22/07/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | JULY 22, 2025 29 Tiger stands alone: Scottie Scheffler calls Woods’ comparison ‘silly’ after Open triumph N EWLY-CROWNED Open champion Scottie Scheffler insists it is “silly” to com pare him to Tiger Woods. fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. “I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf. revealing press conference at which he admitted being successful at golf did not fulfil him and he prioritises being a good husband and father over anything. Ű BY CARL MARKHAM

SHORTS Rahm, Garcia hoping for Ryder pairing

JON RAHM and Sergio Garcia made for an unstoppable team at the 2021 Ryder Cup. The Spaniards are not shy about wanting to recreate that magic this fall at Bethpage Black. They’re now both members of LIV Golf, but unlike with the 2023 team, Team Europe is not prohibiting any LIV players from competing this time around. Garcia tied for 34th at the Open Championship and was asked yesterday whether European captain Luke Donald assured him his six captain’s picks will be made on golfing terms alone. “Yeah, for sure. That’s what he’s told me,” Garcia said. “Yeah, it’s just about how my game is and what I can bring, what I can add to the team, as simple as that.” Garcia, 45, competed in 10 out of 11 Ryder Cups between 1999 and 2021 and racked up a record 28.5 points for Europe in that span. In 2021, he played with Rahm, an ascending young talent months removed from his first major victory at the time. Rahm and Garcia went 3-0-0 together, beating Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 3 and 1 in foursomes, Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger 3 and 1 in foursomes, and Koepka and Spieth 2 and 1 in fourball across Friday and Saturday. Rahm – who also tied for 34th yesterday with Garcia and others – said he is hoping to get the call from Donald before he worries about Garcia or whomever he may play with. “It would be very special,“ Rahm said. “He would be a fantastic guy obviously with his Ryder Cup experience.” … as DeChambeau waits for Bradley’s call BRYSON DECHAMBEAU’S response to a disastrous first round at the Open Championship likely will be good enough for him to punch his ticket to the United States Ryder Cup team. DeChambeau followed up a brutal 7-over-par 78 in which he was tied for 144th place with three consecutive rounds under par – including a 7-under 64 yesterday. “It was a fun three days. I was really proud of the way I turned it around and gave myself actually some hope.” DeChambeau, a two-time US Open winner and currently No. 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking, found himself fifth in points heading into The Open. The top six players in the standings automatically qualify for the Ryder Cup team. Captain Keegan Bradley will select the remaining six players. “I hope I can bring a lot of energy and a tsunami of a crowd that’s going to be rooting for Team USA,” he said. DeChambeau became emotional when asked if he had any communication with Bradley this week. “I talked with him briefly, and then he put something in our lockers that was pretty inspirational,” he said. “It’s a personal message.” “It meant a lot,” DeChambeau said. “This year’s no joke… We’re tired of losing.”

After winning the Claret Jug yesterday he felt his comments were taken out of context and insisted he was not disrespecting the game or making light of his achievements. “I think it really underestimates what I was trying to communicate. Maybe I didn’t do as effective of a job as I hoped to in communicating that,” he added. “At the end of the day, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude towards moments like these. “I literally worked my entire life to become good at this game and play this game for a living. It’s one of my greatest joys of my life to compete out here. “To be able to win The Open Championship here at Portrush is a feeling that’s really hard to describe. “Am I grateful for it? Do I enjoy it? Oh, my gosh, yes, this is a cool feeling. It’s just tough to describe when you haven’t lived it.” – The Independent

The 28-year-old won his second major of the year after May’s US PGA, his fourth in total, and he is three-quarters of the way towards a career Grand Slam – which he can complete at next year’s US Open in the same four-year time-frame as Jack Nicklaus. Only 15-time major winner Woods has done it quicker, in three years. The numbers continue to stack up for the world No. 1, whose 17-under total gave him a four-stroke victory at Royal Portrush but belied how comfortable his win was. On Saturday evening Rory McIlroy, a five time major winner who himself completed the Grand Slam at the Masters in April, said Scheffler was “inevitable” and his play is giving off a Woods-type aura. “I still think they’re a bit silly,” Scheffler said of the Woods comparison. “Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my

“I don’t focus on that kind of stuff. That’s not what motivates me. I’m not motivated by winning championships. “I don’t look at the beginning of the year and just say ‘Hey, I want to win X amount of tournaments, I want to win whatever it is.’ “I have dreams and aspirations that I think about, but at the end of the day I feel like what motivates me is just getting out and getting to live out my dream. “I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I’m called to do it to the best of my ability. “I don’t place much emphasis on things that I can accomplish. It’s just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing. “I’ve always done my best when I’m able to live in the present.” On Wednesday Scheffler gave a surprisingly

McIlroy enjoys Portrush redemption

McIlroy remains the world No. 2 and is hungry for more majors after completing his career Grand Slam by winning this year’s Masters to end an 11-year major drought. It will be a few years before golf’s oldest major returns to Royal Portrush, though, where McIlroy shot a course record 61 as a teenager. “I feel so thankful and just so lucky that I get to do this, I get to do this in front of this crowd,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll have one or two Opens left here, if the R&A decide to keep coming back, probably one while I’m still competitive and another one while I’m more gray than I already am. “I think Portrush has quickly turned into one of the best two or three venues that The Open goes to,” McIlroy added. “Talk to every player this week, they won’t say one bad thing about the golf course.” McIlroy said he would scale back slightly after the Open to focus on this year’s Ryder Cup in New York. “I don’t want to play too much leading up to that because I want to be fresh.” he said. “I’ll reflect on what’s been already a good year and start to get myself ready for that run-up.” – Reuters

IT was not quite the glorious homecoming Rory McIlroy had dared to dream of on his return to Royal Portrush but it felt like redemption for Northern Ireland’s favourite sporting son after the heartbreak of six years ago. Five-times major champion McIlroy produced a few magical moments over four days for the thousands who descended on the Antrim coast hoping to roar him to British Open glory. In the end the Northern Irishman fell short, however, finishing tied seventh, seven strokes behind a supreme champion in Scottie Scheffler. After the gloom of missing the cut in 2019 when the Open returned to the land of his birth for the first time since 1951, though, it felt like a celebration for the 36 year-old who arrived at the course wearing his Masters green jacket. “I tried as best as I could to keep my emotions in check, especially walking up the last there and that reception,” said McIlroy, who briefly threatened to make a charge yesterday before a double bogey on the 10th ended his hopes. “It’s been an awesome week,” he said. “I’ve gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a Claret Jug, and that’s because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us.”

Rory McIlroy. – AFPPIC

Gotterup inspired by European blood to finish third AMERICAN Chris Gotterup did think about winning the British Open yesterday when Scottie Scheffler made a double-bogey in the last round but it did not last long. said yesterday, I knew Scottie was going to go out there and put a good round together.”

11th the only blemish in his final round. He has Danish blood with his grandfather born in that European country. “I expected to play well, but I don’t think I expected quite this well. I don’t know what’s going on over here, but maybe my European blood in me a little bit has come to life,” he said. He does not, however, speak the language. “My dad’s got good Danish. I’ve got zero,” he said. “I’ve been to Denmark, though, I can say that.” – Reuters

Gotterup, the world No. 49, won the previous week’s Scottish Open before shooting rounds of 72, 65, 68 and 67 at Royal Portrush to finish third. “I really did everything well, and I was really proud of how I started. I felt like I had a good head on my shoulders all day and really was trying to focus on being present in my round.” Gotterup, 26, made three birdies on his front nine and two more after the turn, a bogey on the

Scheffler failed to get out of a bunker on the eighth hole and racked up only his fourth blemish of the tournament while leading by seven shots to give the chasing pack hope. “I saw it briefly, and then I followed it up with a bogey,” Gotterup said. “So that ended pretty quickly. I really wasn’t too worried about it. Like I