No surprises at The Open 2025

From the opening tee shot until the final putt dropped, the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush offered no surprises.

In the end, the best player in the world came out comfortably on top. Scottie Scheffler lifted the Claret Jug for his second major of the year, adding to his 2025 PGA Championship and his two Masters wins.

While the outcome seemed inevitable, the Open still provided some excitement.

Local legend Rory McIlroy provided many of the gasps throughout the week, trying to erase past disappointment at Royal Portrush, where he famously shot himself out of the tournament during his first round in 2019.

This time, he fared much better, even getting somewhat close to the lead on Sunday and finishing tied for 7th place, seven shots behind Scheffler.

Royal Portrush played difficult but fair.

Scheffler’s winning score of 17-under par proved that posting good scores was possible.

Of course, big numbers were also a common sight, with several notable names missing the cut — including Jason Day, Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott, and a few other still-competitive major champions.

The tournament was pretty tight for most of the early rounds. The first round ended with five players sharing the lead at -4, with Scheffler one back at -3.

By the second round, Scottie had wrested the lead at -10 after a great round of 64, narrowly missing the course record.

Another solid 67 on the third day meant Scheffler entered the final day four shots clear of China’s Haotong Li.

But Royal Portrush is no walk in the park.

The opening tee shot is probably one of the most daunting in major championship golf, with OB left and right and with fairway bunkers making an already narrow hole even tighter.

Watching the chasing pack trying to narrow the gap, I thought Scheffler’s opening tee shot could spell how the day would go. He could lose a big chunk of his lead with a wayward tee ball, if not lose his lead altogether.

Just ask first-round leader Jacob Olesen, who opened his second round with two consecutive OBs on the first hole, making a quadruple bogey 8.

Of course, Scheffler isn’t Olesen.

The world number one calmly sent his opening shot down the fairway and, as if to dash everyone’s hopes of an exciting final round, proceeded to stick his approach to 16 inches. Hole 1, birdie.

That, in a nutshell, was the story of Scottie’s final round.

Except for a double bogey on hole 7 after finding and staying in the fairway bunker after his drive, Scheffler went around Royal Portrush in 3-under par, never really under serious threat.

The closest anyone got was 4 strokes, despite a double bogey.

Scottie was just in a different league, something his peers knew and admitted during interviews.

Speaking of interviews, Scheffler sort of got himself in a pickle when he stated that winning majors brings him joy for “two minutes” and that he doesn’t look at life and himself through wins and losses.

He has mentioned this several times, that while he loves to win, it does not define him.

This is quite the opposite of how most champions think.

Tiger has always made golf, and being the GOAT, his goal. Rory puts so much weight into winning majors that it has affected his personal life.

But Scottie, as dominant as he is now, is built differently. His family, his faith, and being a decent human being are all more important than golf for him.

That makes him more dangerous.

Limiting external factors and just focusing on playing well each and every round takes a lot of pressure off. And pressure is what ruins rounds and careers.

While Scottie is nowhere near Tiger’s record (and he admits it), comparisons are inevitable.

The last two to three years have been the Scheffler show, and everyone else seems to be playing for second.

He is low-key dominating, if that is even possible. 2025 has again been good to Scottie Scheffler, and he is now one major short (US Open) of a career grand slam.

He has amassed a Hall of Fame win record, all in a span of 3 years.

Will 2026 be more of the same? I guess we just have to wait and see.