The Open: Rory's race looks run at Royal Portrush after major slip… as Scheffler procession back on track

Belfast Telegraph

20-07-2025

Key updates
Weather warning issued... but is rain coming for Royal Portrush?
Watch: Sergio's snapped!
Rory McIlroy beating Scheffler from six shots back? It's happened before...
Watch: Shane Lowry holes out from 183-yards
Final round tee times
4 minutes ago
English down, Wynd up
Harris English bogeyed the par-four 11th before McIlroy and Fitzpatrick got there, so he's fallen to -9, but Wyndham Clarke is now five-under for the day and into a share of second at -10 as he birdies the par-four 14th following a superb approach to three-feet. He could set a good target in the bid to be best of the rest behind Scottie.
7 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
More danger for McIlroy
After driving it into the rough on 11, McIlroy can't find the front right pin and inside sees he ball roll into the bunker nearby. It shouldn't be that troublesome an up-and-down from there, but it's not the something special he needs.
Edit: And it's good! A couple of feet tap-in for par.
8 minutes ago
Adam McKendry
Six-shot lead
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER HAS MISSED A BIRDIE PUTT.
This is not a drill, it actually happened.
The leader has nine-feet for the three on the par-four ninth after a stunning approach but this time he can't convert as he under-reads the break and it misses right. But he's still -16 and his lead is up to six shots as Haotong Li, who found trouble off the tee, bogeys to fall to -10.
12 minutes ago
Too much to 'berg
Ludvig Åberg has played his last seven holes in one-over-par - and has had just one par in that time.
That's largely due to a quadruple-bogey at the par-four 11th where he lost his drive and then had to hit backwards out of the greenside bunker, but around that he's recorded birdies at the ninth, 12th, 13th and 14th, before bogeying 15th.
The funny thing is if he had parred the 11th he would be in a share of sixth at nine-under.
19 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Meanwhile with Scheffler...
His drive on 10 is crushed 320 yards down the fairway and he continues his charge towards the Claret Jug.
Rory duff
The lie over the back of 10 is not a good one for McIlroy and he makes terrible contact with the chip, the ball kicking off the slope in front of him and rolling back down the slope and through the crowd more or less back to his feet.
The second effort is better, but he still has 19-feet just for bogey. His chances are already slim, if he made double and fell back to -8 you feel like that's him definitely out of it.
And he does. It touches the right edge of the hole but stays up. So that's a double-bogey for Rory McIlroy and he's dropped back to -8, which is a share of 10th.
23 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Rebound birdie
Remember the hope that he was coming back to the pack? Well that didn't last long. No surprise as Scheffler converts his short birdie putt to halve the damage of that double with a bouneback birdie. His lead is five once again.
25 minutes ago
"SIT."
Rory knows he's got a flier out of the rough on the par-four 10th the moment he's hit it and it's gone a long way over the green and down the path towards the tunnel that leads to the 11th, so he's going to have a really tough up-and-down coming up if he wants to save par.
25 minutes ago
That's why they're in the final group
Li and Scheffler have both hit two absolute crackers into the ninth green. Both are well inside 10 feet for birdie. Li used the slope left of the green to guide his ball down to the pin, which Scheffler just went straight at.
As his ball drops, Sky Sports throws up a phenomenal stat: The last player to card a double bogey in the final round and win? Padraig Harrington in 2007 - that double on 18 before beating Sergio in a play-off.
27 minutes ago
Adam McKendry
Getting 'rup-and-down
Really impressive up-and-down from left of the green for Chris Gotterup, who uses the slope beyond the hole to bring it back down to beside the pin and he's able to roll in the six-foot putt for par and stay -11, keeping Scottie Scheffler's lead at four.
Along the course, Wyndham Clark has followed a bogey at the 10th with birdies at the 11th and 12th and he's back to -9 as well.
30 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
In trouble off nine
Unfortunately for Rory, I'm talking about Haotong Li rather than Scottie Scheffler, who is in good shape just off the fairway. Li blazes his into the crowd as he continues to struggle to get things going, level par for the day after eight.
Ahead on the 10th, Rory misses the fairway too. It's only a few yards offline but he'll be playing his second with his ball well below his feet from 185-yards on the par four that hasn't been birdied by any of the last 15 players coming through.
30 minutes ago
'It was a fun three days': Bryson DeChambeau on his Open Championship, finishing -9
"It was fair conditions the past few days. I always told you guys I like it when it's fair conditions. I can play well. I still have to crack the code when it's raining and windy. But I feel like we're getting close to some opportunities and solutions for that. It just takes a long time to develop stuff, I'm starting to learn. It was a fun three days. I was really proud of the way I turned it around and gave myself actually some hope on the third round, after I was three-under. That first nine I thought, okay, if I go shoot four- or five-under on the back and give myself a chance on Sunday, throw myself up there and go out and play just as good as I did, like I did today, I could be right up there and giving Scottie a run. Scottie's in a league of his own right now. I played with him a lot in college and he was not that good, so he's figured out a lot of stuff since then. It's really impressive to see and something we can all learn from for sure."
36 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
It's a DOUBLE for Scheffler... but Rory misses chance
And the putt stays up on eight. That moves the world number on back to -15 and cuts his lead over McIlroy to five shots. So Rory's finally made some ground since the start of the day, when his was six shots adrift. You just never know...
However, Rory isn't helping himself with that failure to get up and down on nine. His putt was always too high up the slope and so he makes the turn -2 for the day and at -10 for the tournament. He just hasn't been able to find a putt out there. If he had holed even half of those attempts, this would be well on.
36 minutes ago
Groans for Rory
The Holywood man has his hands on his knees and shakes his head towards Harry Diamond as he follows up another stunning drive of 352 yards with a wedge from 72 yards to... 22-feet. I appreciate I'm an eight-handicapper saying this but that's just not good enough at the business end of a Major championship.
It still might be a birdie but he's got a lot more work to do than he should.
42 minutes ago
Gareth Hanna
Hiccup for Scottie...
Audible gasps as the runaway leader hits a bump in the road. He tries to blast out of that fairway bunker on eight but it catches the very top of the lip and drops back down to his feet. He pitches the second attempt out and he'll have to get up and down from 121 yards just to save bogey. IF he fails to do that, Gotterup is all of a sudden within four, Rory within five.
Edit: He's done the first part anyway, and is now within around 10 feet to save bogey and drop to -16.
44 minutes ago
He's Gott it going
Chris Gotterup is now Scottie Scheffler's biggest rival as he fires a beauty into the par-four ninth to five-feet and converts the putt for his third birdie of the day - and second in three holes - and he gets up to -11, six shots back!
47 minutes ago
In comparison...
Rory McIlroy can't convert his monster drive on the eighth into a birdie as his approach from 115 yards comes up woefully short, leaving him a 33-footer for birdie that he just rolls by the hole on the left side. That's more on his approach than his putting but it does feel like Rory has made nothing compared to Scottie (because he hasn't).
Matt Fitzpatrick joins the party at -10 as he hits an incredible approach to four-feet and slots in the putt for back-to-back birdies and he's into a share of second as well.
50 minutes ago
He just won't miss
Scottie Scheffler is only able to chip up to 15-feet with his effort from left of the seventh green, which is a really good effort from where he was... and of course he holes the putt. Right to left across the green, it never even looked like missing and he stays at -17.
Here's the length of the putts Scheffler has holed this round: 1ft (birdie), 1ft (par), 2ft (par), 7ft (birdie), 14ft (birdie), 16ft (par), 15ft (par).
The man is a machine.
53 minutes ago
There's only three Tommy Fleetwoods?
The masks are out for these three fans, who clearly have a favourite this week at Royal Portrush!
54 minutes ago
I'm still Harr 2.0
Harris English is really going under the radar here, but he's just posted another birdie on the par-four eighth, converting from 18-feet, and he's up into a share of second at -10.
Up on the ninth, there's a birdie there for Xander Schauffele, too, and he's gone out in 34 to reach -9. Plenty of guys making a move, just nobody closing on Scheffler as of yet.