It was 29 years ago that a multiple-major winning British golfer who had recently won the Masters went into the final round of the Open Championship six shots behind an American rival. Then, playing in front of a home crowd at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Nick Faldo could only halve that gap to Tom Lehman; he didn’t even finish runner-up. This time, playing in front of a home crowd at Royal Portrush, Rory McIlroy, went into the final round of the Open six shots behind his American rival, Scottie Scheffler (aged 29 years). Scheffler ended the week seven shots clear of McIlroy, who finished tied for seventh.
There were, obviously, differences. Lehman had not previously won a major championship. Scheffler had already bagged three of them – the Masters twice and the USPGA Championship in May. Faldo had won his sixth major at Augusta that April, and done it by overhauling a six-shot gap to Greg Norman on Sunday. Such was the fervour in his favour heading into the final round at Lytham that Sports Illustrated would amusingly comment that Faldo had become “the first man in history to blow a six-shot deficit”. No one would suggest, even as a joke, anything similar about the Irishman on this occasion. Faldo, incidentally, remains the most recent English winner of the famous claret jug, in 1992. The low Englishman at Portrush was Matt Fitzpatrick in a tie for fourth.
In fact, Scheffler’s lead on Saturday evening was four shots from Haotong Li. After two holes on Sunday, that had moved to five shots. No one would get closer until he made a double-bogey on the 8th after leaving his ball in a fairway bunker. It didn’t matter. Two holes later, his four-shot lead had risen to six. Eventually he won by four from Harris English (who, since he is American, doesn’t count regarding the stat at the end of the last paragraph).
To be fair, though, take Scheffler out of the equation and it would have been a heck of a battle. There were 11 players bunched within three shots behind English. Among these was Bryson DeChambeau, who finished on nine under par. This was despite an opening round of 78. His subsequent scores of 65-68-64 were the lowest final 54 holes by anyone. It is irresistible to point out that, being a LIV Tour player, 54-hole tournaments running from Friday to Sunday are what Bryson is used to.
On Friday evening, Fitzpatrick said of Scheffler: “He’s an exceptional player. We’re seeing Tiger-like stuff.” We are indeed. This was the tenth successive tournament Scheffler had won when holding the 54-hole lead. Since the Houston Open at the end of March, his record of tournament finishes now reads 2*4*8*1*1*4*1*7*6*8*1.
After this was over, Scheffler said: “To win the Open Championship is a feeling that’s really hard to describe. But my greatest priorities are my faith and my family. Golf is third. I don’t think I’m anything special just because some weeks I’m better at shooting a lower score than the other guys.”
On the basis of what he said before the championship got underway about the ephemeral perspective with which he viewed his success in golf tournaments – “if I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes” – one presumes that Scottie was content enough for at least a brief while on Sunday evening. After all, in the past 12 months he’s won two major championships and an Olympic gold medal. Surely that has to be worth a smile? Next June, he’ll be going to the US Open at Shinnecock Hills looking to complete the career Grand Slam. Is that really no big deal for him?