PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — This year’s Open Championship was like a science fair in which the one kid from Mensa builds a talking robot and the other kids glue together log cabins with Popsicle sticks.
Scottie Scheffler was a genius for nearly all of the week at Royal Portrush, and the result was a masterclass major performance in which the Texan essentially toyed with the field, ultimately winning by four shots while beating the next two best players in the world, No. 2 Rory McIlroy and No. 3 Xander Schauffele each by five shots.
With the last major played and the summer wearing on, no sense waiting on the report cards and grades, so here they are, in random order just for the fun of it.
Scottie Scheffler (Won) A+++
The physical skills are all there, but what really impresses the teacher is the grit and mental fortitude hidden behind a completely non-plussed façade. He’s like Dustin Johnson back in the day, but cares.
Brooks Koepka (MC) F
The majors beast didn’t have close to his best stuff here, shooting 75-74, and he missed three of four cuts in the big ones this season. Koepka, 35, hasn’t finished better than T-43 in the Open since 2021 and his majors drought has reached 10 starts after he won four times in an eight-start span in 2017-19.
Rory McIlroy (T-7) A-
For true insight, best to read my colleague Joel Beall’s examination of McIlroy’s week, but there was no shame in the Ulsterman’s performance, especially the Saturday effort that gave his fans a reason to believe. He invested 100 percent of himself, and that’s all they could ask for.
Shane Lowry (T-40) C-
Nothing could top what the Irishman did here in 2019—also a coronation walk in a four-shot win—yet it was still a disappointing week, considering Lowry was caught on a hot mic blasting the very Dunluce course that delivered so much to him, and then suffering a two-shot penalty when his ball moved on Saturday. The AI meme of Lowry’s heralded mural flipping the bird was an instant classic.
Chris Gotterup (3rd) A-
Amazing two weeks—win in the Scottish Open and top-three finish here—for the American who has put himself on the Ryder Cup radar when he seemed closer to the moon a month ago.
Keegan Bradley (T-30) B
He’s doing Ryder Cup captain things, leaving notes in the lockers of potential players. But the chatter grows louder about him playing at Bethpage, and he turned up the volume with a 67 on Friday. Bradley faded on the weekend, but the debate isn’t going away.
Harris English (2nd) A
Think about it: If Scottie Scheffler played a leprechaun and vanished this week, an English-man could be the Open champion. A wee joke there, since a player from England hasn’t won the claret jug in now 33 years. This English, from Georgia, with five tour wins in his career, was a long shot, considering he’d only had one Open finish better than T-46 in 10 starts. But English putted lights out, overcoming Scheffler to top that strokes-gained category at 8.84.
Collin Morikawa (MC) F
Is the triumph at Royal St. George’s in 2021 looking like a fluke? In his four entries over here since, the two-time major champ has missed three cuts, with the other result a T-16. This one was a stinker, with Morikawa shooting 75-74 while making only four birdies.
Haotong Li (T-4) B+
There was talk that this could be a repeat of the 2009 PGA when another relatively unknown Asian player, Y.E. Yang, became the first chaser to track down Tiger Woods in a major final round and beat him. Li has strong credentials and some impressive wins on the DP World Tour, so expect to see more of him.
Joaquin Niemann (MC) D-
The Chilean from LIV was as hot as a bowl of chili after he bogeyed the 18th hole on Friday to miss the weekend by one. In a week of childish tantrums, his was among the worst as he stamped on his bag walking off the last green. After a major career-best T-8 in the PGA, LIV’s season points leader missed the cut here and the U.S. Open.
Bryson DeChambeau (T-10) B+
After a sloppy opening 78, DeChambeau looked like a guy driving on the wrong side of the road here, crashing into curbs and dodging oncoming busses. But he found the steering wheel over the last three days, with a 65 in Round 2 and 64 on Sunday, and his biggest prize might have been all but locking up a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
Adam Scott (MC) D
It’s not an F because the 45-year-old Aussie is just not having a very good season (zero top-10s) and he’s dropped to No. 40 in the world, so expectations weren’t high. Scott’s best days in links golf might be behind him—he had four straight top-10s in 2012-15 but just one since.
Phil Mickelson (T-56) C+
Lefty turned 55 last month, and to make the cut in the Open for a second straight year after missing four straight was impressive. Coming from LIV, Mickelson got to play 72 holes for the first time this year, since he’d missed the previous three major cuts, and he pulled of a nice reversal on his weekend scores—76 on Saturday, 67 on Sunday.
Xander Schaufffle (T-7) B
The World No. 3 would bluntly tell us that going oh-for in a major season sucks, but at least he’s got two wins from last year to keep it all in perspective. He got a slow start to the season because of an injury, but Schauffele still rallied for a T-8 in Augusta and T-7 here to keep him padding his major top-10 stats—he has 17 in 34 starts.
Jon Rahm (T-34) C-
This one seemed to have high potential for Rahm-bo. His best links play had come in Ireland, and he was feeling good coming in after a runner-up in LIV Spain that put him No. 2 in the league individual standings. But his irons were loose, the putting so-so, and he got so mad at one point that he kicked a club—twice—down the fairway. Funny to just about anybody but him.
Patrick Cantlay (MC) F
The eight-time PGA Tour winner easily owns the title of “Best Player to Not Contend in Majors,” and this was his worst season yet. He wasn’t close here at three over and missed the last three major cuts after a T-38 in the Masters. Portrush reflected most of the year because Cantlay has only one top-10 in his last 12 starts.
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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
