Scotty Schaeffler reflects on what’s really important before opening
Scotty Schaeffler says winning is special, but fleeting, and being a great father means more than a great golfer.
open
Scotty Schaeffler entered the fourth and final rounds of the 2025 Open Championship with a large margin. Despite some hiccups throughout the last round so far, including the first double bogey of the weekend in Hall 7, Schaeffler appeared to be in control the whole time.
Schaeffler shot a 4-under par 67 in the third round at Royal Port Rush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, leading to the final round with a four-stroke lead over second-placed Haotong Li. He followed that extraordinary third round up by shooting two unders at the front nine in the final round.
Chaser performed brilliantly, with players like Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gottap and Bryson Deconbaugh quickly climbing the leaderboard, but the smallest lead of the day was the four strokes he entered the final round.
USA Today Sports will host full final round coverage from Royal Portrush, so be sure to check out live updates.
Open Championship 2025 Leaderboard
Click here for the latest leaderboard updates and tee times.
- 1. Scotty Schaeffler: -17 (14)
- T2. Harris English: -12 (16)
- T2. Chris gotterup: -12 (16)
- 4. Wyndham Clark: -11 (f)
- T5. Robert McIntyre: -10 (f)
- T5. Xander Schauffele:-10 (17)
- T5. Rory McIlroy:-10 (15)
- T5. HaotongLi:-10 (15)
- T9. Bryson Deccanbeau: -9 (f)
- T9. Corey Connors: -9 (f)
- T9. Brian Herman: -9 (f)
- T9. Russell Henry: -9 (17)
- T9. Matt Fitzpatrick: -9 (15)
Scotty Schaeffler is not the world’s number one golfer. He had a seven-stroke lead for most of Sunday, and his lead was reduced to four strokes, even with a double bogey on hole 7. How does he pass by?
While this was Schaeffler’s first double bogey over the weekend and not a good addition to his scorecard, Schaeffler’s lead is very monumental and requires some more similar collapses to make him lose this tournament. Of course anything could happen, but Schaeffler was too hot throughout the weekend to prevent this lead from getting away late in the tournament.
Bryson Deccanbeau may not win the British Open, but he is certainly one of the biggest winners of the weekend. After filming 7 overs in round 1, Deccanbo had to scratch from the bottom of the leaderboard and grab his nails to make the cut. Since then, he has undoubtedly outperformed Schaeffler throughout the tournament. In fact, if he had just shot even in Round 1, he would have finished the tournament with -16, where Schaeffler sat towards the fifth hole today.
Deccanbo finished second in the race thickness as Birdie finished 7 under in the final round and 9 under in the tournament.
Ricky Fowler charged Sunday by shooting 6 under that day and finishing 8 under. Fowler made bogeys on two of the first four holes, but bouncing off well with seven birdies the rest. Fowler finished with birdies on each of the last three holes.
Scottie Scheffler has notified the remaining open fields. The three major winner hit a second shot from the hole within 2 feet, tapping for Birdie to run his overall score to 15 under.
Northern Ireland native Rory McIlroy has officially competed on the course after teeing off at 9:20am ET. McIlroy starts the day at 8 under, putting him in a 4-way tie in eighth place behind Scotty Schaeffler.
Rasmus Højgaard is Nos. He’s making his move after birdies of 1 and 2 after scoring his score to 8 under overall. Højgaard is six shots from leader Scottie Scheffler. His tee shot found a deep rough in No. 2, but Højgaard got back on track with his second shot, and his third shot gave him a 16-foot birdie putt that he drilled.
Dechambeau set the 2-foot birdie putt at No. 12 with an epic tip from behind green. After he tapped, he went 5 under that day and 7 under in the tournament. That’s enough to lead him to a cluttered 7-way tie for 9th place.
Hideski Matsuyama is involving three consecutive birdies to move to 7 under for the tournament. He is in a 7-way tie for 9th place.
Robert Macintyre and Rasmus Højgaard tee off at No. 1, with Nicolai Højgaard and Russell Henley coming next. The four now find themselves in big tie 11th place at 6 under. This is an eight-stroke from leader Scotty Schaeffler.
Bryson DeDanbaugh went 4 under the day after nine holes, with four birdies with five pars reaching 6 under overall. He is currently ranked 11th with 10 other golfers.
Justin Rose and playing partner Harry Hall notch birdies on two of the first three holes to reach 7 under for the tournament. It puts them in the 8th tie. Rose’s drive on the par-3 third hole thrusts within five feet of the hole. He tapped for birdie. Hall made a birdie on No. 3, but had a much tougher putt – the 19 footer who found the cup.
Bryson Deccanbeau is approaching threatening to crack the Royal Portrush top 10. Dechambeau scored 78 overs in round 1, but has now reached 65 and 68 over the past two days. He started the final round like the previous two. Three birdies ran his overall score to 5 under on the first seven holes. Deccanbeau is the tie in 15th place.
Winner of the 2019 Open Championship, Shane Laurie enters all the smiles in the clubhouse after having a 5-under 66 card.
“I’m so glad that I finished the way I did today because yesterday was something I was most disappointed yesterday. “I was trying to survive that there.”
Lefty entered the day with a distant five overs, but he played mostly unmistakable final round with five birdies and 13 pars, giving him a 4-under 67 for the round. He finishes one over in the tournament.
Ireland native Shane Lowry began his final round with a parbogie, but then ran. He wrapped the front nine with birdies on five of his final seven holes and played 1 under on the back nine to give him a 5 under score of the day. Laurie is currently sitting in her 40th tie at 2 under the tournament.
Where to watch the Open Championship: TV channels, Sunday streaming
Live coverage for this year’s Open Championship will be provided by NBC, USA Network, Golf Channel and Peacock. Live streaming is available via Fubo. Fubo offers a free trial version for new subscribers.
Always in the East
Final Round: Sunday, July 20th
- 4am to 7am: Check out USA Network, NBC Sports App and Fubo
- 7am to 2pm: Check out NBC, Peacock, and Fubo
- 2pm to 4pm: Golf Channel has been live since its opening
Watch the 2025 Open Championship on Fubo
Open Tea Time Today: Open Pairing in the UK
For a complete list of tea times, you can find the Sunday start here.
Always in the East
- 3:30am: Riki Kawamoto, Matty Schmidt
- 3:40am: Phil Mickelson, Dean Burmester
- 3:50am: Andrew Novak, Sebastian Soderberg
- 4am: Jacob Skoff Olesen, Shane Laurie
- 4:10am: Viktor Hovland, Antonie Rozner
- 4:20am: Ryggs Johnston, Adrien Saddier
- 4:30am: Jordan Spieth, Roman Rangask
- 4:40am: Matthew Jordan, Francesco Morinari
- 4:55am: Justin Leonard, Sergio Garcia
- 5:05am: Sepping Straca, Thomas Detrey
- 5:15am: Jason Cocrack, Aaron Rye
- 5:25am: Jonattan Vegas, Daniel Berger
- 5:35am: Henrik Stenson, Maverick McNerry
- 5:45am: Jordan Smith, Takumi Kanaya
- 5:55am: Ricky Fowler, Sam Burns
- 6:10am: John Rahm, Akshay Battia
- 6:20am: Sliston Lawrence, Jesper Svenson
- 6:30am: Who is Nathan, Bryson Deccanbo
- 6:40am: Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama
- 6:50am: Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas
- 7am: John Parry, JJ Spawn
- 7:10am: Christian Bezuidenhout, Keegan Bradley
- 7:25am: Lucas Glover, Mark Leishman
- 7:35am: Dustin Johnson, sungjae im
- 7:45am: Lee Westwood, Corey Conners
- 7:55am: Justin Rose, Harry Hall
- 8:05am: Kristoffer Reitan, Ludvig Aberg
- 8:15am: Matt Wallace, Oliver Lindell
- 8:25am: Brian Herman, Wyndham Clark
- 8:40am: Robert Macintyre, Rasmus Hojgaard
- 8:50am: Russell Henry, Nikolai Whaugard
- 9am: Xander Schaufele, Tyrrell Hutton
- 9:10am: Harris English, Chris Gotterup
- 9:20am: Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick
- 9:30am: Scotty Scheffler, Haotong Lee
2025 Open Championship Odds
After round three, according to BetMgm, the UK open odds:
- Scotty Scheffler: +600
- Rory McIlroy: +2000
- HaotongLi: +2500
- Matt Fitzpatrick:+2500
- Tyrrell Hutton: +4000
Predictions for the 2025 Open Championship
Predictions made prior to the Open Championship:
Golf.com: Larm to win the top 7 finish
Brady Canon wrote: He has won the Irish Open Championship three times in three of the past four years, in the top seven Open Championships and three times. ”
Golf Digest: Rory McIlroy
Alex Myers wrote:
BetMgm: Sepp Straka
Nick Henion wrote: “For Straca, his distance is not as open and punished as Master or PGA. It needs to make his two best attributes, ironplay and putting – shine.
