Even though many tournaments feature closely matched competitors, occasionally, all elements of a player's game will align to spectacular effect.
Take Tiger Woods’s maiden Major title at the 1997 Masters, when no one could get close to him, and Tom Kite his nearest challenger finishing a distant 12 shots behind at Augusta National.
More recently, Scottie Scheffler may have only won the 2024 tournament by four shots, but he was still firmly in command throughout the final round to make the result appear a formality well before he slipped on the Green Jacket.
However, it’s rare for a player to dominate the field in the manner that Dominic Clemons achieved at the Scottish Men’s Open at Muirfield.
The tournament, which is open to male amateurs of all nationalities, featured 72 holes of stroke play over three days. Overall, 144 players competed at the 2024 event, with the top 40 and ties after the first two rounds going into the 36-hole deciding day.
Clemons, who is 464th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, got off to a solid enough start with a 68 in his opening round, but while that was decent, he was still three behind heading into the second day, and there was no real sign of the fireworks to come.
It soon got even better for the Englishman, though, as he followed that up with a 65 in the second round, which included seven birdies and just one bogey, to comfortably make the cut by 12.
Facing a marathon final day of 36 holes, Clemons then produced another 65 in the third round to take control. If there was any fatigue setting in, it didn’t show as he then had his best round of the bunch – a 62 that included eight birdies to finish 24-under for the tournament.
Clemons' nearest challenger was South African Jordan Burnand, who could only muster seven-under following a final two rounds of 71 and 72 to leave him 17 behind the champion.
Dominic Clemons wins the 2024 Scottish Men’s Open with a staggering 17 shot (yep, not a typo) win at Muirfield! 🔥🏆🏌️♂️Final scores 👇https://t.co/nqhljbHS8B#ScottishMensOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/FenkNgzbQoJune 2, 2024
Not only that, but Clemons completed his four rounds in 260 shots, a staggering 39 better than the player who finished last of those who made the cut, Maltese player Laurens Schulze-Doering.
Before the tournament, former team Europe Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher urged players to enjoy the occasion. Per scottishgolf.org, he said: “Just go out and enjoy it and think of all the greats that have walked these fairways at Muirfield down the years. What a chance this is to create memories that will never fade.”
Following his efforts for the three days, it’s safe to conclude Clemons achieved exactly that.
