And just like that, the final major championship of the year has arrived, and the excruciating wait for the Masters will soon begin.
Soaking in the final four days of major championship golf shouldn't be too difficult a task, however, with The Open being contested at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
When Northern Ireland is mentioned, Rory McIlroy's name has to quickly follow, and his return to his homeland in strong form undoubtedly tops the list of storylines to follow this week. He'll be looking to get the bad taste out of his mouth that has been lingering since 2019 when he was lifeless at Portrush.
We'll get into a handful of other storylines worth paying attention to - including Scottie Scheffler's relationship with links golf - but before we dive in, we need to talk mindset for the week.
The Open Championship is the best - well, second best behind the Masters - so we need to approach it with unrelenting appreciation. Us folks in the States get to wake up this weekend, grab a cup of coffee, and watch the best players in the world play the game in its purest form. The elements will be a main character throughout the week as well, so give us all you've got, Portrush, we'll appreciate it.
The 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush was a monumental occasion for Rory McIlroy - a devastating experience for him and the tens of thousands of fans on site to cheer on the kid from Northern Ireland playing on his home soil - but monumental nonetheless.
Six Golfers Worth Betting At The 153rd Open Championship
It took all of about 20 minutes for McIlroy's homecoming to turn from a celebration to an occasion that closely resembled a funeral.
McIlroy hit his opening teeshot of the tournament out of bounds, was forced to take an unplayable with his fifth, and ultimately walked off the first green with a quadruple bogey eight. He shot an opening round 79, and while he improved by 14 shots the next day, he ultimately missed the cut by a shot. McIlroy's dream was a nightmare.
To say his opening teeshot on Thursday will be highly anticipated is an understatement.
McIlroy enters the week in great form, having finished T-2 at the Scottish Open a week ago, but the greatest sign of life in his golf game is the mental side of things.
He has been open about having to search for motivation after completing the career grand slam in April, finally getting his hands on the green jacket, but his demeanor was its old salt at the Scottish Open. A change in scenery seems to have given McIlroy a boost, and you couple that with what should be immaculate vibes in his homeland, it's hard to imagine McIlroy not having a solid week.
He also shot a course-record 61 at Royal Portrush at 16-years-old, which certainly isn't a bad thing.
Scottie Scheffler has won three times in his last seven starts and hasn't finished worse than eighth since The Players in March, yet in a completely asinine and unfair way, it feels like he's searching a bit. Emphasis on the ‘a bit’ in the previous sentence.
There is this mindset that Scheffler has been a complete no-show in previous Open Championships, yet that isn't exactly the case. He finished T-7 in last year's Open, and across his four starts in the major, his average finish is a little better than 15th place while never missing a cut.
The only cause for concern is Scheffler's putter, which is a bit crazy to say given that he's ranked 22nd on Tour in strokes gained: putting, but you can toss that aside when discussing the flatstick across the pond.
Scheffler has lost strokes on the greens in each of the last three Open Championships and lost on the greens in the Scottish Open last week despite finishing T-8. There is clearly something that does not mix when it comes to Scheffler's putting and the slower greens in Open Championships.
If Scheffler can find a way to be an average putter this week at Portrush - literally finish in the middle of the field of players in putting - he'll be there come Sunday with a phenomenal chance of hoisting the Claret Jug for the first time in his career.
It feels like Xander Schauffele is being wildly disrespected, or at least grossly overlooked, heading into Portrush. This is still the guy who won two major championships in 2024, including the Open.
It's safe to say what we have here with Schauffele is just a lack of sample size, and our brains just don't let us immediately jump to a player we haven't seen swing a golf club as much as other players.
Schauffele's 2025 campaign got off to a delayed start due to injury, and while it took him a few starts to show some life, he's shown some serious pop in some big-time spots.
A T-8 finish at the Masters, a T-12 at the U.S. Open, and maybe most importantly, a T-8 a week ago in Scotland, feels like Schauffele has potentially turned the corner.
His iron play was unbelievable at the Scottish Open, and riding great ball-striking onto a golf course that should fit his playing style should be more than enough to have Schauffele on everyone's radar.
A LIV Golf player has gotten their hands on a major championship trophy each of the last two years, with Brooks Koepka winning the PGA Championship in 2023 and Bryson DeChambeau winning the U.S. Open the following year.
Jon Rahm is the odds-on favorite among LIV players to keep that streak alive in winning this week's Open, and it's easy to see why.
The 30-year-old hasn't finished worse than 14th in each of his last four major championship starts and finished runner-up in LIV's event in Spain just last week. Vibes don't matter, but it doesn't take too much imagination to see Rahm winning an Open, and this week feels as good as any.
Bryson DeChambeau has the second-shortest odds among LIV players to get it done this week, followed by Tyrrell Hatton, who is just a month removed from a T-4 finish at the U.S. Open.
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