Scottie Scheffler Wins The Open at Royal Portrush for His First Claret Jug

There was never really a Sunday drama at Royal Portrush. There was a coronation with one brief wobble in the middle, and then a walk up the 18th that everybody in Northern Ireland saw coming from about Friday afternoon.

Scottie Scheffler closed with a 3-under 68 to win the 153rd Open Championship at 17-under 267, four shots clear of Harris English. It is the first Claret Jug for the world No. 1, his second major of 2025 after the PGA Championship in May, his fourth major overall, and the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Only the U.S. Open stands between him and the full set.

Over Before the Turn

Any hope of a chase died early. Scheffler's 143-yard approach at the first finished 16 inches from the cup, per Golf Digest, and he tapped in for birdie. Li Haotong, the closest pursuer at the start of the day, bogeyed the second. Scheffler rolled in a 7-footer for birdie at the fourth and a 15-footer at the fifth, and suddenly the lead was seven shots about an hour into the round.

Then came the moment that captured the whole week. Facing a 15-foot par putt at the sixth, Scheffler buried it and let out a fist pump, the kind of emotion he rarely shows, and he added another long par save at the seventh. When you are seven clear and still fighting for pars like that, the field knows it is playing for second.

The Only Crack

For one hole, Portrush bit back. Scheffler's tee shot at the par-4 eighth found a fairway bunker, and per the AP he got too aggressive trying to escape. The ball caught the top of the face and rolled back into the sand. He played out safely, hit a wedge to 18 feet and two-putted for a double bogey, ending a run of 32 straight holes without a bogey.

The lead was down to four when Genesis Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup birdied the ninth. Scheffler responded right away with a drive, a wedge and a 5-foot birdie putt at the ninth. On the back nine he made eight pars and one birdie, at the 12th, per Reuters, and nobody got closer than four the rest of the way.

Rewriting the Record Book

The numbers around this win are getting absurd. Per the AP, it was the 11th straight time Scheffler turned a 54-hole lead into a victory, his fourth win of 2025, and his 20th worldwide since February 2022. He is the first player in the last century to win his first four majors by at least three shots, per the AP.

Golf Digest added more context: Scheffler joins Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Masters, the PGA Championship and The Open before turning 30, and he is the seventh Open champion to break 70 in all four rounds. Reuters noted he is the first reigning world No. 1 to win the Claret Jug since Woods in 2006.

Shane Lowry, who played alongside Scheffler for the first two rounds, summed up the experience neatly. "His bad shots are really good. That's when you know he's really good," Lowry said, per the AP.

English Runs Into the Same Wall Again

English shot a 66 to finish alone in second at 13-under 271. It was his second runner-up finish at a major this year, and both came behind Scheffler. English, who played the week with replacement help on the bag after his regular caddie could not get a UK visa, did not sound bitter about it. "The only guy to beat me at the PGA and this week. I'm playing some good golf," English said, per the AP.

Gotterup finished alone in third at 12 under with a 67. Per Golf Digest, Gotterup was making an Open debut on a 26th birthday, which is a pretty good way to spend one. Li (70), Matt Fitzpatrick (69) and Wyndham Clark (65) tied for fourth at 11 under, and per the AP, Li's finish earns a spot in the 2026 Masters.

Rory Gets His Moment Anyway

McIlroy started six back and needed a fast start that never came. He was even par through 12 holes and never got closer than five, but he closed with a 69 to tie for seventh at 10 under alongside Xander Schauffele and Robert MacIntyre. The walk up 18 belonged to him as much as anyone.

"But for me to be in front of everyone here at home and to get that reception up the last, absolutely incredible," McIlroy said, per the AP. He was also blunt about the winner: "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."

Schauffele, who handed over the Claret Jug, went for a more colorful version. "He's a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us," he said, per the AP.

Bryson DeChambeau, who opened with a 78, closed with a 64 to match Scheffler for the low round of the week and finished tied for 10th, per Golf Digest.

The Bar Has Moved

The comparisons to Woods were everywhere this week, and they are no longer lazy. Scheffler won a major on a links course in wind, rain and sunshine, found a putter that rarely cooperated for him on links greens before this week, and turned a four-shot lead into a four-shot win without letting anyone closer than four on Sunday. Next June, the U.S. Open will carry a career Grand Slam storyline. The rest of the sport has 11 months to figure out how to stop it.

Relive the full week with our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. For more on Sunday, see the PGA TOUR's final-round recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP final-round recap), Golf Digest, Reuters. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.