Portrash, Northern Ireland – Scotty chefler Standing in the middle of the 18th Fairway and looked at the green color. As he was waiting for the group in front of him, to finish, a giant cloud behind the Grandstands was playing the horrific shadow of gray. A hole earlier, the chefler was washed with sunlight and implicated with a rainbow. Now, the sun had gone and it seemed that more rain could come.
This was the kind of day in Northern Ireland at the open championship.
“When we were closing, what weather forecast you saw, depending on it, it was going to tell you something different,” said the chefler. “It was a super sunny when we were on the driving range, I am out of the small sleeve, it’s hot. Then we reach the first hole, it is still sunny. Then suddenly, you look around and it is super dark and it starts rain.
Through pouring rain, wind or sunlight, the chefters were shocked. He bird the first hole under circumstances – a forerunner of what was about to come.
During the afternoon, the best player in the world did what he has done many times: made his victory feel indispensable. In his second spin around the portrash, the Sheffer continued to lead the ground in the approach and went to shoot more than 132 feet, Tally eight broadies and shoots and felt like an easy 64 to take a 36-hole lead on 10-inwards.
“I felt as if I hit some more fair than yesterday,” Sheffler said clearly. “Hit some very good iron shots, and some were able to pierce the put.”
Such an understanding, the nature of nature has become common for the performance of Shefler. This is why the best and most honest assessment of the greatness of the chefler can often be found with him not with him who are trying to defeat him.
On Friday, when a reporter prepared a question Shane loriWho played with the chefler, about being on the edge of the dispute, Lori Chakli.
He said, “There are no eight shots behind the Scotty Sheffeler the way he is playing.”
earlier in the day, Rory McLeroy In his second round ended at 3-under and created a point to say that he was only five behind the leaders who were at that time, Brian Harman And Hotong Lee 8-on under.
It’s like a shot Matte fitzpatricThere is a different experience for any deficit against seven shots such as McLero or anything in the middle, especially when he is not only excellent in his normal superpower (he is the number 1 in the strokes: approach: approach), but is tapped into a new with his vessel (it is number 2 in strokes).
“He is an extraordinary player. He is World No. 1,” said Fitzpatrick, who will be a chefler player on Saturday, on Saturday. “We are watching stuff like Tiger.”
Asked what it feels that it is in dispute, Fitzpatrick felt before feeling that the man he is struggling with is now used for this sensation.
He laughed “It should be fantastic for Scoty.”
Even if the chefler may feel unavoidable, it is still open, and there is something different about leading on such courses that require something beyond target practice.
Here, professional golf is in its most inclusive. Here, the ball rolls, the bunkers swallow, crosswinds are confused and the potential lies terrorize. The formula of success may be simple in theory, but can be endless complex in execution. The distance is no longer-all and the end; There is a strategy. How far a player can hit the ball, it is not an indication of how well a player can do in a given tournament, but only the most important end is a means of the most important end: get the ball in the hole.
Just take a look at Harman. While a player like Fitzpatrick has created a name to achieve speed training and distance despite his modest frame, Georgia is a 5 -foot -7 standing, it hits a distance of about 275 yards from T and was able to win the 2023 open championship in Royal Liverpool, just putting the ball in front of him.
Harman is back, and this time he is coming to another open with the same recipe.
“I feel really comfortable here,” said Harman. “I think such places force you to be a little more creative. It is not so much of an air attack. Possibly 10 different types of clubs, iron, drivers, woods you can kill with tea. There are different ways to attack green, and there is almost a hill that is coming in green. This is your own way.”
Bingo
In addition to the chefler, which is getting even more than a continuous appearance, no such size-fit-all approach to this type of, this type of tournament seems to be. See bus leaderboard: both Mcilroy and 52 year old Lee Westwood The top 10 are outside, seven shots behind the chefler. One has struggled to hit the Fairway, the other has hit the most fair in the field so far, even if he cannot almost kill it as his rivals.
Li (8-under) has a travelman of the DP World Tour and two DP World Tour Graduates who share one last name and have the ability to be stars in Nikolai Hodgard (4-under) and his brother Rasamsams (5-under). Both are also within the top 10.
there is Tierel hatanWho is contesting elections in the US Open, and Tony FinauThose who have not won a PGA tour event in two years and have missed out on cutting the last two open championships. And then, there is fitzpatrick, which, on paper, can be the biggest danger in keeping the chefler away from the clarity jug.
“I felt that every aspect of my game was on today,” Fitzpatrick said, who won 2023 US Open in Brookline.
Of course, the elite ballsticking is the bedock on which any winning bid will be done on the portrash – just look at the fact that Robert McIntire And Harris English The top 10 are also inside. But the reason for this is that this Schfler cannot stop a case for 36 holes, which is not so much about who is to surround him, but what can do for a player more about this tournament.
Trouble is around every nook. Here a pot bunker, out of the border there, or mening gors that often look close to fairways and greens. As the chefler experienced on Friday, the weather forecast is an estimated game, and stepping for any tea, you never know what kind of wind or rain you are going to achieve. You do not even know which type of winning link will be crowned. Harman was not expected to win in 2023.
“I think there is pressure for him to win a golf tournament,” said Fitzpatrick. “I wouldn’t say that I feel the necessary pressure. He is expected to go out and dominate.”
Fitzpatrick is correct. But even though the chefler will be pursued to start from several Saturdays, his biggest rival can be the tournament. It is a key that he has performed the worst in his career, speaking relatively, and due to its style, it is also the one that will probably be the most difficult.
Everyone’s eyes will be on the chefler, which will once again push the tiger comparison, if he hangs for victory. The last player to win an open with a 36-Hole lead was Woods in 2006. At the time, Woods, like Skafler, was the number 1 player in the world; At that time, Woods also found unavoidable.
“We will see what the weekend brings,” said Fitzpatrick. “There is still a hell of a long way,”
