Royal Portrush could be the only one that Scottie Scheffler can stop

Portrush, Northern Ireland – Scottie Scheffler stood in the middle of the 18th fairway and took a look at the green. When he waited that the group was finished in front of him, there was a huge cloud behind the stands with a frightening color of gray. A hole before was Scheffler washed by sunlight and framed by a rainbow. Now the sun was gone and it looked like more rain could come.

It was this type of day in Northern Ireland at the Open Championship.

“When we were skimmed down, depending on which weather forecast they looked at, it would tell them something else,” said Scheffler. “It was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I am out there in short sleeves, it's warm. Then we come to the first hole, it is still sunny. Then you look around and it is super dark and it was rain. You are like, boy, I wonder how long it will take.”

Scheffler was unimpressed by watering rain, wind or sunshine. He Birte the first hole under the conditions – a harbinger of what would come.

In the course of the afternoon, the best player in the world did what he has done many times: his victory felt inevitable. In his second spin near Portrush, Scheffler continued to lead the field in the approach and made over 132 feet putts, paid eight birdies and shot a light 64 to take over the 36-hole advantage at 10 lessons.

“I had the feeling that I was more likely to meet a few fairways than yesterday,” said Scheffler and explained the obvious. “Beat a few really nice iron recordings and could take some putts.”

This type of reserved, factual nature to Scheffler's behavior has become common. Therefore, the best and most honest assessment of Scheffler's size can often not be found with him, but with exactly the people who try to beat him.

On Friday, Lowry giggled when a reporter Shane Lowry, who played with Scheffler, giggled a question that played with Scheffler.

“Eight shots behind Scottie Scheffler are not the way he plays,” he said.

Rory McIlroy used to end his second round at 3-little ones and pointed out that he was only five backs of the leader, who were Brian Harman and Haotong Li with 8-university at that time.

Be it a shot like Matt Fitzpatrick, seven shots like McIlroy or something in between, every deficit against Scheffler has a different feeling, especially if it not only emerges through his normal superpower (he is no. 1 in a leash: rapprochement), but apparently divided into a new one with his putter (he is won with 2) into a new stroking).

“He is an extraordinary player. He is number 1 in the world,” said Fitzpatrick, who will play the last group of Scheffler on Saturday. “We see tiger -like things.”

When asked what it feels like to be in disputes, Fitzpat ricked off the feeling before realizing that the guy he will fight with is now probably used to this feeling.

He laughed. “It has to be fantastic for Scottie.”

Although Scheffler may feel inevitable, this is still open, and it is different to capture leads on courses that require something beyond the target practice.

Here is the most inclusive. Here the balls, the bunkers, confuse the destruction and terrorize the potential lies. The formula for success can theoretically be simple, but endlessly complex in the execution. The distance is no longer the essence and one and end. Strategy is. How far a player may hit the ball is no longer an indication of how well a player can cut off at a certain tournament, but only a means to the most important end: bring the ball into the hole.

Just take a look at Harman. While a player like Fitzpatrick has made a name for speed training and the distance despite his light frame, the 5-foot 7 value born in Georgia is about 275 meters from the tee and was able to win the 2023 open championship in Royal Liverpool by simply holding the ball in front of him.

Harman is back and this time he comes with the same recipe for another open open.

“I feel very comfortable here,” said Harman. “I think that places like this force you to be a little more creative. It is not that much of an air raid. There are probably 10 different types of clubs, iron, drivers, forests that you can cut the tee. There are different ways to attack the green.

Bingo.

Apart from Scheffler, which is becoming more and more a constant presence, no matter how natural it is, of course, there seems to be no effort for this tournament. Just take a look at the ranking: Both McIlroy and 52-year-old Lee Westwood are located in front of the top 10, seven shots behind Scheffler. One has tried to meet the fairway, the other has hit the most fairways in the field so far, even if he cannot meet it as far as his competitors.

There is a journeyman of the DP World Tour in Li (8-uner) and there are two graduates of the DP World Tour, which share a surname, and the potential to give stars in Nicolai Hojgaard (4-uner) and his brother Rasmus (5-uner). Both are also in the top 10.

There is Tyrrell Hatton who fights at the US Open, and Tony Finau, who has not won a PGA tour event for two years and has missed the cut at the last two open championships. And then there is Fitzpatrick, which on paper represents the greatest threat to keep Scheffler away from the Claret jug.

“I had the feeling that every facet of my game was switched on today,” said Fitzpatrick, who won the 2022 US Open in Broolein.

Of course, Elite Ballstrike is the basic rock on which every bid of winning is made at Portrush. Just take a look at the fact that Robert Macintyre and Harris English are also in the top 10. But the reason why it cannot be closed so much for Scheffler 36 holes who surrounds it, but more about what this tournament can bring for a player for a player.

The problem is only in every corner. A pot bunker here, outside the borders, or the threatening panels, which often look closer to fairways and greens than you. As Scheffler experienced on Friday, the weather forecast is a advice game, and if you devote yourself to a t -shirt, you will never know what kind of wind or rain you will get. You never know what type of winner the links will crown. Nobody expected Harman to win in 2023.

“I think the pressure is that he wins the golf tournament,” said Fitzpatrick. “I would not say that I absolutely feel so much pressure. He will have the expectation of going out and dominating.”

Fitzpatrick is correct. But although Scheffler will be persecuted by many from Saturday, his greatest rival can be this tournament himself. It is the only major in which he played the worst in his career in relatively speaking, and because of his style it will also be the most difficult to stick to.

All eyes are aimed at Scheffler, which will promote the tiger comparisons again when he sticks to the victory. The last player who won an open with a 36-hole lead was in 2006 Woods. At that time, Woods was like Scheffler of the No. 1 player in the world. At that time, Woods also felt inevitable.

“We'll see what the weekend brings,” said Fitzpatrick. “There is still a damn long way in front of us”, “