Scottie Scheffler still had 20 holes of this Open Championship to play. History tells us leads can evaporate in just one. Dense rough, links bunkers, the scale of pressure attached to the oldest major. Open calamity is written in folklore. The ghost of Jean van de Velde still lingers. And yet, the bookmakers had Scheffler at only 1-8 to lift the Claret Jug. The fat lady had cleared her throat. Twenty holes. What sporting planet is this?
It is possible to run out of adjectives for Scheffler. Unflappable, remarkable, relentless. Nobody will ever match the impact of Tiger Woods on golf but it really is no exaggeration to suggest Scheffler can be similarly dominant. Come Sunday evening on the Causeway Coast, Scheffler will surely be a four-time major winner and three-quarters of the way towards a career grand slam. This is only his 24th major start as a professional. In one of them, his pursuit of glory was undermined by being thrown into a police cell.
