Assassin-like Scottie Scheffler creeps up Open leaderboard

There is lurking and then there is lurking. Scottie Scheffler was already lurking ominously, even before the final pairing of Dan Brown and Shane Lowry came to grief in deepening gloom on Troon’s 18th last night.

The world No 1 is now officially a serious threat to win his maiden Open. Just two shots back after a level-par round of 71 in brutal conditions, the rest of the field should be on red alert.

The remarkable thing is that Scheffler has somehow manoeuvred himself into position without anyone really talking about him. Like a stealth assassin, he has crept up on the rest of the field unnoticed.

Saturday was another day the world No 1 went largely under the radar, going about his business quietly, efficiently.

Scheffler’s level-par round may not sound all that remarkable given some of the scores posted. But most of those scores came earlier in the day, when conditions were benign.

In the context of the weather in which Scheffler went out, which made the back nine, in his opinion, “the hardest nine holes I’ll ever play”, it was a brilliant effort.

Scheffler played those final nine holes in just one-over-par, dropping shots at the 13th and the 15th before regaining one of those thanks to a sensational three-wood off the tee at the par-three 17th, which he struck to two feet before tapping in for birdie.

“I probably don’t hit a 3-wood on a par-3 very often,” Scheffler said when asked to describe how difficult the cold, wet conditions were. “I probably don’t hit driver and a 3-wood really solid on a par-4 and don’t get there in two, either, which is what happened at 15.”

“I mean, at 18 I hit a good driver and a really hard 3-iron. AndI’m hitting that 3-iron super low and as hard as I can, and yesterday Jordan [Spieth] hit a driver there and had 30, 40 yards to the front edge. It was 160-, 170-yard difference in length off the tee there, from his drive yesterday to my drive today. Yeah, it was pretty wild out there, but I did a good job of grinding it out.”

World No 1’s putter has been ice cold

To be honest, had Scheffler brought his putter with him to Troon, he would probably be leading by now. The number of birdie opportunities he passed up on the front nine would have made James Hunt blush.

Scheffler ranks 114th in the field in putting this week. But he said he was happy with how composed he remained despite the succession of missed chances.

“I think about the putts I hit on eight and nine where I look up and I think it’s going in and it goes up to the hole and it lips out,” he said. “It can be frustrating, but I felt like today was another one of those days where I just did a really good job of not getting overly frustrated, staying in a good head space and did a good job of really staying in the tournament.”

Scheffler certainly has a rare capacity to stay focused. There are not many golfers who could be arrested for second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer, as he was at the US PGA in May, and come back to shoot a 66 in a major championship hours later.

Funnily enough, Scheffler arrived at Troon on Saturday a couple of hours before his tee time looking as if he might have just spent a night at the local jailhouse. One half-feared he might have caught whatever bug it was which caused his caddie, Ted Scott, to lie down at intervals during Friday’s second round while his charge was putting. But from the moment he biffed an iron up the first fairway in heavy rain, it was clear he was laser-focused. Even if the birdie putts were refusing to drop, the accuracy of his play in general ensured the rest of the field came back to him.

“I got a good amount of guys in front of me,” Scheffler reflected at the finish. “But yes, my goal going into the back nine was to do what I could to stay in the tournament and steal some shots where I could. And there wasn’t really much to steal on the back nine so it was good getting in.

“Other than the missed short putt on 15 there where I got a bit distracted, it was a really solid back nine.” It certainly was.

By a curious coincidence, the last person to win six tournaments in a year by this stage was Arnold Palmer in 1962. Arnie’s seventh that year was The Open at Troon. If Scheffler remembers his putter on Sunday, the rest of the field had better watch out.