Scheffler a class apart as he romps to first Open title

A relentless Scottie Scheffler sealed his first British Open triumph by four shots as he turned the final day of the tournament into a procession at Royal Portrush on Sunday.

The 29-year-old American world number one started out with a four-stroke lead and apart from one blip, never looked like relinquishing his grip as the chasing pack were reduced to scrapping for the minor places.

Scheffler barely put a foot wrong all week on the glorious Causeway Coast, rekindling memories of 15-times major winner Tiger Woods in his pomp, and he rubber-stamped his fourth major title with a clinical final-round 68.

Take the dominant Scheffler out of the equation and the 153rd Open would have been a thriller with the leaderboard underneath him chopping and changing all weekend.

In the end, Harris English was the best of the rest on 13 under after a final-round 66 with fellow American Chris Gotterup a further shot back.

Huge galleries thronged the course and thousands arrived hoping see a Rory McIlroy miracle on the final day.

But Northern Ireland’s favourite sporting son, who began six shots behind Scheffler, was unable to mount a charge and ended up in a tie for seventh on 10 under.

Li Haotong, the first Chinese man to go out in the final group of a major, finished tied fourth on 11 under with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and American Wyndham Clark.

Scheffler has now completed three legs of his career Grand Slam and needs a U.S. Open crown to complete the set. He also became the first current world number one to lift the Claret Jug since Tiger Woods in 2006.

Those hoping to witness a battle royal for golf’s oldest major should probably have known better.

On the last nine occasions Scheffler had gone into the final round of a PGA Tour event leading, he emerged victorious, while his three previous major wins also arrived after a 54-hole lead.

When he birdied the first, fourth and fifth holes to move eight strokes clear the only question seemed to be whether he could set an Open record for a winning margin.

Even when errors did creep in, he simply rolled in long par-saving putts on the sixth and seventh holes to crush the spirit of those hoping for an unlikely collapse.

Only when he double-bogeyed the eighth after failing to get out of a bunker did Scheffler look like a mere mortal, his lead suddenly sliced to four strokes.

But it proved false hope for those pursuing a giant of golf, and a birdie at the ninth and another at the 12th hole steadied the ship and all that needed deciding then was who would come second.