Anticipation amongst golf fans for the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush is beginning to reach fever pitch.
Scottie Scheffler will head to Royal Portrush with the ambition of winning his first Open Championship, and the fourth major of his career.
The 29-year-old from Dallas has been in sensational form on the PGA Tour this season, with three wins and 11 top-10 finishes from the 14 events he has played.
Scheffler is approaching the end of his two-week break from competitive golf, after his T-6 finish at the Travelers Championship.
He will be back in action in just four days’ time though. Back at the start of June, Scheffler committed to play in The Genesis Scottish Open.
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While the Texan has taken some time off from playing competitively, you can bet your life that he hasn’t slowed down when it comes to his practice routine.
Expect Scheffler to be as sharp as a razor when he returns to PGA Tour action on Thursday.
Scottie Scheffler has made a change ahead of The Open Championship
Scheffler has enjoyed real success in the majors over the past couple of years.
A lot of his success has stemmed from taking the week off before the four biggest tournaments of the year.
The last time he actually played a tournament the week before a major championship was at the 2024 US Open, when he ended up in a tie for 41st.
However, playing before The Open Championship next week was an unavoidable measure for Scheffler, and it could end up being a masterstroke move from the world number one.
We all know how different links golf is to playing on typical tour PGA Tour tracks in America.
In the United States, it’s all about sending it as hard, as high and as far as you can, while links golf in Britain is much more nuanced.
You have to be in control of the flight of your golf ball, especially when the wind kicks up, and the greens are designed for players to chase balls onto them, rather than to pitch it all the way to the flag.
Playing in the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick will give Scheffler a real idea of where his game is at heading into The Open the following week.
He will then be able to make the necessary adjustments throughout the week in Scotland and on into next week when he heads to Northern Ireland.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Playing the week before a major may well be outside of Scheffler’s comfort zone, and he didn’t play the Genesis Scottish Open in 2024.
However, deciding to add the Scottish Open to his schedule this year is a brilliantly smart move from the world number one, and it may well yield dividends come this time in two weeks.
Scottie Scheffler’s record at The Open
Interestingly, this year will be only his fifth start at the Open Championship.
Scheffler has unsurprisingly performed very consistently in the oldest major in the game, but is still looking for his first top-5 finish.
Scheffler will be desperate to improve upon his record at The Open Championship, when the tournament returns to Royal Portrush in 11 days’ time.
Having grown up in Dallas, Texas, Scheffler is extremely well-versed in flighting his ball down so on paper, he should be ideally suited to the adverse conditions that are commonplace in Northern Ireland.
A win for the 29-year-old at Royal Portrush would elevate his standing in the game to a whole new level entirely.
And his chances of doing just that will increase exponentially by playing a tournament on the links at The Genesis Scottish Open the week prior to the Open Championship.