Golfers were able to get a taste of links-style golf in the final tune-up for this weekend’s Open Championship, as Xander Schauffele took home the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
We didn’t have a 40/1 payout like last week when J.T. Poston won the John Deere Classic, but Schauffele at 18/1 is still a nice return on investment in a stacked field.
Schauffele Turned It On
A big Friday and Saturday – as well as some fading at the top of the leaderboard – are what pushed Schauffele to the win this weekend in North Berwick. He ended up firing a 72-65-66-70 to finish -7 and pick up the win by one stroke over Kurt Kitayama.
This was the second straight win for Schauffele, who also picked up a first-place finish at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands two weeks ago.
Schauffele also won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans teamed up with Patrick Cantlay back at the end of April, so it’s been a solid season for the #5 golfer in the world.
Schauffele was the fifth-best putter in the field this weekend and also hit the fifth most greens in regulation. That means he’s got his irons in tune for this weekend at St. Andrews and should be able to contend on the Old Course.
Tringale Faded Hard
This looked like Cameron Tringale’s tournament to lose after the first two rounds. He shot a record-setting 61 on Thursday and gained an astonishing 11 strokes on the field after the first 18 holes. Those types of numbers have only happened twice in the last 12 years.
Tringale made six straight birdies on his back nine holes of golf in the opening round, but that was an impossible pace to keep up over the entirety of the weekend. Tringale finished the final 54 holes of golf with a 72-74-70, but his great Thursday still allowed him to collect a T6 finish.
Some Big Names Struggled
The Scottish Open featured a very recognizable field. Jon Rahm was the pre-tournament favorite at 11/1, while Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler weren’t too far behind at 12/1. After the first round, though, Sam Burns (28/1) was the only top 10 player in the world in the top 14.
Rahm ended up finishing +5 and was never in contention. Thomas got a bad draw in playing in the afternoon in round one when the wind picked up incredibly and couldn’t recover from a 73-77 as he missed the cut.
Scheffler shot a 73-72 as he looked like he was just there to tune up equipment for a run at the Claret Jug.
Jordan Spieth looked like he might be a presence in the final round after his 66 on Saturday, but he had a bogey or worse in three of the final five holes and dropped down to 10th.
Matt Fitzpatrick followed up his U.S. Open win with a sixth-place finish, while Cantlay couldn’t chase down his Zurich Classic partner and finished fourth.
Most golfers would probably say they are happy with their weekend, as, at the very least, it got their bodies adjusted to Scotland and links play as the Open Championship tees off on Thursday.
