CNN
—
For a few fleeting moments, as he stared down at the ball that had careened off the bunker’s lip and back to his feet, Scottie Scheffler looked human.
Then the world’s supreme golfer dusted himself down, birdied the next hole, and resumed his metronomic march towards The Open Championship.
Not even a shock double bogey could take any shine off the American’s imperious capture of the sport’s oldest tournament on Sunday, as the world No. 1 glided to a four-shot victory and his fourth career major at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
A closing three-under 68 saw him finish comfortably clear of compatriot Harris English on 17-under par overall.
It leaves the two-time Masters champion just a US Open victory away from joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and, following his long-awaited victory at Augusta National in April, Rory McIlroy in completing the career grand slam.
And with next year’s US Open Sunday at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York, falling on June 21, Scheffler has the opportunity to complete the set on his 30th birthday.
As the only major in which Scheffler had previously failed to record a top-five finish in, The Open had been a tournament that the 17-time PGA Tour winner had typically found harder to bend to his will but he looked at ease from the start on the Causeway Coast, even as rain and wind buffeted the field.
Just three days after his existential rumination on just why he plays golf and his stirring confession that it was “not a fulfilling life,” Scheffler posted an opening 68 before accelerating to the front with a career-low major round of 64 and shooting 67 to extend his lead.
Though his struggles in the sand at the eighth hole Sunday provided a momentary scare, by the close it was nothing more than a pockmark on a near-flawless week of golf.
