PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — With the Northern Irish sun beating down on the links below him, Rory McIlroy stood on the 17th tee box — one of the highest points at Royal Portrush — and took in the scene at the Open Championship.
On his left, there was a hillside containing a number of fans hoping to catch a glimpse of his tee shot. To his right, more fans pushed against the ropes just to try and get a little closer. As he waited to hit, McIlroy allowed himself a smile. The chants soon began.
“Rory! Rory! Rory!”
They had been going on all day — loud as he made birdie on the opening hole, louder still when he tapped in for another birdie on 2 and as loud as they had been all week when he hit his approach shot on the par-4 fourth and started 3-under through four. Eight holes later, on the 12th, the noise reached a climax. McIlroy’s 56-foot eagle putt tipped into the bottom of the hole. A fist pump. A roar. This was the moment they had all been waiting for.
“The roar when this ball was in was insane. It was insane all day, but the noise after that putt went in was incredible,” McIlroy said. “That was a really cool moment … could be one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had on a golf course.”
All day, the thousands of fans — be it from Northern Ireland or beyond — seemed to carry McIlroy from hole to hole. Birdie or bogey, the noise was there, crescendoing as he reached every green.
At every turn, through the dunes and the crosswalks, at every crowded hill and gathering spot, the crowd was a reminder that McIlroy was, and has been, the main event this week. Outside of the hotel next to the fourth fairway, a group of workers all stood in a single file line to watch McIlroy come through. Next to the green on the fifth, fans made the climb from the nearby beach to the top of a dune that allowed them to get a glimpse of the action.
Once McIlroy was able to hit off that 17th tee, his shot found the right gallery. One fan picked up his ball — anything to feel closer to their hometown hero. While standing in a swarm of his followers, McIlroy replaced it, lined up the tough approach shot over a greenside bunker and landed it safely on the green. He walked forward and the crowd that had split like the Red Sea to let him in re-formed behind him, getting louder by the second.
“Rory! Rory! Rory!”
At various points throughout Saturday, the dream of a homecoming win to them, and to McIlroy, felt alive. And yet, in between moments of madness, the sport’s most inevitable force loomed in the silence.
Enter Scottie Scheffler.
The 17th green and the 13th green at Royal Portrush are connected and, as McIlroy stalked his birdie putt, Scheffler stood on top of the opposite hill. Scheffler’s tee shot landed — where else? — pin high. McIlroy had been stealing glimpses at scoreboards throughout the day to see where he stood. This time, the harsh reality of what he was going up against was staring right back at him.
“Scottie Scheffler is — it’s inevitable,” McIlroy said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff. He’s just so solid. He doesn’t make mistakes.”
Scheffler made par on 13 and added another birdie on Calamity Corner, the tough, long, par-3 16th hole that has given players fits all week. Not Scheffler. He has birdied it all three days.
“There doesn’t seem to be any weakness there,” McIlroy said. “Whenever you’re trying to chase down a guy like that, it’s hard to do.”
It’s not just McIlroy’s dream that Scheffler is foiling. Matthew Fitzpatrick is five shots back heading into Sunday. He was only one shot back to start the day. Russell Henley shot 65 on Saturday and Xander Schauffele shot 66. Both are seven shots behind and feel like long shots heading into Sunday.
“When I watch Scottie play a lot, he just looks blacked out to me, just doing his thing. He’s just in his own world and nothing’s going to bother him,” Schauffele said. “He gets to that place often, which is a good thing for him.”
“He’s unbelievable,” said Harris English, who, like McIlroy, is six shots back. “I can’t say anything bad about the guy. It’s impressive to watch, and what he’s doing is incredible.”
Even Haotong Li, who did not fade and shot a round of 69 that put him four shots back of Scheffler and in Sunday’s final group, couldn’t help but acknowledge his standing.
“Four shots behind, kind of like play for second,” Li said. “Especially play[ing] with world No. 1.”
There’s something almost unnerving about the way that, as players can’t help but recognize Scheffler’s exceptional performances, Scheffler himself will downplay them at every step. Even when presented with an objective example of his own greatness — the fact that he has closed out nine straight 54-hole leads — Scheffler shrugs.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Scheffler said to the question of why he has been such an effective closer. “I like being out here competing.”
Even as he bemoans the fickle nature of winning like he did earlier this week, Scheffler’s obsession with competing — whether he likes it or not — has brought him to a place where he is being chased by everyone while he is chasing history, the ghosts of golf’s past and a Tiger Woods comparison that continues to gain, not lose, steam. With a victory Sunday, Scheffler will be the fourth player to win four majors before their 30th birthday. The last to do that was Woods.
McIlroy and everyone else behind him have to believe they control their destinies on Sunday. But in reality, their hopes hinge on the performance of a guy who vanquishes dreams for a living.
