Scottie Scheffler had clearly had enough of seeing other players win on the PGA Tour in 2025 and decided to put his foot to the floor over his last two starts.
Scottie Scheffler sent a warning to his rivals at The CJ CUP Byron Nelson as he won by eight shots at TPC Craig Ranch. It was a performance which reminded everyone just how ruthless the world number one can be.
And he followed that by clinching the PGA Championship this past week. While things got interesting around the turn on Sunday, Scheffler ensured that he shut the door on the chasing pack shortly after to secure his third major title.
It was obviously a significant victory for the 28-year-old. He needed to prove that he could win majors away from Augusta National. And he now finds himself halfway to completing the career grand slam with a possibility of getting it done this year.
The concern Scottie Scheffler may have ahead of The Open Championship
Based on current form, it would not be a surprise to see Scheffler win at least one more major this year. But there are certainly going to be plenty of challenges.
Scheffler noted his frustration with the mud balls during the opening round of the PGA Championship. He made a double bogey on the 16th hole, and questioned the decision to not allow preferred lies.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that he may not enjoy having to roll with the punches in Northern Ireland in July.
“He could do it this year, he could do what it took Rory McIlroy a decade to pull off and complete the career grand slam. I don’t find it to be very, very likely to be honest with you, not because he doesn’t have the skillset to win either one of those venues. I think Oakmont will be interesting because it is such a ball-striker golf course and Scottie seems to have gotten back to that form that we saw last year where he’s putting up those historic strokes gained numbers,” he said.
“Portrush is going to be a little bit different, because you and I both know you can be playing as well as humanly possible and just get a bad bounce or end up on the wrong side of the draw, or so many things can go wrong that are out of your hands that you have no control over. We ran into this last week, and he hates that. The mud ball on 16, I’m not going to say it sent him sideways, I actually made the argument that the way he did not let that get to him is a testament to how good of an athlete mentally and physically he is, because it would have been really, really easy to give up two shots to the field in a major championship on Thursday and let that bug you for the rest of the round. And if you do that, that’s probably going to lead to even more things that get away from you, bogeys and whatnot, going down the road and you’re probably going to play yourself out of the championship. He clearly didn’t do that.
“You’re right, when he talked about it afterward, he hates it, loathes the idea that the thing I’m really good at, which is controlling the golf ball and having it do exactly what I want it to do, it’s out of my hands with a piece of mud on it. And you run into the same thing at The Open Championship, that’s going to be the biggest hurdle.”
How Scottie Scheffler has performed at The Open Championship across his career
Scheffler has an interesting record at The Open Championship in the early stages of his career. It is the one major in which he is yet to register a single top five finish.
Meanwhile, along with The Masters, it is one of the majors in which Scheffler has never missed the cut. He has never finished lower than tied for 23rd in his four appearances, with two top 10s.
He appeared to be on the charge at Royal Troon last year, until Scheffler made essentially a four-putt on the ninth hole on Sunday to see his challenge come to an end.
Those results show that Scheffler most definitely has the game to win the Claret Jug. But clearly, talent only gets you so far at The Open.
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