By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
SOUTHPORT, England — Scottie Scheffler finally heard about the text his PGA Tour friend never sent, a reminder that even the top-ranked player in golf with four majors and more than 20 victories doesn’t know everything.
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It was a list of things to do on the weekend after missing cut.
“He was like: ‘Hey, you can practice at the facilities. You can still go to the gym. You can also go to the next tournament.’ It was basically all my options,” Scheffler said Tuesday ahead of the British Open. “He never sent it to me, but he told me about it.”
The reason the text was created – without being sent, to Scheffler’s disappointment – was missing the cut at the Scottish Open, his first missed cut in nearly four years, a streak of 78 consecutive cuts that was the longest since Tiger Woods set the record (142) from 1998 to 2005.
Frustrating, yes. Despair? Hardly.
“You never want to have a weekend off, but going into a tournament when you’re defending, there’s always a bit more stuff to do,” Scheffler said. “So it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Among his duties was officially returning the claret jug he won last year at Royal Portrush, a ritual the Royal & Ancient has turned into a ceremony. Then, it was playing an exhibition with Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and others.
But key to Scheffler’s early arrival was Royal Birkdale, which has hosted the British Open more than any other links course in England since it first joined the rotation in 1954.
He had never seen it. Scheffler had not seen conditions like this – a combination of yellow and brown, which translates to firm and fiery in a links vocabulary. St. Andrews came close in 2022, but Jon Rahm recalls the greens still being soft enough to allow for low scoring.
Scheffler ticked off two items on his friend’s list – he went to the gym in Scotland and then headed to the next tournament. That allowed him time to play 18 holes on Sunday, and to limit his energy in sunbaked Blighty to nine holes on Monday and Tuesday.
His general assessment: “The ball is just going to run forever.”
Is it driver to take it over the bunkers and possibly reach the green on the 393-yard, downwind 16th hole, or hit iron off the tee? Is the redesigned fifth hole at 321 yards worth trying to reach with a pond to the right, a series of bunkers short and a wee part of a wee burn to the left?
“On each hole there’s a good bit of strategy. There’s a decent amount of thinking,” Scheffler said. “If it wasn’t as firm as it is now, there would be as much decision-making. But I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges.”
Rose is among four players – and at 45, the youngest – to have played Royal Birkdale three times in the Open dating to 1998. He was a 17-year-old amateur that year, full of joy and optimism when he holed out a wedge for birdie on the 18th to tie for fourth. He didn’t finish in the top 50 his two times as a professional.
Rose certainly has more experience than Scheffler, but only to a point.
“A links course is interesting because you never really get to know them that well,” Rose said. “Like 2008 I think it was, weather was dreadful. It was wet. You might have been hitting 2-irons and 3-woods into par 4s, and now you could be flicking 52-degree wedges.
“A golf course can play so differently decade to decade when we come back that you never really get to know the course that well.”
Scheffler said he felt at peace about his game, and he certainly looked the part. His game didn’t look deplorable in the Scottish Open, just a matter of not hitting it terribly close and not making many putts and then moving on.
It was no less frustrating – Scheffler is a killer when it comes to competing, which is one reason he has been No. 1 longer than anyone since Woods – but it was filled with perspective.
“I don’t think it hurts as much as coming close to winning and finishing second,” Scheffler said. “I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurt more than missing the cut, but missing the cut is significantly more frustrating is how I would describe it.”
He’s had plenty of experience finishing second. Scheffler’s lone victory this year was his first tournament in January at The American Express. Since then, he has had four runner-up finishes, including the Masters. The most recent was a playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago when Scheffler missed a 4-foot slider.
“I think just towards the end of the season, you get a little tired,” Scheffler said. “I got a couple days off, reset the mind, reset the body, and just kind of get back to feeling even and at peace. I’ve had a very solid year, but like I said, frustrating at times because I’ve been close and I haven’t been able to get it done like I have been in years past.
“I’m excited to try and defend my title this week.”
That hasn’t been done at the British Open since 2008 when Padraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale. One week could change Scheffler’s outlook on the year. But it’s a week that presents a test the likes of which he hasn’t seen all year.
RAHM WANTS ATTENTION ON SLOW PLAY
Player conduct on the golf course has long been part of the Rules of Golf. This is the first time all four majors published their code for the players, and there already have been ramifications.
Sergio Garcia was given a warning at the Masters when he smashed (and broke) his driver twice into the ground and then against a table holding a water cooler.
The USGA opted to bypass the warning and give Joaquin Niemann a two-shot penalty in the first round of the U.S. Open for heaving his wedge on his 15th hole (No. 6) at Shinnecock Hills after twice driving out of bounds and then hitting into thick rough. There were no spectators anywhere near where the club landed in the dunes.
The two-shot penalty turned his 9 into an 11 on the hole and he shot 78. He still tied for seventh.
Is it working?
Rahm, who describes himself as an “intense” player, doesn’t mind the code of conduct. His only question is who decides when it gets applied. Because while the principles and penalties are similar at the four majors, it’s at the discretion of each one how it gets applied.
“I think it’s good. I get it,” Rahm said. “They have a code of conduct and they enforce it. Why not? It’s not going to change how I play. To go from zero to a penalty? I don’t know.”
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The R&A’s conduct policy reads: “If a player’s (or their caddie’s) behavior is so far removed from what is expected in the spirit of the game of golf, in accordance with Rule 1.2b, the Chief Referee, in consultation with the Chief Championships Officer, might issue an official warning or apply a penalty of two strokes or disqualification, taking account of the frequency, impact or potential impact, intent and severity of the misconduct. An official warning does not need to be given prior to applying a penalty of two strokes or disqualification.”
Rahm was playing with Garcia when he lost his temper in the final round at Augusta National. He still doesn’t know exactly what happened with Niemann. But his views on the policy made him wonder why this was getting more attention than pace of play.
“Sergio received a warning. I think Joaco maybe deserved a warning – I don’t know what he did,” Rahm said. “With all the policies we have on pace play, you get a warning, another warning and then you MIGHT get a penalty.”
Rahm suggested a warning was warranted on the first offense, especially in the first round.
FALDO QUESTIONS DeCHAMBEAU’S STRATEGY
Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut at the first three majors this year. Nick Faldo wouldn’t be surprised if the American failed to make the weekend at the British Open, too.
“I’d say it to his face – DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy,” the three-time Open champion said on the Sky Sports Golf podcast.
Faldo questioned DeChambeau’s attacking approach in links golf, saying he needed more creativity and to “look at humps and bumps.
“You don’t think: ‘Oh, I’ll just blast it down there. Can’t see where I’m going,’” Faldo said.
DeChambeau has two top-10 finishes in eight appearances at the British Open, including a tie for 10th at Royal Portrush last year.
NO REGRETS FOR ROSE
Justin Rose tied for fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in the 1998 British Open at Royal Birkdale and turned pro a week later.
He famously missed 20 cuts in a row when he turned pro. He has only one major, the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. That’s among his 25 victories worldwide, which includes an Olympic gold medal when golf returned to the Olympic program in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
He was asked Tuesday if this is what he imagined when he left Royal Birkdale 28 years ago. It’s impossible to answer, and Rose eventually said he would stand pat with what he has done.
“Twenty-eight years later I’m playing in The Open Championship,” he said. “If I think about that, that’s still an amazing achievement, just to have the will to keep wanting to be here.
“Could I have won more of what I’ve already won? Yes. Would I love to be a multiple major champion? Yes. Do I feel I could have pushed towards close to a Grand slam? Yes. I’ve had results that nearly put me in that realm. So a little bit of luck here and there, I could be sitting here with a very different career.”
But he was happy with the career he has, which includes five stints at No. 1 in the world. And his hope is being comfortable with all that he’s achieved gives him freedom to achieve more.
ARISE, SIR RORY?
The wait goes on for Rory McIlroy, one of Britain’s greatest ever sports stars, to receive a knighthood.
“If that honor were bestowed on me one day,” McIlroy said Tuesday, “that would be amazing.”
So what’s the holdup? After all, it’s more than a year since he won the Masters to become the only European golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
Sections of the British media have reported that a tax issue might be the reason and that was put to McIlroy during his press conference.
“I have no idea,” he said.
Nick Faldo, who also has six major titles, has been knighted.
MINOR BUMP FOR BRITISH OPEN PRIZE FUND
The British Open has increased its prize fund to $17.5 million, remaining as the lowest purse among the four majors after having the smallest increase of the majors.
The Masters increased it purse by $1.5 million to $22.5 million. The PGA Championship also had a $1.5 million bump to $20.5 million. The U.S. Open increased its purse by $1 million to $22.5 million.
The R&A announced a $750,000 increase in its purse, with $3.2 million for the winner, $100,000 more than Scheffler won last year.
DIVOTS
Sam Burns, the runner-up at last month’s U.S. Open, was at Royal Birkdale on Monday for the British Open. The original plan was to skip the final major because of the due date of his wife’s second child. Their daughter was born the first week in July, and Burns made the trip. … Scheffler is legendary for wanting to dress like a PGA Tour player when he was a boy, and he always wore pants to look the part, even in the summer heat of Dallas. He wore shorts during practice at the British Open. “I’d like to think I’ve gotten less dumb since I was a kid,” Scheffler said. “One good decision I made is to start wearing shorts every now and then when it’s hot out.”
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AP sports writer Steve Douglas contributed to this report.