Scottie Scheffler’s serene progress to his first Open Championship became a procession at Royal Portrush as the anticipated charge from Rory McIlroy failed to materialise and no-one else could get close to the relentless American.
The reigning US PGA champion claimed the third leg of the career Grand Slam, and his fourth major in total, in some style and has only 11 months to wait to try to complete the set in the same four-year time-frame as 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus did.
Only Tiger Woods has achieved it quicker but Scheffler is starting to be mentioned in the same breath – and he is still getting better.
He won his first Masters by three, his second by four and May’s US PGA by five.
However, this was on another scale with his 17-under total giving him a four-shot victory over compatriot Harris English, also runner-up to him at the PGA, in McIlroy’s own backyard, which was even more comfortable than the numbers suggest.
No-one in the modern era has ever won their first four majors by three shots or more – Young Tom Morris, John Henry Taylor and James Braid all achieved it before the First World War.
McIlroy completed his own career Grand Slam at Augusta in April and on Saturday night described victory here for Scheffler, who has now won 25 per cent of all majors since 2022, as “inevitable”.
It was not the boldest prediction ever made in sport but the manner in which his rival clinically clinched the title was nevertheless impressive after becoming only the fourth after Woods, Nicklaus and Gary Player to win the Masters, US PGA and Open before the age of 30.
