Scottie Scheffler Removes All Doubt While Coasting to Victory at British Open

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The Louisville Police Department will be happy to hear that Scottie Scheffler has a new approach to traffic jams at major championships. He eliminates them. He won the British Open the way he won the 2022 Masters, the 2024 Masters, and the PGA Championship two months ago: with such authority that nobody had to stick around until the end, including the other golfers.

Scheffler began the day with a four-stroke lead, pushed it to five after two holes, and then made perhaps the least troubling double bogey by a Sunday leader in major-championship history. He hit the lip of a fairway bunker on the 8th hole, needed another swing to get out, and walked off the 443-yard par 4 with a six. If ever there was a time for Scheffler to feel pressure, this was it. On the next hole, he stuffed his approach inside five feet and made birdie. Of course he did.

As Scheffler stood on the elevated 13th tee Sunday, he had a six-stroke lead, and there was not a soul in Northern Ireland who believed he might blow it. The final margin was four strokes over Harris English, but it should probably go down as a TKO after 66 holes.

Scheffler said afterward that, “The crowd, I think, wanted somebody else to win this week,” a nod to the love for Rory McIlroy. He brought it up only to say that he appreciated the support he did get. For what it’s worth, I heard plenty of cheers for Scheffler on the course Sunday, and not one negative comment.

It is easy to cheer for McIlroy, but almost impossible to cheer against Scheffler. The worst thing anybody ever seems to say about him is that he is too good.

“In a historical context, you could argue that there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run (like) the one that Scottie's been on here for the last 24 to 36 months,” McIlroy said Sunday. “Incredibly impressive. He's a very worthy winner. Also, he's a great person, and I think he's a wonderful ambassador for our game.”

Scheffler said he “can’t wait to get home and celebrate,” which naturally raised the question: For how long? At the start of the week, he said he wasn’t quite sure why he cared so much about winning a golf tournament. The key there, for anybody who paid attention, was that he likes caring. He is intensely focused and will remain that way. He was not questioning his desire; he was marveling at it.

Scheffler, the game’s preeminent master of distance control, has put quite a bit of distance between himself and everybody else. As great as McIlroy is, Scheffler has been playing on a distinctly higher level for four years now. Scheffler has now won three of the last eight major championships, and he will be such a heavy favorite at the 2026 Masters that chefs are already lobbying him for a chance to cater the 2027 champions’ dinner.

Scheffler’s most distinguishing feature is what he does not do. He rarely hits truly poor shots, especially with an iron in his hand. He doesn’t flub chips. He so rarely plays the wrong shot anywhere on the course. Nothing seems to fluster him.

This week, his big adjustment was one he didn’t make: After unsatisfying results on the greens at the Scottish Open, he changed nothing. He just made sure his alignment was O.K. and went on his way.

“Two or three years ago, putting: I would have maybe questioned things or tried something different,” Scheffler said.

Back then, his putting was an actual weakness. (Yes, he used to have one.) Now? He three-putted once all week—and that was from 51 feet. He still made par on the hole.

Scheffler does not turn 30 until next June. He dismissed Tiger Woods comparisons Sunday night, and if he hadn’t, I would have. Woods was in an orbit nobody else has ever reached. But comparing Scheffler to almost every other player in history is fair.

Think about how great Phil Mickelson was for almost 30 years. When Mickelson was Scheffler’s age, he had won zero majors. Mickelson has won six, but never the U.S. Open, which is also the one that Scheffler is missing. The big question for him now is whether he wins the U.S. Open before it becomes awkward that he never has.

Scheffler knows the career Grand Slam questions are coming: “Since Rory accomplished it this year, I think it’s on the front of everybody’s mind.” But he also knew that McIlroy and several other major champions were circling Sunday in case he faltered. What’s on the front of Scheffler’s mind is his next shot.

“We’re gonna start all over in Memphis,” he said, referring to his next start, in early August. “Even par. The show goes on.”