Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Scottie Bodies Royal Portrush

If there was one sliver of doubt on Sunday that Scottie Scheffler would win the Open Championship -- and sliver is probably too strong of a word, what's half of a sliver? -- he erased it in the first 10 minutes of his round.

Scheffler's approach shot from 143 yards on No. 1 at Royal Portrush landed a mere 16 inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie, letting all the air out of the entire island of Ireland and giving the Claret Jug engraver a jump-start on his day.

Scheffler led the 153rd Open Championship by as many as seven shots and ended up winning by four over Harris English to become the Champion Golfer of the Year.

We already knew Scheffler was the Best Golfer of the Past Few Years and now the historical comparisons will run rampant. Top-20 all-time? Top-10? Reading the room on social media, some people think so. Seriously, it's too soon for top-10. That's not to say he won't end up there, because it's looking pretty good at this point.

But for now, Scheffler has four career majors, having also won the PGA Championship this year, and 17 PGA Tour wins.

The four majors put him in a tie for 22nd all-time. The 17 wins just moved him into the top 50 all-time. So as much as recency bias factors into everyone's thought process, it's too soon to say top-10. Top-20? He's virtually there.

Even though there are 21 golfers ahead of Scheffler in major wins, only six have won a fourth major in the past 35 years -- so this would exclude Jack Nicklaus and even Nick Faldo. They are Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and now Scheffler. It surely appears to be getting harder to climb the major ladder as more and more athletes turn to golf and the fields get deeper and deeper, for two reasons: 1) career longevity and 2) lots and lots of money.

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We could go on and on, comparing Scheffler to Woods and everyone else, just like the Woods-Nicklaus argument lives on to this day.

"I still think they're a bit silly," Scheffler said, referring to comparisons to Woods. "Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.

"I don't focus on that kind of stuff. That's not what motivates me. I'm not motivated by winning championships. I don't look at the beginning of the year and just say, hey, I want to win X amount of tournaments, I want to win whatever it is. I don't do that. I have dreams and aspirations that I think about, but at the end of the day, when I wake up to practice, I feel like what motivates me is just getting out and getting to live out my dream. I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I'm called to do it to the best of my ability."

Well said, Mr. Scheffler.

There's not much more to say, but we wanted to point this out: Scheffler ranked first in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach, gaining 9 shots, and second in SG: Putting, gaining 8.5.

If a golfer is top-2 in both Approach and Putting in a tournament, he's winning every … single … time. Not just Scheffler, anyone.

It used to be that the one chance other golfers would have would be Scheffler's troubles on the green. That's gone. He's now a top-20 putter on the PGA Tour.

"I felt like I grew up being a great putter," Scheffler said. "My ball striking wasn't always the best. I felt like I got it done with my short game, especially from a young age because I was a little guy basically until I was a junior, senior in high school. So I grew up having to be good at chipping and putting.

"I had a couple years out here on Tour where I didn't putt as well as I felt I could have. I knew it was in there. It was a matter of figuring out the right things to go and find it.

And now he's found it.

Top-20 in putting, top-20 all-time.

Next  stop, top-10.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Harris English
English has now finished solo second in two majors this year and has suddenly become a lock for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Also with a win at the Farmers earlier this year, he's up to No. 8 in the OWGR. English was a former top-10 player before a back injury required surgery a few years back. So this should not be a complete surprise.

Chris Gotterup
The talk is ramping up: Gotterup-to-the-Ryder-Cup. (Hey, it even rhymes!) On top of winning the Scottish Open last week, he now adds a solo third in the Open. And he also tied for 23rd in the U.S. Open. Gotterup has come on fiercely in the past couple of months -- he's up to No. 27 in the OWGR -- but it says here he'll still need to do more to make the Ryder Cup team.

Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick continues to play great golf over the past few months, his best stretch since winning the U.S. Open in 2022. He finished in a three-way tie for fourth, his second straight top-5 on Tour and third straight top-10. That doesn't include his top-10 at the PGA. Fitzpatrick is a lock for the European Ryder Cup team. He returned to the top 40 of the OWGR after falling into the 80s.

Wyndham Clark
Clark also tied for fourth, and that was his first top-10 in a major since winning the 2023 U.S. Open. It's been a terrible season for Clark, exacerbated by his locker-room tantrum/destruction at Oakmont last month. He didn't speak to reporters on Saturday, but he did on Sunday, and a main topic was Oakmont. Clark publicly apologized for his actions. Twitter will be less forgiving than Oakmont.

Haotong Li
Paired with Scheffler in the final round, Li could have wilted. He did not. He tied for fourth, continuing a terrific season that began with him outside the top 300 of the OWGR and now sees him inside the top 100. There's a good chance he finishes in the top-10 in the race to Dubai standings and earns a PGA Tour card for next season.

Rory McIlroy
Well, he didn't shoot 79. He didn't miss the cut. Scheffler won the Open, but the four days at Royal Portrush turned into a love-fest for the local boy made good. The Irish fans wanted so much from McIlroy six years ago, but the pressure was too great and he missed the cut after shooting a 79 on Thursday. This year, McIlroy enjoyed the experience. He tied for seventh, but that almost doesn't matter. The home fans got to see him for the first time since his historic win at the Masters, his parents were in attendance and the week was just missing one small thing: a win. But in every other way, the week was a huge, huge win for McIlroy. 

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele surely seems to be returning to form with his second top-10 in a row and second top-10 in a major this season. He tied for seventh, following a T8 at the Scottish Open, and it's evident that Schauffele will be in fine shape for the Ryder Cup and may even win a tournament by then. If you haven't yet used him yet in your one-and-done pool, good for you.

Robert MacIntyre
Another fan favorite, the Scotsman tied for seventh, giving him three top-10s in six career Opens. MacIntyre is playing well with the Ryder Cup two months away.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau followed an opening 78 with 65-68-64 to zoom into a tie for 10th. It was his second top-10 in an Open in eight tries and, just like at the Masters, he's starting to grasp the nuances at golf courses where sheer power will not be enough.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler almost always does well at the Open and this year was no different. He tied for 14th, and that should be enough to ensure he's in the playoffs in three weeks.

Tommy Fleetwood
One of the pre-tournament favorites, Fleetwood opened with a 73 and never fully got going, though he did finish with three rounds in the 60s to tie for 16th.

Dustin Johnson
After missing the cut in the first three majors, Johnson did far better in tying for 23rd. Still, this could've been his final Open Championship; his five-year exemption for winning the 2020 Masters has been exhausted.

Harry Hall
Hall bogeyed the final two holes to fall into a tie for 28th, ending his run of seven straight top-25s. Still, a great week for him.

Keegan Bradley
The U.S. Ryder Cup captain did nothing to stop the talk of him being a playing captain. Bradley tied for 30th after missing the Open cut five years in a row.

Jon Rahm
Rahm tied for 34th, never a factor at a major where he's come close to winning multiple times.

Justin Thomas
Thomas tied for 34th. Based on his Open track record and 2025 major record, that wasn't half bad.

Sergio Garcia
Garcia made his first Open appearance in three years and got to stick around all four days, tying for 34th. But, same ol' Sergio ... 

Lee Westwood
At age 52, Westwood had to go through final qualifying to get to Royal Portrush. He tied for 34th in his first Open since 2022.

Shane Lowry
The returning hero at Royal Portrush, Lowry did not have a good week. But he closed with a 66 to climb up the leaderboard to tie for 40th.

Jordan Spieth
Spieth's eight-year run of top-25s that began with his Open win in 2017 ended with a tie for 40th.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson tied for 56th after missing the cut in the first three majors this season. He's also made the cut two years in a row at the Open after missing three straight.

Justin Leonard
The 53-year-old now playing on the Champions Tour made the cut in a major for the first time since the 2014 U.S. Open. Of course, Leonard has played in only five majors since then, including last year's Open. He was the 2007 champion at Royal Troon.

MISSED CUTS

Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Min Woo Lee, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Tom Kim, Jason Day, Joaquin Niemann, Ryan Fox. There is always a long list of missed cuts at majors among top guys. … Morikawa is really struggling, with just one top-10 since March. He's virtually certain to be on the Ryder Cup team, but Bradley has to be concerned. Same for Cantlay, if he even makes the team. … Smith is the only golfer to miss the cut in all four majors this season. … After a one-major respite, Koepka returned to irrelevance. … Niemann is the star of LIV and nowhere else.

BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP

Ryan Gerard won the alternate-field event for his first career title, beating Erik van Rooyen by three points under the Modified Stableford Scoring System, 47 to 44. That was Gerard's fourth top-10 this season, but first since he had one at the PGA Championship in May. The win won't get him into the Masters, but he will have his PGA Tour card for the next two seasons. He also moved way up in the FedExCup Standings, and at 28th he'd be in the TOUR Championship if it started today. England's Todd Clements, ranked 380th in the OWGR and playing primarily on the DP World Tour, finished solo third in just his fifth PGA Tour event. His fourth came last week with a missed cut at the Scottish Open.

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