Dominant Scottie Scheffler racks up 2nd major of 2025 with win at British Open
By DOUG FERGUSON The Associated Press PORTRUSH Northern Ireland AP Scottie Scheffler had all the time in the world to celebrate his latest major title This British Open was never in doubt Sunday as golf s No athlete delivered another dominant performance to win his second major this year and grab the third leg of the career Grand Slam Scheffler began with a shot into inches for birdie One hour into the final round his lead already was seven shots and no one got closer than four the rest of the way at Royal Portrush He closed with a -under for a four-shot accomplishment sending him to the U S Open next year with a chance to make it a clean sweep of golf s biggest titles Scheffler won the Masters by three shots in and by four shots last year He won the PGA Championship by five shots in May And then he arrived in Northern Ireland and shared particular extraordinary insight when he commented celebrating tournament wins doesn t last but a insufficient minutes before it was on to the next one He loves the work required to be the best He thrives on competition But in terms of fulfillment he often questions why he wants to win so badly when the thrill of winning is fleeting He tapped in for par on the final hole making it all look so routine But then he saw his family thrust both arms into the air pumped both fists and tossed his cap in the air That s what it was all about for the -year-old from Texas And he gets to keep the silver claret jug for a year Rory McIlroy referred to the outcome as inevitable when Scheffler built a four-shot lead going into the final round and it was every bit of that The tap-in birdie on the first hole A brilliant approach between two knobs to feet for birdie on the fourth A -foot birdie on No The bulk telling was his biggest celebration a powerful fist pump when he made a -foot par putt on No It was reminiscent of when Tiger Woods saved his biggest fist pump for a par on the th hole of his historic -shot win at Pebble Beach in the U S Open when it was clear Woods was competing mainly against himself That s what it felt like until Scheffler s one wobble His tee shot on the par- eighth identified a bunker and Scheffler got too aggressive The shot hit the top of the vetted side and rolled back into the sand He got the next one out safely into the fairway hit wedge to feet and took two putts for a double bogey That ended his streak of consecutive holes without a bogey remarkable control of his golf ball The lead was down to four shots when Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup birdied the ninth And then Scheffler drilled a drive hit wedge to feet for birdie and he was back on his horse He played the back nine with eight pars and a birdie because that s all he needed No one could catch him I played with him the first two days and honestly I thought he was going to birdie every hole It was incredible to watch Shane Lowry noted If Scottie s feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott s we d be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods His bad shots are really good That s when you know he s really good Scheffler who finished at -under won for the fourth time this year He is the first sportsman in the last century to win his first four majors by at least three shots He has won times worldwide since February and this was the th straight time he turned a -hole lead into a domination This is the second straight year for a participant to win two majors after Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship and British Open last year I don t think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon and here s Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance mentioned Schauffele who tied for seventh You can t even say he s on a run He s just been killing it for over two years now he stated He s a tough man to beat and when you see his name up on the leaderboard it sucks for us English capped off a memorable two weeks in the United Kingdom His caddie of eight years couldn t get a new journey visa because of a -year prison term he served two decades ago English had a replacement last week at the Scottish Open and another this week It didn t stop him English who shot a was runner-up in a major for the second time this year both times to Scheffler and strengthened his development for the Ryder Cup in September The only guy to beat me at the PGA and this week I m playing various good golf English stated I wasn t playing professional golf when Tiger was at his peak But it s pretty incredible just how good of a front-runner he is The only stumble from Scheffler came from his -month-old son Bennett who tried to walk up a slope to the th green toward his dad and the claret jug only to face-plant Related Articles Ex-San Jose Shark Joe Pavelski tied for lead in American Century celebrity golf tournament Kyle Juszczyk hasn t forgotten three worst days of my life amid ers free agency Curry just off Pavelski s lead to open title defense in Tahoe celebrity golf tournament Steph Curry in wait-and-see mode on Tahoe golf reign and Warriors tenure How to watch Steph Curry George Kittle and other celebrities at the American Century Championship golf tournament in Tahoe Li Haotong of China Matt Fitzpatrick and Wyndham Clark tied for fourth That gets Li into the Masters next year As for McIlroy there were inadequate complaints He needed an electric start like he had Saturday and was even par through holes never closer than five shots No matter The Masters champion soaked up adulation across Royal Portrush closing with a to tie for seventh I wish I had have been closer to Scottie going into at present and been able to make a real push McIlroy noted But he s been on a different level all week and he s been on a different level for the last two years to the rest of us He is the bar that we re all trying to get to at this point But for me to be in front of everyone here at home and to get that reception up the last absolutely incredible I ll remember that for a long time
