[PHOTO: David Cannon]
There really wasn’t much suspense in the final round of the 153rd Open Championship. With Scottie Scheffler having converted his past nine 54-hole leads and starting the final day with a four-shot cushion over Haotong Li, the final round was more likely to be a coronation than a competition.
And that’s just how it turned out.
RELATED: Scottie Scheffler wins in a walk at Royal Portrush
From the moment Scheffler clipped a 9-iron from 134 metres to tap-in range at the first hole for birdie, it was evident the game’s best player wasn’t going to let major championship No.4 slip away. An uncharacteristic double-bogey at the eighth notwithstanding, Scheffler was in command of his golf ball and the tournament, cruising to the claret jug.
After the opening birdie, Scheffler kept the good times rolling, birdieing the par-4 fourth with an approach from 157 metres to seven feet then followed it up with a 15-footer for birdie at the fifth. Par-save putts of 16 and 15 feet on the sixth and seventh holes followed and proved highly useful considering Scheffler’s hiccup at the eighth, which would be the lone blemish on Scheffler’s card.
If the performance was reminiscent of Tiger Woods, consider that Scheffler emulated Woods’ feat of winning the PGA and Open championships in the same year (Woods did it in 2000 and 2006 – but Xander Schauffele also managed the double last year) and became just the second reigning top-ranked player in the world to win The Open as well, which Woods did three times.
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Then again, what would you expect from a man who’s TaylorMade P7TW irons are based on Woods’ muscleback blades. “I grew up playing Nike clubs like Tiger, so these had a special appeal to me,” Scheffler told Golf Digest in 2022. “I figured if he was using the irons they had to be pretty good.” Scheffler’s irons have True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips. For the week Scheffler topped the field in strokes gained/approach, gaining 9.065 strokes.
Scheffler was equally impressive on the greens, ranking second in strokes gained/putting for the week at 8.516. Scheffler’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1 mallet is half an inch longer than his previous model and has an L-Neck hosel and TaylorMade’s True Path alignment aid on top with a full line sightline on top. The putter has 3 degrees of loft with a lie angle of 72 degrees. The insert is an 80/20 TaylorMade Pure Roll insert and the grip is a Golf Pride pistol.
Showing an affinity for lofty numbers extends to his Titleist Pro V1 golf balls as well. “I use high numbers 5 through 8 instead of 1 through 4 because it’s easier to identify,” he said. “I’ve just hit the wrong ball a few too many times.”
Scheffler managed to avoid that at Royal Portrush, allowing him to emerge as the “Champion Golfer of the Year”. And is anyone going to argue that is a fitting title?
The clubs Scottie Scheffler used to win the 2025 Open Championship:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (Fujikura Ventus Black 7X), 8 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
Irons (3-4): Srixon ZU85; (5-PW): TaylorMade P7TW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM10 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1
