Portrush -Scottie Scheffler of Northern Ireland may not have found a true achievement in his life, but that doesn't stop him from continuing to do so at the greatest stage of the sport.
Scheffler has been celebrating his latest major title in the world, scoring a four-point victory in the open title of Royal Protush on Sunday in 68 tours.
The result was always questionable Sunday as the golf No. 1 player finished the game with a 267-under 17 shot, his second Grand Slam this year and won the third leg of his career.
Schefller dug out on the last hole to make everything look so conventional. But then, Schefler saw his family – wife Meredith, 15-month-old son Bennett and his parents – stretched his arms into the air, raised his arms and threw the hat in the air. That's all about the 29-year-old from Texas, who keeps the silver purple-red jug for a year.
“He’s the bar we’re all trying to reach,” said Masters champion Rory McIlroy. “In the context of history, you might argue that there are only two to three players in the history of the game that have been here for the last 24 to 36 months. It’s impressive.”
Scottie Scheffler won his “Champion Golfer of the Year” claim with a four-stroke victory at Royal Prothush Open. It was his fourth victory in the Major, which gave him three legs to the professional Grand Slam. He only lacks the U.S. Open. AP Photos/Jon Super
American Harris English, who had no caddies arrived in the UK two weeks ago, and Chris Gotterup, who had no Irish tickets, finished second and third respectively.
Scheffler became the fourth player in open championship history, shooting 68 or higher in all four rounds, joining Collin Morikawa (2021), Henrik Stenson (2016) and Jesper Parnevik (1994).
“Being able to walk 18 in the game is a hard thing to describe. It's a really cool feeling,” Scheffler said. “I'm so grateful to be able to accomplish something like this.
“It takes a lot of work – not only does a lot of work, but a lot of patience. It's a high focus on the 72 holes of a game. I think it's one of my best mental performances.”
The start of Scheffler's final round is ideal. From the first cut, Schaffler hit the right side of the green on the slope. The ball drips backwards and rolls from the cup to 10 inches for a tap bird.
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Schaffler has won the PGA championship with five strokes this year. Last year, he won the Masters in 2022 and the Masters in 2022. No one won the top four major titles by three shots or more until Sunday.
He also became the third golfer to win multiple professional golfers with four or more strokes in the year, joining Ben Hogan (Master, U.S. Open, Open 1953) and Tiger Woods (U.S. Open, 2000).
Scheffler has won 20 titles worldwide since February 2022, making his 11th straight lead to turn a 54-hole lead into a victory.
“I don't think we think the golf world will dominate as quickly as a tiger, and that's Scottie who took that dominance,” Xander Schauffele said.
“You can't even say he's running. He's just killed over two years. He's a tough guy and when you see his name on the rankings, it's awful for us.”
Scheffler arrived in Northern Ireland and shared some extraordinary insights when he said the celebration of the victory did not last, but it took a few minutes to get to the next one. He said he likes the best job and he thrives in the competition, but in terms of achievement, he often questions why he is willing to win such a bad victory when it comes to the excitement of winning.
There was only one swing on Sunday. Scheffler found a bunker on the tee on the eighth of the 4th stroke, and his next shot hit the side of the review and rolled into the bunker.
He put the next one into the fairway safely, hit the 18-foot fairway and took two putts for double bogey-ending his 32 straight bogey-free holes.
Schaffler then drilled his drive at No. 9 and hit the bird at 5 feet, and he returned to his horse. He hit nine defenders with eight pars and a birdie because that's what he needs. No one can catch him.
“I played with him for the first two days and honestly, I thought he was going to birdie every hole. It was incredible to look at it,” Shane Lowry said. “If Scott's feet were stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott's feet, we would talk about him in the same words as Tiger Woods. … His bad shots were really good. You know he was really good at that time.”
Scheffler's only other stumbling block comes from his 15-month-old son, who is trying to walk to 18th Green to his father and wine jar, but is a facial plant.
Schevler smiled and said, “I don't think he's ever going up the mountain like he used to.”
It was an extraordinary test for Schefller, because cheers, not everyone. McIlroy plays in front of a family crowd in Northern Ireland. He started the game in the next six rounds, requiring him in the Major’s greatest closed match and got the help of Schefler, but McIlroy regained seven in the tie in seventh place.
“I wish I was close to Scottie going into today and being able to really push it,” McIlroy said. “But he's been at different levels all week and he's been at different levels for the past two years.” ”
England scored a 66-shot-under 66 on Sunday after the PGA Championship in May to finish second in a major this year. One of his best years in his career may include a September appearance at the Ryder Cup in New York.
Gotterup's last two weeks on the link have changed lives. As the world's No. 158, he won the Scottish Open last week and qualified for the Open Championship, finishing third in his major debut by shooting 68 and 67 points on the weekend.
Gotterup earned about $2.7 million in eight days, twice as much as his career. Oh, that was also his 26th birthday on Sunday.
“I don't know what's going on here, his family is Danish, but my European blood on me is already lifelike.”
Although there is no long-term caddie Eric Larson, English ends under the age of 13 and cannot obtain a UK travel visa due to imprisonment 20 years ago. Instead, his short film coach Ramon Bescansa was on his schoolbag.
“Ramon and I did a great job.” “He kind of knows how I work.”
English is now outside the automatic qualifying position of the Ryder Cup team in the United States
“Hopefully I can get into the top six to lock in a position,” he said.
China's Haotong Li (70), Matt Fitzpatrick (69) and Wyndham Clark (65) tied for fourth place. Let Lee enter the Masters next year.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to the report.