PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland \u2014 Go ahead and try stopping Scottie Scheffler.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s becoming about as easy as it once was to overcome Tiger Woods when he had the bit in his mouth at the lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019ll be the unenviable task of the players trailing Scheffler at the top of the British Open leaderboard entering the final 36 holes at Royal Portrush.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a task taller than the swelling dunes around the beautiful championship course. Because Scheffler, the world\u2019s No. 1-ranked player, has quietly taken on the kind of intimidation aura that Woods once owned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scheffler, who\u2019s seeking a win at the Open this week as the third leg of the career Grand Slam, tied the tournament course record with his 7-under-par 64 in Friday\u2019s second round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler tees off on the first hole during day two of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 18, 2025 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. Getty Images<\/p>\n
More impressively for a player who already has three major championships on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 at age 29, the 64 was the lowest score Scheffler has ever posted in a major championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scheffler overcame terrible weather conditions early in his round, which began after 3 p.m. local time. After a day of sunshine and calm winds, some harsh rain and wind lashed through as he teed off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I\u2019m out there in short sleeves, it\u2019s warm out,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThen we get to the first hole, it\u2019s still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it\u2019s super dark and it starts pouring rain. You\u2019re like, \u2018Boy, I wonder how long this is going to last?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, it didn\u2019t pour the whole time. We only had maybe four or five holes where it was really coming down, and I was able to take advantage of the holes where we had some good weather.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of this bodes well for those who trail Scheffler\u2019s 10-under total entering weekend play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scheffler, after enduring the bad weather spell, birdied Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 10, and then closed with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to get to 10-under.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He played so well that he completely overshadowed the marvelous day Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick had, a 5-under 66 that followed his opening-round 67.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler reacts after a birdie putt on the sixth green during day two of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Antrim. Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open winner, is 9-under and trails Scheffler by one shot \u2014 even though he was leading for much of the day. Fitzpatrick carded birdies on eight of his first 13 holes to get to 10-under and still somehow trails.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brian Harman, the 2023 Open winner, is 8-under, as is Haotong Li from China.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After that, Chris Gotterup, from Little Silver, N.J. and fresh off his Scottish Open victory on Sunday, is 5-under, along with Harris English, Bob MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Rasmus Hojgaard. Tony Finau and Nicolai Hojgaard are 4-under.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among the players at 3-under are Rory McIlroy and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this tournament is about Scheffler. Much like Woods at the height of his powers, Scheffler is the man to beat whenever he\u2019s in any field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked about the pressure of being paired with Scheffler in the final group Saturday, Fitzpatrick joked, \u201cIt\u2019s probably nicer than playing the U.S. Open.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I necessarily feel as much pressure,\u2019\u2019 he went on. \u201cHe\u2019s going to have the expectation to go out and dominate. He\u2019s an exceptional player. He\u2019s world No. 1, and we\u2019re seeing Tiger-like stuff. I think the pressure is for him to win the golf tournament.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler tees off during the second round of The 153rd Open Championship golf tournament. Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick is trying to become the first Englishman to win a British Open since Nick Faldo in 1992.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than being in contention,\u2019\u2019 Fitzpatrick said. \u201cIt feels a bit uncomfortable at the time, but that\u2019s what you\u2019re searching for. You want to feel that. It means you\u2019re doing something right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be fantastic for Scottie.\u2019\u2019 he added with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Li, who\u2019s not been in this position before in a major, conceded that there \u201cwill be a lot of pressure\u2019\u2019 to the day, for sure, \u201cbut [I] just have to find a way to deal with that.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harman, who\u2019s unafraid, doesn\u2019t care if you don\u2019t think he\u2019s a top player in the world. He doesn\u2019t care whether you consider him a worthy British Open champion, which he was two years ago at Royal Liverpool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brian Harman plays the 13th hole during the second round of The 153rd Open Championship golf tournament. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Harman wants more hardware and, though 36 holes, he\u2019s put himself in position to hoist the Claret Jug for a second time thanks to his second-round 65.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel really comfortable over here,\u2019\u2019 Harman said of the links golf. \u201cThey\u2019re very different golf courses (Hoylake and Portrush), but the golf is similar.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harman said he plans to \u201capproach the weekend the same way\u2019\u2019 as he did two years ago, when he was in the top 10 entering the third round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be heroic or do anything crazy,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI know that I\u2019ve got the game to do it, and it\u2019s just a matter of executing and staying in my own head. I would love to have a similar weekend [to 2023] and just play great the whole way through.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland \u2014 Go ahead and try stopping Scottie Scheffler.\u00a0 That\u2019s becoming about as easy as it…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[48831,1430,1505,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-74915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-british-open","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-scottie-scheffler","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114878955093076351","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}