The Open 2025: sensational second-round 64 gives Scheffler outright lead – live reaction
Thank you from myself and Scott for following the second round with us.We’re set for a superb weekend.Early on Saturday afternoon, the crowds will seek to inspire magic from Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy (albeit Lowry did receive a two shot penalty after his round).Tyrrell Hatton and Robert MacIntyre will have high hopes.Matt Fitzpatrick will look to snipe at the leader.
And you’ll be in the very safe hands of Scott for the final two days of major championship action in 2025!Sean Ingle on Tyrrell Hatton’s challenge.Andy Bull on Robert MacIntyre and Bryson DeChambeau.I’ve just been asking BBC Radio’s on-course reporter Alistair Bruce-Ball what it was like out there today.I suggested the squalls were a bit like being on the high seas.“Exactly,” he said.
“In fact, you could smell the salt,”“I did a lot of things well,” says Scottie Scheffler, as understated as ever,This week his Strokes Gained rankings are: Off the Tee 93rd Approach 1st Around the Greens 100th Putting 2ndWith rounds of 72-78 the 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith has completed a miserable year of major championship golf,In fact, he’s completed a grand slam of missed cuts - and he didn’t play in the weekend at last year’s Open either,Significant names that have missed the cut:+2 Joaquin Niemann, Jason Day, Ryan Fox +3 Patrick Cantlay +4 Cameron Young +5 Min Woo Lee +7 Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa +8 Cameron Smith +9 Adam ScottBy the way, not everyone is finished today.
In fact, the Finn Oliver Lindell is -3 for the tournament so could still get himself a late tee time tomorrow.He has three holes to play.The R&A are also planning to look into the incident with Shane Lowry and his club touching and moving his ball.Okay, then: what is Scottie Scheffler’s record with a solo halfway lead?Well, there’s a bit of hope for the field.He’s only 3-for-6 at winning when ahead at this point.
The only time it happened in a major, however, was in his first Masters triumph in 2022.(He’s also 6-for-18 at winning with solo and shared leads combined.)One of the great mysteries of Scottie Scheffler’s success is that no-one knows how to explain it.On Sky Sports Wayne Riley and Iona Stephen are trying, but it’s as hard to establish the secret of his brilliance as it is to beat him.Riley says that the wind is expected to be no more than 6mph tomorrow and so: “I see Scheffler getting to -20 this weekend.
”Second-placed Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick on his tournament so far:“There’s still a hell of a long way to go.Obviously the aim of the game is to stay in it for as long as possible and hopefully you can pull away right at the death.I’m obviously 50 percent there.We’ll see what the weekend brings.“There’s nothing better than being in contention.
It feels a bit uncomfortable at the time, but that’s what you’re searching for,You want to feel that,It means you’re doing something right for the most part,”His sensational second round of 64 gives the American World No,1 a halfway total of 132 (-10).
-10: Scheffler (F) -9: Fitzpatrick (F), -8: Harman (F), Li (F) -5: R Højgaard (F), Hatton (F), MacIntyre (F), English (F), Gotterup (F) -4: Finau (F), N Højgaard (F) -3: Bradley (F), McIlroy (F), Smith (F), Westwood (F), Burns (F), Lindell (15)Wonderful stuff! The fans in the grandstands rise to mark the arrival of Shane Lowry on the green at 18.He smiles happily at the echoes of 2019.Scottie Scheffler hangs back to allow the Irishman his moment.Lovely touch.Scheffler is also not done! Four front nine birdies, four back nine birdies, one bogey, and he has 15 feet for a final par breaker that would double his halfway lead.
Oh my word: it pulls up inches short.Just a par.Oh no! Jon Rahm has cut a tortured figure in these closing minutes.He did make a birdie at 17, but he missed the green at 18, couldn’t save par and is devastated.He’ll head into the weekend on level-par.
Here’s a fun fact for you.When Old Tom Morris won the 1864 Open he earned £6.Dave Tindall, who helped Scott with the updates yesterday, used the Bank of England inflation calculator to work out how much that is worth today.£660.Liam Carter emails: “Is this over before the weekend?! Scottie Scheffler is a machine.
” Scheffler has played 21 majors since he became a full-time PGA Tour performer,He’s finished top 10 in 15 of them and won three,Yes, Liam! Pretty machine-like,And he’s just thrashed his tee shot at 18 down the middle of the fairway,His fellow pros often talk of the exceptional quality of Scottie Scheffler’s hands*.
And his pitch to the 17th green is a reminder of this.He holds the face open as he digs down into the dirt.It’s not pretty, but my word it is effective.And he holes the 20-foot birdie putt! He’s the new leader.*In the golfing sense rather than the fact that they’re soft or he has good nails.
There’s a little bit of separation at the top of the leaderboard.And the World No.1 has two holes to stretch ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick.-9: Fitzpatrick (F), Scheffler (16) -8: Harman (F), Li (F) -5: R Højgaard (F), Hatton (F), MacIntyre (F), English (F), Gotterup (F)Sensational scenery at Calamity Corner.Shane Lowry has a long birdie putt across the green and the backdrop is just wonderful: the Valley Links course at Royal Portrush, towering dunes, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The putt is a beauty but it hangs on the lip and refuses to drop,No such fears for Scottie Scheffler – he drains an 18-foot look at a two and joins Matt Fitzpatrick on top of the leaderboard,It’s worth having a look at the state of Matt Fitzpatrick’s game coming into this week,He finished fifth in the 2024 Players Championship, but his form descended rapidly thereafter and he missed the cut in the same tournament this year after rounds of 78-72,He was still struggling when he suddenly found something in the PGA Championship.
He was second there at halfway and ended the week eighth.He was eighth again in his penultimate start in the Rocket Classic and he was fourth last week in the Scottish Open.The Englishman hangs tough to drain that 23-foot par putt.His -5 second round of 66 gives him a -9 total of 133.That sets a new clubhouse target and he could become only the second Englishman to hold a halfway lead in the Open in the last 50 years (the other, Nick Faldo, achieved that feat three times).
Matt Fitzpatrick has missed the green at 18 to the left.The scramble in front of him is high tariff, and he’s peering anxiously at the prospect.He’s in a scruffy lie, with a steep slope in front of him and a lot of putting surface to negotiate.It’s not a great shot – he’s got 23-feet for par and to set a new clubhouse target.A little fist-pump from Shane Lowry as he polishes off a birdie at 15 to get to -2 for the week.
He’s working so hard in this round, giving everything to “defend” the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush.The man who is actually defending the Open – Xander Schauffele – is also -2 (in his case through 16).Up ahead, Ryan Fox’s approach to 18 very nearly found the hole for an eagle-2 that would have got him into the weekend.Jon Rahm misses the green at the par-3 16th to the left.He looks bereft and exhausted as he hangs his arm out to the left.
He’s too good not to rediscover his mojo, but he really hasn’t been the proud Basque bear of a golfer we enjoyed watching for a long, long time now,Yikes,Matt Fitzpatrick gives himself a three-foot birdie opportunity at 17 and it horseshoes out,He heads to the final tee trying to forget the frustration,Scottie Scheffler finishes off his birdie at 13.
He’s back to -5 for the round, -8 for the week, and a share of second on the leaderboard.His drive at 14 is classic Scheffler.Aesthetically extraordinary, but on the short grass.His playing partner Shane Lowry has had a frustrating day (which could get worse if that video is reviewed by the referees) but he’s still -1.A good finish and he’s still in this.
Chris Gotterup on his Friday experience shooting 65:“Definitely an interesting day weather-wise.Felt like we played five different winds out there.“Obviously coming off last week’s win I know where my game is at.I know it’s in a good spot.I think it’s one of those things where this is definitely more of a marathon.
”Last week’s Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup has completed a round of 65 to reach the weekend on -5.Scott Scheffler, didn’t break par at 12, but he’s got a good chance coming up at the par-3 13th from about 12 feet.-9: Fitzpatrick (15) -8: Harman (F), Li (F) -7: Scheffler (12) -5: R Højgaard (F), Hatton (F), MacIntyre (F), English (F), Gotterup (F)The media centre has little groups of people congregated around laptops peering at footage of a Shane Lowry address.There is debate over whether the ball moved when he took a practice swing.It’s all a bit like a JFK conspiracy convention forensically analysing the Zapruder film.
Hmm, this one will run a bit, you suspect,Matt Fitzpatrick can’t get up-and-down to save par at the 14th,He drops back to -9 for the week but still leads the championship by one,His drive at 15 finds rough but TV confident that it won’t be too bad a lie,Back at 12 Scottie Scheffler has splashed his approach to the par-5 to the edge of the green.
Two more strokes from there will earn him a par breaker and get him to -8.David Williams emails: “Enjoying your weather forecasting, Matt.Reminiscent of when Michael Fish poo-pooed notions of a storm in 1987 and hours later it ripped up trees all around Wentworth and delayed the World Match Play.”The media centre roof index has hit quiet which has had a disquieting tinnitus-like effect.Lee Westwood’s approach to 18 rattled through the green and got tangled in gnarly grass around a bunker.
He can only bunt it to 27-feet but holes the putt for par.-3 for the week is a fine return to the championship for the 52-year-old.
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