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Scottie Scheffler on Grand Slam doorstep after dominant Open Championship win

Scottie Scheffler on Grand Slam doorstep after dominant Open Championship win

Yahoo3 days ago
The post Scottie Scheffler on Grand Slam doorstep after dominant Open Championship win appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Scottie Scheffler has won the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush. After picking off the PGA Championship at Valhalla in May, Scheffler is now one major short of the career Grand Slam. A mere formality after a dominant Saturday, the World's No. 1 player waltzed to victory with a Sunday 68.
Scheffler never left the top five of the tournament, firing a three-under, 68 on Thursday. He followed that up with a birdie barrage on Friday, shooting 64 with a blistering hot putter. Scheffler never let go of the lead after that, opening up a four-shot lead on Saturday and slamming the door on Sunday, beating Harris English by four.
The Open Championship had not always been the kindest to Scheffler before this week at Royal Portrush. He finished T-7 in 2024 and T-8 in 2021, with finishes in the 20s between the two. But he never waivered in 2025, even with Rory McIlroy's hometown crowd and some solid Sunday charges.
This was the tenth consecutive time Scheffler has closed out a 54-hole lead, an incredible streak. This stat from Justin Ray of TwentyFirst Group shows why. 'Scottie Scheffler has a final round scoring average of 68.8 when holding the 54-hole lead or co-lead on Tour. It's the best scoring average of any player in that situation over the last 30 years (min. 10 rounds).'
Scottie Scheffler sits on the doorstep of history
Scheffler looked like he was going to charge to a double-digit win, but a double-bogey on the eighth stopped that momentum. Still, his dominance is reaching levels only a select few have. 'If Scottie Scheffler wins by 3 or more, he will be the first player to win his first four professional majors (as they are now defined), each by at least 3 shots, since John Henry Taylor. Taylor was born in 1871,' Ray posted.
The 2024 season for Scottie Scheffler was historic, and his injury halted the beginning of 2025. But once that healed, he ripped off two of the four majors, getting on the doorstep of the career Grand Slam. When Rory McIlroy won The Masters, he won his fifth major and the career Grand Slam. Scottie Scheffler has four and could become the seventh Grand Slam winner at the U.S. Open next year. Sunday of the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills will be Scheffler's 30th birthday.
Sunday at the 2025 Open Championship was exactly 1,197 days after Sunday at the 2022 Masters. Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler took the exact same amount of time between their first and fourth majors.
From an existential press conference to a dominant win, Scheffler was the story all week. Scottie Scheffler is the 153rd Champion Golfer of the Year.
Related: Nike drops tearjerking Scottie Scheffler ad after Open Championship win
Related: Which past Open Championship winner sees Nikola Jokic in Scottie Scheffler?
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When Is The 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix? Times And Watch Guide
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Forbes

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  • Forbes

When Is The 2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix? Times And Watch Guide

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Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan: ‘This is one of the biggest clubs in the world – we want to behave like one'
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New York Times

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  • New York Times

Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan: ‘This is one of the biggest clubs in the world – we want to behave like one'

It has been a summer of unprecedented spending at Anfield, but Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan insists the club's business model remains unchanged. The £79million ($107m) deal with Eintracht Frankfurt for striker Hugo Ekitike means the Premier League champions' total outlay, including performance-related add-ons, in the transfer window stands just shy of £300m. They have raised up to £64m from sales, and the plan is for that figure to grow considerably in the coming weeks. Hogan believes the show of ambition underlines the desire of American owners Fenway Sports Group to ensure Liverpool build on last season's title triumph in Arne Slot's debut season. However, they have not suddenly ditched being thrifty for a more reckless approach. Their commitment to ensuring the club is self-sustainable financially remains unwavering. The 'virtuous circle' has enabled Liverpool to splash the cash in such a manner, with success on the field yielding record revenues that have been reinvested back into the squad. 'It doesn't just happen; it's been years in the making,' Hogan tells The Athletic during an exclusive interview in Hong Kong. 'One of the things we're constantly focused on is that 'virtuous circle'. Trying to run the club in the right way to ensure that we can generate as much revenue as we possibly can. That obviously helps in terms of being able to put more back into the team, which is incredibly important from our perspective. 'We have been successful in doing that. It's a huge credit to everyone on the football side and the business side, working together every single day to ensure we got to that point. We also recognise, having won the English league title for the 20th time, that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We want to make sure that we are behaving like one. 'Having massive global stars come and play at Anfield, filling out stadiums in Hong Kong and Japan, those are things we expect and want to do. We have a huge fanbase around the world who crave success and we're working as hard as we can to win more trophies.' Last season saw Liverpool collect £175m in prize money for winning the Premier League, and their return to the Champions League was worth around £84m. Matchday income was boosted by it being the first full season with the redeveloped Anfield Road Stand, which lifted capacity to 61,000. The last set of accounts for 2023-24 showed record total revenue of £614m, but the figure for 2024-25 will be considerably higher. They have overtaken Manchester United in terms of commercial revenue for the first time in the Premier League era. Anfield hosted five music concerts last month, while the new kit deal with Adidas starts on August 1. Federico Chiesa, who only cost an initial fee of £10m from Juventus, had been the only senior addition to the squad across three transfer windows before this one. That gave them more room to manoeuvre in the market this time around and the payments for big-money signings such as Florian Wirtz and Ekitike will be spread out in instalments over several years. With Giorgi Mamardashvili and Jeremie Frimpong both 24, Ekitike 23, Wirtz 22, and Milos Kerkez 21, it is an investment for the long term. There is no plan for £300m spending sprees to become the norm. 'The difficulty is if you just look at one individual summer,' Hogan says. 'That probably skews the data. There were a lot of comments made last summer that we didn't spend enough. That was a very public topic over the final weeks of the window a year ago. 'What history has shown during FSG's stewardship of this club is that we will invest when we think it is reasonable and when we think it's right. The strategy hasn't changed. If you looked at just this one summer, it would maybe stick out in terms of the overall investment. 'But when you look across all the years, you'll see that from time to time we have spent significantly and other times we haven't. 'Credit to (FSG CEO of football) Michael Edwards, (sporting director) Richard Hughes, and their team for ensuring that we're going out there, finding the right players and getting deals done.' As Premier League champions and with the financial muscle to match, the pulling power of Liverpool has arguably never been greater. The title celebrations at Anfield and on the parade, when more than a million people lined the streets of the city, showcased the club to the world. 'Yeah, I'd say that's right. It's a sign of where the club is at. There's a lot of pressure on all of us to keep that going, but the opportunity to bring in world-class talent this summer has been something that everyone has enjoyed. We're looking forward to seeing them play.' Hogan was watching on as more than 100 local children were put through their paces during a training session with LFC Foundation coaches at Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O Football Training Centre. Saturday's opening game of the Asia tour against Milan is a 50,000 sell-out, and more than 70,000 tickets have been sold for next Wednesday's match against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan. 'Our foundation coaches are the hardest working people on tour, running coaching clinics from morning until night,' Hogan says. 'This is our international academy we're here with now, and earlier we were with the Special Olympics. Next week in Japan, we'll be linking up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and some young children will get the chance to meet the first team. 'The great thing about coming to Hong Kong and Japan is just the size and scale of the fanbase. It's extraordinary. We don't just want to come in, play the games and fly home. It's important that we leave a legacy by engaging with the local community. 'The legends we've got with us — Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Jerzy Dudek, Lucas Leiva, Sami Hyypia and Niamh Fahey — are a big part of that.' Hogan believes this 10-day trip strikes the right balance in terms of helping Slot's squad prepare for the season, while enabling Liverpool to make further strides commercially. 'We sit down every year and look at what the opportunities are in terms of the markets that are important to the club,' he says. 'Most importantly, there have to be the right facilities for training. The team needs to get up to a certain level fitness-wise and they need minutes. 'Coming to Hong Kong works for everyone. There are great facilities and we're playing the first European friendly in the new Kai Tak Stadium against Milan. Then we go to Japan and play in front of another sell-out crowd.' It has been a difficult period for everyone following the deaths of Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, in a car crash in Spain this month. Liverpool have ensured that counselling is available to all players and staff grieving the loss of a much-loved colleague and friend. 'The news of Diogo and Andre's passing was devastating and obviously even more so for Diogo's wife and the whole family,' Hogan says. Advertisement 'Initially, that was the main concern: making sure that as a club we were supporting them. We are continuing to work with them. We've all seen the incredible outpouring of emotion and support at Anfield. We've seen it across the world of sport and beyond. Diogo had such an impact on people. Forget about being a great footballer; he was a terrific person. 'Certainly, from a mental health perspective, it's something that as a club we talk about a lot internally. We want to provide support for the players and everyone across the club. Immediately afterwards, we ensured we had the right support there for anyone who needed it at whatever stage. Grieving isn't a simple and straightforward process. Everybody handles it differently.' Liverpool permanently retired the No 20 shirt in Jota's honour and are in contact with his family about further tributes. There is likely to be a dedicated space at Anfield this season where fans can go to pay their respects. 'A longer-term tribute at Anfield is one of the subjects we're working through now with the family. We will be guided by them to ensure we're doing that in the right way,' Hogan says. The opening friendly of the summer away to Preston North End was emotionally charged, but strength and comfort were taken from the show of togetherness between supporters, players and staff when Jota's song was chanted repeatedly after the final whistle. 'It's been very challenging, but the Preston match was a helpful step in terms of the opportunity to show that outpouring of support,' he says. 'I'd like to pay huge credit to Preston, Peter Ridsdale and everyone there who couldn't have been more gracious. The way they worked with us in the run up to the match, and in terms of what they did: the recognition, having the two anthems sung, their captain laying the wreath in front of the away end, and giving us that time at the end for our supporters and the team to be together to have that moment. Advertisement 'There's been so much support we've received as a club and that was another example of it.' Slot talked about the difficulty of trying to find the right words to say to his players at a time when 'nothing seemed important' and made it clear that no one should start training until they were ready. Now preparations for the new campaign are being stepped up with double sessions in the heat of Hong Kong, but Jota and a desire to honour his memory remain at the forefront of their thoughts. Hogan adds: 'This was someone who people genuinely loved — a terrific and important part of the team. To lose someone like that…we're all human beings. 'I had a couple of conversations with Arne. He's the leader of the squad. Arne captured it so well with what he said about Diogo being such an authentic person. 'He talked about doing what you think is right for you because that's how Diogo lived his life. Arne has shown great leadership during this process.'

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