, GB&I unless stated). It’s on!
0830 Matti Schmid, Riki Kawamoto
0840 Dean Burmester, Phil Mickelson
0850 Sebastian Soderberg, Andrew Novak
0900 Shane Lowry, Jacob Skov Olesen
0910 Antoine Rozner, Viktor Hovland
0920 Adrien Saddier, Ryggs Johnston
0930 Romain Langasque, Jordan Spieth
0940 Francesco Molinari, Matthew Jordan
0955 Sergio Garcia, Justin Leonard
1005 Thomas Detry, Sepp Straka
1015 Aaron Rai, Jason Kokrak
1025 Daniel Berger, Jhonattan Vegas
1035 Maverick McNealy, Henrik Stenson
1045 Takumi Kanaya, Jordan Smith
1055 Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler
1110 Akshay Bhatia, Jon Rahm
1120 Jesper Svensson, Thriston Lawrence
1130 Bryson DeChambeau, Nathan Kimsey
1140 Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau
1150 Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
1200 JJ Spaun, John Parry
1210 Keegan Bradley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
1225 Marc Leishman, Lucas Glover
1235 Sungjae Im, Dustin Johnson
1245 Corey Conners, Lee Westwood
1255 Harry Hall, Justin Rose
1305 Ludvig Åberg, Kristoffer Reitan
1315 Oliver Lindell, Matt Wallace
1325 Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman
1340 Rasmus Højgaard, Robert MacIntyre
1350 Nicolai Højgaard, Russell Henley
1400 Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton
1410 Harris English, Chris Gotterup
1420 Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick
1430 Haotong Li, Scottie Scheffler
