British Open

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Scottie Scheffler moved within one round of claiming the third leg of the Grand Slam on Saturday when he made an eagle and two big par saves for a four-under 67 in the British Open that gave him a four-shot lead at Royal Portrush.

The roars belonged to Rory McIlroy, who had seemingly all of Northern Ireland on his side, the most raucous cheer coming when he made a 55-foot eagle putt.

But this championship is now in the hands of Scheffler, who has won his last 10 times when he had the 54-hole lead and didn’t show anything on a stunning day at Royal Portrush to indicate he was going to come back to his challengers.

“I’m just trying to execute, not overthinking things,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I’ve been doing the right thing so far, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow.”

Tied with Matt Fitzpatrick for the lead, Scheffler judged six-iron perfectly and hit it to within 10 feet for eagle on the par-five seventh hole. In deep trouble behind the 11th green, he hacked out to within 10 feet to save par, then saved another par from the deep grass left of the 14th fairway.

Royal Portrush has a nasty par-three hole at No. 16 known as “Calamity Corner.” Scheffler made birdie for the third straight day, this time hitting a three-iron that settled 15 feet below the cup.

Each shot helped him pull away from the field. Each shot moved him closer to the claret jug, to go along with the PGA Championship he won in May and the two Masters green jackets he has won the last four years.

Scheffler was at 14-under 199, four shots clear of Li Haotong of China (69) and five ahead of Fitzpatrick, who missed two short par putts during a round of 71.

McIlroy, who revved up the enormous crowd with three birdies in four holes at the start, had the most bizarre moment of the championship when he went to gouge out a shot from the rough right of the 11th fairway and a second ball emerged from the turf.

“It’s never happened to me before,” McIlroy said after his 66. “It could never on any other course but a links course.”

It led to his lone bogey. He responded with that eagle putt that elicited a roar that rocked Royal Portrush. But he was six shots behind, and likely needing a round even better on Sunday.

“Scottie is … it’s inevitable,” McIlroy said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s become a complete player. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to catch him tomorrow if he keeps playing the way he does. But if I can get out tomorrow and get off to a similar start to what I did today, get the crowd going … you never know.”

This is what McIlroy noticed last year, when Scheffler won nine times around the world. What impressed him was that Scheffler played so many bogey-free rounds.

Scheffler picked a great time for another one. He led by one shot to start the day and couldn’t seem to get anything going — his first three-putt of the championship on the par-five second to settle for par and a 10-foot par save on the par-three third.

Fitzpatrick, who missed a short par putt on the first hole and made bogey, atoned for that quickly by chipping in for eagle on the next hole. He did his best to keep pace even after Scheffler went eagle-birdie toward the end of the back nine.

But Fitzpatrick missed a four-foot par putt on the 13th, got a bad bounce on the 17th that led to another bogey and wound up five shots behind.

“Just didn’t make any putts. I didn’t hit it close enough,” Fitzpatrick said. “Drove it well enough, didn’t hit it close enough. Just made way less putts than Scottie.”

Scheffler will be paired in the last group with Li, who made history in 2020 at the PGA Championship when he held the 36-hole lead, the first player from China to lead in a major. Li didn’t make his first bogey Saturday until the 13th hole, and he dropped another shot on the 18th after driving into a pot bunker.

Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup, in his first appearance in the British Open, had a 68 and joined the group at eight-under 205 that included McIlroy, Harris English (68) and Tyrrell Hatton (68).

This is Scheffler’s largest 54-hole lead in a major — he was up by three shots at the PGA Championship and three shots in the 2022 Masters.

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The rain pounded Royal Portrush right when Scottie Scheffler poured in a birdie putt on his first hole Friday in the British Open. No matter. Nothing stopped the world’s No. 1 player on his way to a seven-under 64 to build a one-shot lead going into the weekend.

Scheffler made eight birdies on another wild afternoon of weather at Royal Portrush, and his 15-foot birdie attempt on the 18th stopped inches short for another.

The result was a one-shot lead over former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who made four straight birdies to start the back nine until he cooled on the home stretch and had to settle for a 66.

The rain was heavy at times but never lasted long. The wind was breezy but never at strength that can cause fits. The scoring was lower, nearly two shots easier than the opening round.

Except for a few chasers, Scheffler made it look like it wasn’t enough.

He was at 10-under 132 as he chases the third leg of the career Grand Slam, having won the PGA Championship by five shots in May.

Brian Harman got the best of the weather — surprising sunshine — and took dead aim in his hunt for another claret jug. Harman played bogey-free for a 64 that left him only two shots behind, along with Li Haotong of China, who had a 67.

Everyone else was five shots behind or more.

That includes Rory McIlroy, who went around Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland with plenty of cheers but only a few roars. McIlroy had a 69 but lost a lot of ground because of Scheffler, Fitzpatrick and Harman.

He started the second round just three shots behind. He goes into the weekend seven shots behind the top-ranked player in the world.

Fitzpatrick was at his lowest point just four months ago when he changed his caddie and coach and began pulling himself up. And now he takes that into the weekend against Scheffler.

“He’s going to have the expectation to go out and dominate. He’s an exceptional player. He’s world No. 1, and we’re seeing Tiger-like stuff,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think the pressure is for him to win the golf tournament. For me, obviously I hope I’m going to have some more home support than him, but it’s an exciting position for me to be in given where I was earlier this year.”

Fitzpatrick was rolling along until a pair of short putts he missed, from five feet for par on the 14th and from three feet for birdie on the 17th. Even so, he holed a 25-foot par putt on the final hole and assured him being in the last group at nine-under 133.

Scheffler was sharp from the start. He hit eight of the 14 fairways — compared with three in the opening round — though his misses never left him too badly out of position. But he is seeing the breaks on smoother Portrush greens, and he looks confident as ever.

None of his eight birdies were closer than seven feet. Five of them were in the 10-foot range and then he threw in a 35-foot birdie on the sixth. His lone bogey came on a drive into deep grass on the 11th that kept him from reaching the green.

The statistics led to a shrug.

“Overall, I’m hitting the ball solid,” Scheffler said. “The tournament is only halfway done. I got off to a good start.”

Harman was called the “Butcher of Hoylake” when he won the claret jug at Royal Liverpool two years ago because the British media were fascinated by the Georgia native’s love for hunting. Now it’s about his golf, and it was superb.

Harman played bogey-free, only once having to stress for par as Royal Portrush allowed for some good scoring in weather that again did not live up to its expectation.

Not that anyone was complaining. Temperatures were warm, at least by Irish standards. The breeze was noticeable without being overly punishing.

“They’re very different golf courses, but the golf is similar,” Harman said. “You’ve got to be able to flight your golf ball. You’ve got to know how far everything’s going. Then you can’t get frustrated. You’re going to end up in funny spots where it doesn’t seem fair, and you just have to kind of outlast that stuff.”

The group at five-under 137 included Harris English (70), Harman’s former teammate at Georgia; Tyrrell Hatton of England (69) and Chris Gotterup (65), who wasn’t even planning to be at Royal Portrush until winning the Scottish Open last week.

Also still around is Bryson DeChambeau, who made a 13-shot improvement from the first round with a 65. Still, he was 11 shots behind.

McIlroy wasn’t at his best in the opening round and was pleased to be only three behind. Now he has a real mountain to climb. But at least he’s still playing, unlike in 2019 at Royal Portrush when he shot 79 and then had a terrific rally only to miss the cut by one shot.

“I didn’t have this opportunity six years ago, so to play an extra two days in this atmosphere in front of these crowds, I’m very excited for that,” McIlroy said. “I feel like my game’s definitely good enough to make a run.”

That was before Scheffler began to run away from so many except a small collection of challengers. But this is links golf. And this is the Emerald Isle, where the weather seems to have a mind of its own.

Still, Scheffler has gone 10 tournaments without finishing out of the top 10 and would appear to present a challenge every bit as daunting as Royal Portrush.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The British Open had a little bit of everything Thursday, from sunshine to rain, a breeze to strong gusts. And no surprise, it had Scottie Scheffler never too far from the lead.

Former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick handled the notorious “Calamity Corner” par-three 16th by chipping in for birdie and was among three players from the morning wave who posted a hard-earned four-under 67 at Royal Portrush.

Rory McIlroy played in the afternoon — he made bogey on the opening hole before a massive gallery, but that was still three shots better than his start in 2019 — and was among several players making a move on a day that felt like a slog with how long it was taking to play.

In the midst of all this was Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who has not finished out of the top 10 in the last four months, a stretch that includes another major among three wins.

American Harris English putts on the 12th green during the first round of the British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland on Thursday.

(Jon Super / Associated Press)

He was satisfied with the day’s work of 68, even while hitting only three of 14 fairways. That statistic stood out to seemingly everyone but Scheffler.

“You’re the second guy that’s mentioned that to me,” Scheffler said. “I actually thought I drove it pretty good. I don’t know what you guys are seeing. When it’s raining sideways, believe it or not [it’s] not that easy to get the ball in the fairway.

“Really only had one swing I wasn’t too happy with on the second hole,” he said. “But outside that, I felt like I hit a lot of good tee shots, hit the ball really solid, so definitely a good bit of confidence for the next couple of rounds.”

There also was a four-iron to three feet on the 16th for birdie, the start of birdie-birdie-par finish.

But no one could go extremely low. Jacob Skov Olesen, the British Amateur champion last year from Denmark, was the first player to get to five under until a bogey at the last. He was joined at 67 by Li Haotong of China, and then Fitzpatrick joined the group with his marvelous chip-in.

Fitzpatrick reached a low point in his game at The Players Championship and appears to be back on track, particularly with what he called a well-rounded game in tough conditions on these links. He is coming off a tie for fourth last week in the Scottish Open.

The chip-in was his highlight, from well below the green to the right, into the cup on the fly.

“A bit of luck, obviously,” Fitzpatrick said. “Sometimes you need that. It just came out a little bit harder than I anticipated and on the perfect line.”

Li might have had the most impressive round, keeping bogeys off his card, by holing a 10-foot par putt on the final hole.

For everyone, the hardest part was staying dressed for the occasion. There were sweaters and then rain suits, and some finished their round in short-sleeved shirts. This is what is meant by “mixed” conditions in the forecast.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele had a mixture of birdies and bogeys that added to an even-par 71. Shane Lowry, the last Open champion at Royal Portrush in 2019, had the nerves of someone hitting the opening tee shot. He handled that beautifully, along with most other shots in the worst of the weather in his round of 70.

And this might just be the start.

“We’re going to get challenging conditions over the next few days,” Lowry said. “Today, for example, the 11th hole was like the worst hole to get the weather we got in. … I think there’s going to be certain times in the tournament where that’s going to happen, and you just need to kind of put your head down and battle through it and see where it leaves you.”

Padraig Harrington, a two-time Open champion, had the honor of the opening tee shot for the 153rd edition of this championship. He made birdie. And then he shot 74.

There was decent scoring. With about three hours left in the opening round, nearly a dozen players were around three under par as they headed to the back nine.

But there was trouble brought mainly by the fickle weather. Nico Echavarria found that out on the eighth hole, which during practice he felt was a breeze.

Then came the wind that blew the rain sideways, and no choice but to hit driver to clear thick native grass and reach the fairway.

“It was a super simple hole the practice round,” he said, “and today it felt like it was one of the hardest holes in the world.”

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.