The hype leading up to the final round at Portrush  was whether someone would come out of the pack and take a shot at Scottie Schleffer’s four stroke advantage on the field.  Those hopes for competitive drama were extinguished on the very first hole on Sunday.  Scheffler’s 3 wood off the first tee thundered down the fairway finishing in some light wispy rough.  The approach shot landed with a radar like push to the front of the green rolling to 14 inches from the cup.  The “gimme” birdie would set up the orchestral march to victory as if he were playing alone on a late Sunday afternoon.  At one point, his lead was seven and was never in doubt.  He demonstrated some hubris on the 8th hole with some misguided bunker play that generated a double bogey and his only real blemish of the day.   The jeweler who engraves the winner on the Claret Jug could have spent his day at the beach as Scheffler’s lead was never threatened. Scheffler’s cakewalk is a testament to his accurate ball striking and the ability to continuously execute his process.  If the putter is cooperating, it is usually game over for the rest of the field.

Scheffler is the new standard of the paragon of the game.  He is on a significant roll and may have even done more damage on tour this year had he not had a household accident over the Christmas holidays.  He is now being compared to Tiger Woods and the comparison is appropriate in terms of achievement but certainly not in style.    Tiger intimidated his competitors with his swagger, his fist-pumps and his red Nike shirt on Sunday.  Scheffler can be viewed as boring.  He simply executes his irons, pumps drivers in the fairways and doesn’t make any mistakes while completing disarming the competition.  Scheffler is more akin to a Jack Nicklaus as a dedicated family man who puts family first but has the skill and the desire to be the best at the game of golf without needing any bursts of emotion.  To date, I haven’t seen any commercialization of Scheffler’s considerable skills hawking cars, cereal or even golf balls although you would think this should be coming.    He simply intends to win everything with out going public about it.  He conducted a press conference during the week emphasizing the priority of family over golf without yielding to the notion that he really intends to win every time out. (although that is his intent)  Scheffler has a formula that has to place him in the conversation for a player that can win for a very long time barring injury.  He has the attitude and stability of home life similar to Nicklaus to pull it off.  The next step is to complete the Grand Slam and in the near term defend his status as PGA Tour Champion as the preliminary tournaments roll into action.  Scheffler is great for the sport and highlights all that is great about the game and life in general.

There was another part to the Open Championship which could be entitled, all other competitors besides Scottie Scheffler.  Some examples:

-Favorite son and native of Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy wanted to play well in front of his countrymen but McIlroy is still beaming from his Masters victory and career Grand Slam achievement.  There just doesn’t seem to be the fire and the focus to take down Scheffler-although his eagle 3 on the 12th hole created a minor earthquake in Belfast.  However, if you’re going to beat Scheffler, you almost have to play mistake-free golf and Rory wasn’t quite there finishing with a respectable 7th place at 10 under–7 behind Scheffler

-Bryson DeChambeau was facing a trip home after his opening round 78.  With a cut line of +2, DeChambeau got on his horse and managed a second round 65 to eke through the cut line at +1.  He proceeded to go 10 under for the next two days to finish 10th–3 shots better than Scheffler in the final 36 holes.  He is the only LIV player to make some noise in the event and this is a pattern of the last two years.  It would be great to get him back on the PGA Tour every week.

-Chris Gotterup–Chris Who?  This guy earned the right to play in the event by upsetting everyone by winning  the Scottish Open.  He had to cancel his flight back to New Jersey and proceeded to catch more fire at Portrush.  He demonstrated nerves of steel and one heck of a short game to 3rd alone at -12.  If I were Keegan Bradley, he is the kind of guy you want on the Ryder Cup team–fearless and focused.

–Harrison English–by his own admission, he played the best golf of his life and hung in there to finish second alone to Schleffer with some terrific ball striking and oustanding putting.  It will be interesting to see if he can continue in this form to compete the for the Fed Ex cup.

–Weirdness Department–Rory McIlroy’s 4 iron out of the rough unearths an embedded ball that travels a foot while his original ball went perhaps 75 yards. Rory and all the rest of us were nonplussed watching two golf balls emerge from one gigantic swipe.  Justin Rose had back to back shanks in the third round, which I thought was going to bring him to tears.  How on earth can one of the best players on the planet hit back to back shanks (or any shanks for that matter)–the gods of golf have strange ways of delivering messages.  Rose recovered and managed to shoot 68 for the round.  The gods of golf rewarded him for his behavior as he closed out the tournament with a long birdie putt on the final hole to finish 16th.

–Bad Behavior Department–Sergio Garcia slammed his driver to the ground after a wayward tee shot shattering the shaft with the head taking a roll down the fairway.  Garcia would have to play the rest of the round without a driver but these guys are so good, he managed to shoot 68 and finish 34th.  He was apologetic in his post round comments and we’ve all been there so his response demonstrated some class.  On the other hand, Wyndham Clark has been banished from Oakmont Country Club for life for smashing up the locker room at the US Open.  Oakmont dictated some terms to get the suspension lifted but Clark, while apologizing for his behavior, should have jumped on the solution suggested by Oakmont–thus far,  he has not and this just isn’t a good look.

–Disappointing:  The LIV guys continue to disappoint in the majors especially former World No. 1-Jon Rahm.  Players such as Brooks Koepka, Niemann, Patrick Reed, and Cameron Smith all missed the cut.

Portrush was a good test but a tad defenseless as the weather was conducive to lower scoring as the wind, rain spots during the first two days were mostly tolerable for the field.  The course did not respond in a fierce manner and the Calamity 16th hole was anything but–it might be renamed Hospitality for this year’s open.  It’s still a great golf course and it seemed like No. 1 was one of the most difficult holes for this venue as some big numbers were made due to wayward tee shots with out of bounds on both sides of the hole.

The Open Championship for 2026 will be at Royal Birkdale,  another icon on this spectacular rota of golf courses in England and Scotland.  It will also suit Scheffler’s game very well, but then again, which course doesn’t?