{"id":15031,"date":"2025-07-20T11:09:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T15:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/07\/20\/like-tiger-schaeffler-set-up-to-ruin-mcilroy-dream-in-the-uks-open-finale\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T11:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T15:09:46","slug":"like-tiger-schaeffler-set-up-to-ruin-mcilroy-dream-in-the-uks-open-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/07\/20\/like-tiger-schaeffler-set-up-to-ruin-mcilroy-dream-in-the-uks-open-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Like Tiger&#8221; Schaeffler set up to ruin McIlroy Dream in the UK&#8217;s open finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Dominant World No. 1 Scotty Scheffler took a four-shot lead in the final round of the British Open on Sunday, with local hero Rory McIlroy praying for a miracle.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy called the brilliance of American rivals &#8220;inevitable&#8221; in his first three days at Royal Portrush.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>When leading on the 54-hole stage, Schaeffler wins his final nine tournaments, requiring an unexpected collapse or billing from the chase pack.<\/p>\n<p>Li Haotong is the closest challenger under the age of 10 as he aims for history by becoming the first Chinese to win a major.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Fitzpatrick will sit third on five shots from the lead after stumbling over the back nine on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy looks like a major threat to a mild Sunday afternoon for Scheffler as Masters Champion attempts to ride a wave of support on a course that is just over 60 miles from where he took his first step in the game just outside Belfast.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Tens of thousands of fans were already on the course on Sunday mornings, and we were eagerly waiting to see if McIlroy could produce some spectacular fees.<\/p>\n<p>For most of Saturday, the crowd following every move by McIlroy was caught in delight.<\/p>\n<p>His opening four holes three birdies and 12th eagle mounted the world&#8217;s No. 2 in 66 rounds and fourth-place share.<\/p>\n<p>However, the 2014 British Open champions remained six shots from the lead. Even if he recognizes it, it&#8217;s difficult to bridge the line considering Schaeffler&#8217;s class.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Scotty Schaeffler is inevitable. Even when he doesn&#8217;t have the best, he&#8217;s a perfect player,&#8221; McIlroy said.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He plays like Scotty, and I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s a surprise. Everybody has seen the way he plays and plays over the last two or three years. He&#8217;s very solid. He doesn&#8217;t make any mistakes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>-Schaeffler is &#8220;fulfilled&#8221; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Schaeffler frowned at pre-tournament media duties, stating that despite his success and standing in the match, he &#8220;is not a fulfilling life&#8221; despite his success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels like I&#8217;m working for a lifetime to celebrate winning a tournament for a few minutes, and it only lasts a few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>However, it&#8217;s hard to see Schaeffler being taken away from some of his blissful moments coming to the 18th green on the Causeway Coast.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The victory won the British Open while he became second only to Tiger Woods and ranked number one in the world.<\/p>\n<p>His 10 consecutive top-10 finishes will also continue. This is a run that includes victory in three tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>That level of consistency led to comparisons with Woods&#8217; heyday, even though Schaeffler remained somehow separate from the latter 15 majors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s an exceptional player. He&#8217;s the number one in the world and we&#8217;re looking at something like Tiger,&#8221; said his performance partner Fitzpatrick on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>But that hype doesn&#8217;t seem to matter to the men on the course that brings to lift a claret jug for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not easy to win a major championship. I put myself in a good position,&#8221; Schaeffler said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you enter tomorrow, you&#8217;ll step up on the first tee. You&#8217;re about to get the ball on the fairway, and when you get to the second shot, you&#8217;re going to get that ball to green.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s not too much else.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>kca-jc \/ of<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dominant World No. 1 Scotty Scheffler took a four-shot lead in the final round of the British Open on Sunday, with local hero Rory McIlroy praying for a miracle. McIlroy called the brilliance of American rivals &#8220;inevitable&#8221; in his first three days at Royal Portrush. advertisement When leading on the 54-hole stage, Schaeffler wins his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17],"class_list":{"0":"post-15031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}