18 Parting Thoughts: The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler put a Texas-sized exclamation point on this major season with a tour de force performance at Royal Portrush. He is now a four-time major winner, ¾ of the way to the Career Grand Slam and has 12 wins since March 2024, including three majors and a Gold Medal. There is so, so much to discuss.

Here are 18 Parting Thoughts on the 2025 Open Championship.

1. Phil Kenyon Created a Monster

Or maybe it was Rory McIlroy’s suggestion to try a mallet. Whomever or whatever caused Scottie Scheffler’s putting transformation has dramatically altered the course of golfing history.

Let’s rewind to February 2024. I distinctly remember having a bunch of conversations on Fore Play centered around what Scottie could accomplish if he could just putt. He was finishing top 10 every week despite being one of the worst putters on the PGA TOUR. We ran calculations on how many tournaments he’d win if he putted average, let alone well.

He’s putting well now, and it’s taken him to an entirely new level.

“His putting is night and day obviously,” said Matt Fitzpatrick, who got an up-close look at it on Saturday. “From what you guys all talk about how bad it was at one point…he's just not missed a putt today. There isn't one putt that he's missed, and that's obviously the difference that's taken him to this unbeatable run, which is annoying for me that Phil Kenyon shared those secrets.”

It is an interesting dynamic, isn’t it? Tennis coaches work for one top player. Their rooting interests are crystal clear. Alcaraz’s coach isn’t warming up with Sinner. That scenario happens all the time in golf. Phil Kenyon works with Scheffler and Fitzpatrick, both halves of the final pairing on the weekend of a major.

2. Sometimes You Just Gotta Talk It Out

Scottie’s golf dominated the back half of the week but Scottie’s words owned the headlines at the beginning. The world No. 1 responded to a relatively straightforward question with a five-minute soliloquy on the meaning of life. You’ve seen the clip by now. Here’s the most telling bit:

“It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling, Scheffler said of winning a golf tournament.” To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment."

“Then it’s like, okay, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on. Is it great to be able to win golf tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport…but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what’s the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.”

Scottie acknowledged later in the answer that he might not be making much sense—and I’m convinced, after talking with Ben on Monday’s Dan on Golf, that therein lies the crux of what happened on that podium on Tuesday afternoon. Scottie was, to put it simply, getting it out on paper. It’s one of the main benefits of therapy: the act of talking through a thought that’s looming in your head takes the power out of the thought. I genuinely believe Scottie found a sort of cathartic release in talking through these rather complicated emotions he has toward his profession. And there doesn’t have to be a second sentence. He wondered why he wants to win the Open Championship so badly. Said he struggles with it on a daily basis. But there doesn’t have to be an answer to that question. There probably isn’t. Some things just are the way they are, even if you can’t pin exactly why. You feel the way you feel and that’s all there is to it.

Scottie seemed to get the existentialism out of his system, for he was back to a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other mindset during his post-round media session on Saturday.

“I like being out here competing,” Scottie said. “This is why we work so hard is to have opportunities like this, and I’m excited for the challenge of tomorrow. Winning major championships is not an easy task, and I’ve put myself in good position. Going into tomorrow I’m going to step up there on the first tee and I”m going to be trying to get the ball in the fairway, and when I get to the second shot I’m going to be trying to get the ball on the green. There’s not really too much else going on.”

Quite a different tune, eh? Sometimes you just gotta talk it out.

3. Billy Foster’s Seen It All, But Not This

Billy Foster’s one of my favorite people to talk to in golf. He’s seen it all in 40+ years as a caddie working for the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Lee Westwood, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke, Matt Fitzpatrick—and most recently Collin Morikawa, who he caddied for last week at the Scottish Open (missed cut) and this week at the Open Championship (missed cut). Billy’s a true straight shooter, and if you’ve spent any time around Yorkshiremen you know they don’t give out compliments for the hell of it. So I was curious to get his take on Scottie Scheffler after watching him up close as he plotted his way to an 10-under 132 through 36 holes at Royal Portrush.

“Different class and simply brilliant,” Billy said. “Those were the words I said to him on the 18th green. His distance control is the best I’ve seen.”

And he’s seen them all. Just let that sink in.

4. The Irish Golf Fans Were There For Scottie, Too

One more on Scottie. The golf sickos I spoke to in Portrush this week were so excited to get a glimpse of the world No. 1 in the flesh. The 2019 Open at Royal Portrush was the last one Scottie didn’t play, and a slightly under-the-radar Scottie fact is that apart from two weeks every summer he almost never plays outside the United States.

Contrast that with Tiger Woods, who’d travel around the world to play non-PGA TOUR events in Japan and Australia and the Middle East. Rory McIlroy’s playing the Australian Open this week and also a new event in India. Scottie’d rather watch football on his couch. This guy skipped a signature event and instead played the Byron Nelson because he could sleep in his own bed. He’s just not really bothered by the whole growing the game mantra, and he said as much in his pre-tournament presser. I’m fortunate that I live in the U.S. and get to watch Scottie all the time. I do wonder if he’ll continue playing such a U.S.-based schedule or if he’ll come around on displaying his superb golf around the globe. But as of right now, he couldn’t give a toss.

“I think more so maybe it's less the golf swing and maybe more of his personality,” is how fellow Texas Jordan Spieth described his unique brand of excellence. “He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did. He's not bringing it to a non-golf audience necessarily. He doesn't want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do, corporately, anything like that.

“He just wants to get away from the game and separate the two because I know that he—at one time, he felt it was too much, that he was taking it with him, and whenever he made that switch, I don't know what it was, but he has hobbies. He's always with his family. They're always doing stuff.

“I think it's more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you've seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport. I don't think anybody is like him.”

5. It’s Great to See the Light in Rory’s Eyes Again

There are certain moments that etch a place in your memory. I witnessed one by accident late on Tuesday afternoon. I returned to Royal Portrush to do a quick interview and caught a glimpse of Rory McIlroy donning his green jacket and walking rather briskly. He was on his way the Association of Golf Writers dinner, and a crew of Royal Portrush members drinking on the clubhouse balcony caught the green flash as it moved by.

An impromptu chant broke out.

WE LOVE RORY!

WE LOVE RORY!

McIlroy acknowledged them warmly and wanted to stop and sign autographs for adoring children, but he had somewhere to be. Pardon the sappiness here, but isn’t that a microcosm of his existence? He hardly comes back home to Northern Ireland—not because he doesn’t want to. Because he has places to be. Rory said in his pre-tournament press conference that he hadn’t been back to Holywood Golf Club, his boyhood course, in probably 15 years. But now that Royal Portrush is firmly in the Open rota, his professional responsibilities will bring him home once every five to seven years or so. And instead of trying to insulate himself from it all, like he did in 2019, Rory turned up with a smile on his face this year and a newfound outlook.

“I think in '19 I probably tried to isolate, and I think it's better for everyone if I embrace it,” McIlroy said. “I think it's better for me because I can -- it's nice to be able to accept adulation, even though I struggle with it at times. But it's also nice for the person that is seeing you for the first time in a few years. It just makes for a better interaction and not trying to hide away from it.

“I think it's more of an embrace everything that's going to come my way this week and not try to shy away from it or hide away from it, and I think that'll make for a better experience for everyone involved.”

It was lovely to see the light in Rory’s eyes again. It was evident from the moment he walked on property. He delighted the fans all week, but especially during a magical Saturday when he somehow hit a buried golf ball, then eagled the 12th in what he called one of the coolest moments of his career.

We can officially put that post-Masters swoon behind us. We’re moving on. His game’s in a much better spot, and a return home seemed to unlock the This is All Gravy mentality we hoped he’d access after Augusta.

6. Royal Portrush Is the Open Venue I Want to Play Most

I’ve now covered the Open Championship at four different courses—Royal St. George’s, St. Andrews, Royal Troon and Royal Portrush—and I’ve been lucky enough to play Carnoustie. I can’t speak for the other Open venues, but of those five courses, Royal Portrush is the one I’d want to play most and it’s not close. It’s just more interesting. A criss-cross routing rather than the sometimes dull out-and-back, a prettier backdrop and more elevation changes. There’s a reason it’s rated by many as one of the 10 best courses outside the United States.

7. The Best Stories Come from the Qualifiers

One of the cooler aspects of the U.S. Open and Open Championships are the stories that come from the qualifiers. There are multiple routes into the tournaments—the big boys get in on their world ranking, but there are 36-hole qualifiers for both, and for the Open there are a number of pathways through winning tournaments (usually national opens) around the world.

Two outsiders jumped off the page this week. Both were making their very first major championship starts, albeit with entirely different backstories. We’ll start with Ryan Peake, the Australian who served a seven-year prison sentence after getting involved in a biker gang. Peake qualified by winning the New Zealand Open and shed some light on his transformation.

"I wanted to achieve better things in my life as far as I was never going to profit from being a bikie, and I didn't profit from being a bikie," Peake told the BBC.

"I enjoyed the lifestyle while I was living it, but it wasn't going to get me ahead in life, and I was just always going to fall further and further behind and probably lead to more jail. But I've had great support networks that have always helped me. And this time I took the advice that they were giving me and followed the path they were trying to pave for me."

Peake shot 77-73 to miss the cut by quite a few, but simply teeing it this week qualifies as a remarkable life turnaround.

Then there’s young Estonian Richard Teder, the 20-year-old who holed a pitch in final qualifying to become the first Estonian to qualify for the Open. Teder also missed the cut but relished every second of this week. I walked a few holes with him during Wednesday’s practice round, which he played alongside Ben Griffin. He told me that he played the prior day with Jason Day.

“So drippy, bro!”

Later that day, he had a long-drive contest against Bryson DeChambeau, whom he called his favorite player of all time. I told Teder to make sure he enjoys every second of this week, as there’s only one first major championship start. Of course, he’d have liked to play better, and there are plenty of guys who missed the cut this week who will fly home with a scowl. Not Teder.

8. About The Handicap Discrepancies...

On Monday’s episode of Dan on Golf I dove into the wild handicap discrepancies between Americans and Brits/Irishmen. A 3-handicap overseas is a scratch in the U.S. It’s always been a thing, and I got an up-close-and-personal look as to why as I traveled through Ireland playing eight rounds in six days the week before the Open.

There are two principal reasons. First, in the UK/Ireland golfers play stroke-play competitions all the time. There are no four-foot gimmes for bogey. In the U.S., so much of golf is match play, and match play lends itself to too-generous “that’s good”s when someone is out of the hole. There is also such an obsession with pace of play that playing ball-in-hole is considered a hardo move. In Ireland, it’s the norm.

Secondly, the courses are rated much easier than their counterparts in the U.S. My buddies and I played one tee off the back for most of the trip, around 6,800 yards on average. The courses were all rated between even par and one shot over par with slopes around 125—far easier than my home course when, in fact, they are much harder to score on. You would never see one of the top courses in the U.S. with a 125 slope at 6,800 yards.

A listener reached out to explain what’s going on with the slope discrepancies.

From David O’Donnell: “A lot of it is based off landing zones in the fairways as well as length of greens, rough and fairways. A male scratch golfer is deemed to hit the ball 250 yards, a bogey male golfer 200, and a female scratch golfer 200, and female bogey 150. So if course doesn’t have many hazards/bunker in play off the tee boxes at those yardages, it generally isn’t rated too badly. Average wind speed and weather isn’t taken into account.”

The last sentence is the kicker. Weather isn’t taken into account. Sure, with no wind at all, these links courses don’t provide as stern a test. But that’s like saying Augusta with slow greens isn’t as difficult. There’s always weather and wind, and the “playing conditions” mechanism the world handicap system has for factoring in weather conditions doesn’t go far enough.

I have so many takeaways from my Irish summer sojourn, but the lasting one might be the lack of ego involved in golf over here. No one cares how much your membership cost or how exclusive your club is or how low you say your handicap is. That’s why they putt everything out; you’re only cheating yourself by picking up those putts when you’re out of a hole or taking a mulligan. I’m going to start doing the same. What’s the point of playing a sport where the objective is getting the ball into a hole 400+ yards away if, just when you’re about to do it, you pick the ball up?

I’m rambling here, so let me summarize with two nuggets.

• There’s an issue with how courses are rated

• I’m out on gimmes.

9. Links Golf Is Hard, I Can Further Attest

I struggled a lot with my game on the Irish links. I only broke 80 twice in eight rounds. It wasn’t good. I kept trying to hit the perfect shot, to flight down irons and shape shots into the wind. I am not nearly good enough to play this way. The links got in my head, and the more I pressed the more it got away from me. Unitl, of course, I let go on the final day and started playing some good golf on the back nine. I thought Brian Harman, who knows a thing or two about links golf, summarized what’s needed to play good links golf perfect.

“You have to take your hands off the steering wheel.”

I won’t forget that one. You hit the shot, and you let the elements do their thing. You don’t hit a shot that tries to subvert the elements. It’s a subtle but crucial distinction.

10. Bryson DeChambeau Is a Certified DOG

Bryson DeChambeau showed a ton this week. I was highly curious to see how he’d fare this week given his past Open struggles, and the internet was quick to dunk on him after a birdie-less 78 on Thursday. He proceeded to shoot 16-under 197 (65-68-64) over his last three rounds to vault up the leaderboard. Yes, this wasn’t proper Open Championship weather. He still struggles in wind. But this was absolutely a breakthrough.

“I wanted to go home,” Bryson said of his mood post-Thursday. “But I woke up this morning and I said, you know what, I can't give up. My dad always told me never to give up, just got to keep going, and that's what I did today. I was proud of the way I fought back, really persevered through some emotionally difficult moments, and to hold myself together and not get pissed and slam clubs and throw things and all that like I wanted to, like I was very proud of myself.

A clear-cut and very worthy DOG of the week.

11. Are Morikawa and Cantlay No Longer a Ryder Cup Locks?

Are we sure Collin Morikawa is a lock to make the Ryder Cup team? He missed the cut in both the Scottish Open and this week at the Open and has just one top 10 in his last 11 starts. He looked entirely out of sorts both weeks and his caddie situation remains a question mark, as the two-week stint with Billy Foster was A) always temporary and B) not very successful. We’ve had him in the “lock” column for the entire year but he’s going through a rough patch at the worst possible time.

That said, gun to my head, he still makes the team. I’m not sure I can say the same for Patrick Cantlay, who just finished up a totally lost year in the majors: T36 in the Masters, MC in the PGA Championship, MC in the U.S. Open, MC in the Open Championship. He was excellent in last year’s Presidents Cup and showed some serious fire with the HatGate situation at the last Ryder Cup, and the advanced metrics remain high on him because he’s such a consistent performer in non-major championships. But he was terrible in the biggest events this year and, it must be said, the blue-chip Americans not named Scottie Scheffler are not playing nearly as well as the blue-chip Europeans.

Enter Chris Gotterup of New Jersey. The Scottish Open champion was trending well before he took down Rory McIlroy at Renaissance Club and he followed it up this week with a Top 5 in his first Open. He has a certain swagger to him and he plays a big-boy brand of golf, with his driver by far his biggest weapon. He’d bring a youthful energy to Bethpage and the New York crowd would welcome a bridge-and-tunneler for the week. He’s got everything to play for in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

12. We Got Some Ryder Cup Clarity This Week

We did get some Ryder Cup clarity this week. Russell Henley and Harris English locked up their positions. So did, in my estimation, Matt Fitzpatrick. An in-form Fitz to fill out the back end of the European lineup is precisely what Luke Donald would have wanted. Here would be my 12 picks for each team, with locks bolded.

EUROPE

Rory McIlroy

Tyrrell Hatton

Jon Rahm

Tommy Fleetwood

Ludvig Aberg

Viktor Hovland

Sepp Straka

Shane Lowry

Robert MacIntyre

Matt Fitzpatrick

Rasmus Hojgaard

Justin Rose

USA

Scottie Scheffler

Bryson DeChambeau

Xander Schauffele

Russell Henley

J.J. Spaun

Justin Thomas

Harris English

Collin Morikawa

Ben Griffin

Keegan Bradley

Brian Harman

Chris Gotterup

13. Harris English’s Golf Swing Doesn't Get Enough Love

We talk about Rory’s and Adam Scott’s and Jake Knapp’s, but I’m ready to officially bump Harris English into the A1 tier of golf swings. He’s a big guy with long arms so he’s able to build speed despite that syrupy rhythm. He hits flat cuts for days. A professional flusher.

14. Re: The Shane Lowry Penalty, Here's an Idea

Two things can be true at once.

The video evidence is clear: Lowry’s practice swing caused the ball to move.

There wouldn’t be video evidence if Lowry wasn’t playing in a featured group, that exact scenario probably played out 5+ times this week elsewhere with no penalty, and a two-shot penalty feels really harsh.

It’s tough. The broadcast can’t ignore what the cameras just showed, and the rules office can’t ignore what the broadcast just showed.

“You’re in a no-win situation,” Rahm said after playing alongside Lowry on Saturday with both well outside of contention. “If you say I didn't see it therefore I don't think it should be a penalty, even though the rule says it should be visible to the naked eye, you always run the risk of being called something you don't want to be called. And, if you take it on the safe side, you're taking a two-shot penalty.

“It's a tough spot to be in. If the rule says visible to the naked eye, we need to uphold that more than anything else. Something needs to be changed for sure, I just don't know exactly how they could change it.”

Here’s an idea: it’s a one-shot penalty. Or, it’s not even a penalty, it’s just deemed a stroke because your swing caused the ball to move. A two-shot penalty, to me, implies intent. He swung, the ball moved, that’s a stroke. Feels pretty simple?

15. J. Rose’s Shank Reaction Was Too Relatable

We always like to highlight a Pros-They’re Just Like Us moment at majors. How cool is our sport that we can watch the best players in the world, on the best courses, and every damn day you see a version of something from your weekend game?

This Open’s edition of Pros-They’re Just Like Us comes courtesy of Justin Rose who contracted an acute case of Shankitis on Friday. The future Hall-of-Famer—yep, no doubt—hit not one but two hosel rockets from the thick fescue on Saturday, and I want to draw attention to the sheer panic in his voice after the second one.

We’ve all been there, eh? Hitting one off the hosel, let alone two, is a downright harrowing experience for any golfer on any golf course. On one of the biggest stages in the sport—I can’t imagine the shivers that sent down his spine.

16. Looper Island Stays Buzzing

Looper Island stays buzzing. I don’t have the numbers to ABC this up but it sure feels like we’ve had more caddie-related news than ever this year. Some updates from this week:

• Fan favorites and Netflix darlings Joel Dahmen and Geno Bonnalie, the only caddie he’s ever had, are no more. A real bummer.
• Tom Kim is no longer with Paul Tesori
• Harris English’s normal caddie, Eric Larson, was denied entry into the United Kingdom for this week’s Open due to his past prison sentence (Google it)
• Collin Morikawa’s two-week trial with Billy Foster would appear to be over after two missed cuts You keeping it up with all this? It’s not easy.

17. What a Run for American Golfers

For all the Ryder Cup parity in recent decades (home team wins most often) this has been an incredible run from American golfers in the majors. Scheffler’s win means Americans have won seven of the last 8 majors and 31 of the past 43. Americans have also won four of the past five Open Championships. So much for growing up on the links turf, eh?!

18. Major Season Goes Faster Every Year

Ever since the PGA moved to May there’s been a Triple Crown-like pacing to it all, and word on the street is time doesn’t move any slower the older you get. I can’t believe the 2025 majors are already behind us but what a show they provided: Rory achieving Golf Immortality, Scottie reminding the world of his greatness, J.J. Spaun out of nowhere, then Scottie reminds us again. Thank you so much for reading, watching, listening to all our major content this year. I’m fired up about the community of Golf Sickos we’re building.

On to the FedEx Cup playoffs. Then Bethpage Black.

Join us live tomorow at 10AM PT/ 1PM ET as we recap the 153rd Open, LIVE on Dan on Golf. Subscribe here