Sports often lends itself to iconic photographs, and there’s one you just can’t shake as you see Scottie Scheffler in 2025 — Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes in 1973 huffing towards winning the Triple Crown. Ron Turcotte, the jockey, looks backward with no one in sight. Any time you see a great horse now, you compare it to Secretariat.
Golf has had Tiger Woods. And, yes, any time anyone does anything significant they automatically get compared to Woods.
But what Scheffler, who is leading The Open Championship by one through 36 holes, is doing right now? Just utter dominance. Everyone else in the field has to look awfully far ahead to see him.
“He's an exceptional player. He's World No. 1, and we're seeing Tiger-like stuff,” said Matt Fitzpatrick, who is at 9 under and one shot back of Scheffler. He will be paired with the game’s best for Saturday’s penultimate day.
Scheffler shot a tremendous 7-under 64 Friday, the round of the tournament so far and just one shot off the new Portrush course record.
Scheffler, who came into the week with 10 straight top-10 finishes, including three victories (the PGA Championship amongst them), was 4 under through seven holes Friday, including three birdies in a row on Nos. 5-7. He gave one back with a bogey on the par-4 11th but added three more on Nos. 13, 16, and 17.
Through two days, Scheffler is first in strokes gained: approach and second in strokes gained: putting. And that’s still by hitting less than 40 per cent of his fairways so far. It’s been, quite simply, a masterful performance.
“Eight shots behind Scottie Scheffler isn’t in the fringes of contention the way he’s playing,” said Shane Lowry, who was grouped with Scheffler for Thursday and Friday and was in the mix before suffering a questionable two-shot penalty due to his ball moving after he addressed it and took a practice swing that swiped some nearby grass.
Lowry and Scheffler were part of the afternoon wave that saw a few swings in weather, with rain pelting down at one point and some beautiful sunshine appearing at day’s end. The three-time major winner handled the conditions with aplomb, however.
“When we were teeing off, depending on what weather forecast you looked at, it was going to tell you something different. It was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I'm out there in short sleeves, it's warm out. Then we get to the first hole, it's still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it's super dark and it starts pouring rain. You're like, ‘Boy, I wonder how long this is going to last.’ Fortunately, it didn't pour the whole time,” Scheffler said. “We only had maybe four or five holes where it was really coming down, and I was able to take advantage of the holes where we had some good weather.”
Scheffler was able to shoot a 3-under 68 Thursday without his best stuff but looked very much like the game’s best player a day later. Fitzpatrick shot a solid 5 under on Friday while past champion Brian Harman had the round of the day going until Scheffler nipped him at the end with a 6-under effort. Harman and Haotong Li are tied for third at 8 under with five golfers, including last week’s winner Chris Gotterup, tied for fifth at 5 under.
It was a simple day for Scheffler, he admitted.
“I felt like I hit a few more fairways than I did yesterday,” Scheffler said. “Hit some really nice iron shots and was able to hole some putts.”
So that’s that. There is, of course, a lot of golf left. Two full days.
But in this particular horse race, there’s just one thoroughbred.
Conners finds the weekend
One Canadian will attempt to challenge Scheffler, who holds his fourth 36-hole lead of the season, through the weekend at Royal Portrush, as Corey Conners shot a 2-under 69 Friday to rally to make the cut.
Conners, who found the weekend at each of the four majors this year, made a bogey on No. 14 but made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to get back into red figures for the day. He made a tidy two-putt par on the par-4 18th to finish at 1 over and make the cut on the number.
“Felt good about (my) game. Struggling a little on the greens but really feel like I’m striking the ball well. Hitting a lot of quality shots,” Conners told Sportsnet. “Feels good to battle my way to the weekend with a few birdies at the end.”
Each of the four Canadians at Royal Portrush shot under-par scores on Friday with Nick Taylor giving it a spirited run after a 3-under 68. Alas, he and Taylor Pendrith finished at 3 over through 36 holes while Mackenzie Hughes finished at 7 over.
