Scheffler takes the British Open trophy

Scottie Scheffler was walking down the first fairway at Royal Portrush when he heard a shout: “Go Rory!”

Rory McIlroy's passionate fans were all over Dunluce Links again yesterday, cheering on the prodigal son in the final act of his homecoming. The big disappointment for McIlroy was that he couldn't deliver what they wanted.

“It’s been an incredible week,” McIlroy said after shooting two under par with a round of 69 to tie for seventh at the British Open.

“I got everything I wanted out of this week, one person was a little better than the rest of us.”

That might be an understatement.

Scheffler, the world number one, won by four strokes to capture his fourth major title. He was seven shots ahead of McIlroy and seemed to be playing at a different level in Northern Ireland.

McIlroy even acknowledged it.

“He’s an incredible player,” he said of Scheffler. “He’s been dominant this week. Honestly, he’s been dominant for the last few years. He’s the standard we’re all trying to reach.”

As for Scheffler, he could only apologize for ruining McIlroy's party.

“I know I wasn’t the fans’ favorite today,” he said, smiling, in his post-round speech at No. 18, “but I heard a lot of chants of America and Dallas, Texas.”

Scheffler could have won two majors this year and cemented his position as the game's dominant player. However, for many, 2025 still belongs to McIlroy after his dramatic victory at the Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam.

Fans came out in droves this past week to celebrate McIlroy's accomplishments, producing some of the loudest roars a golf course has ever heard.

If McIlroy didn't quite deliver, then Royal Portrush—where he shot 61 as a 16-year-old for the course record—certainly did, earning rave reviews.

When the Open returned to Portrush in 2019 for the first time in 68 years, McIlroy was so excited he hit his opening drive out of bounds, shot 79 and missed the cut.

He redeemed himself six years later. “I feel so grateful and so fortunate to be able to do this in front of this crowd,” McIlroy said. “I’m hoping to have one or two more Opens here, probably one while I’m still competitive and another when I’m grayer than I already am.”

McIlroy started Sunday six shots behind Scheffler after a wild third-round 66, and needed a minor miracle to catch his arch-rival. He couldn't replicate what he did Saturday, but at least he played all four days this time.

“I did my best to keep my emotions under control.”— AP