A FINAL round that threatened to be a mad dash for the finish line became a stately procession as Xander Schauffele was crowned the new king of the Majors.
At the start of play at Troon, seven players were within a shot of the lead, the most congested leaderboard The Open has witnessed since 1933.
And it was still anyone’s guess after the final group had completed five holes, with three players tied for the lead and another four just one shot back.
So surely the scene was set for one of the most exciting climaxes to an Open in living memory.
Er, no. Schauffele had other ideas, and a bogey-free 65 – the lowest round of the day – saw him pull clear of the chasing pack without seeming to break sweat.
At nine under par, his winning margin over playing partner Justin Rose and 54-hole leader Billy Horschel was only two shots.
That is misleading – the American always seemed to be in total control in the closing stages.
Rose registered the second best score on day – a four under 67 that might have been good enough for victory in most years.
And it might have been a close-run thing if Englanbd’s 2013 US Open champion had not suffered cruel lip-outs at 12 and 13, with putts that looked certain to drop until the damned hole got in the way.
At least his 15-footer for birdie at the last did take the plunge.
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That earned him a share of second place with Horschel, who birdied the final three holes to put a shine on a ragged closing effort.
Rose, 43, said he had gone to bed on Saturday night ‘daring to dream’ that his 4,053-day wait for a second Major would finally be over.
Sadly, dreams do not always come true.
And in reality, the writing was on the wall long before the end – and so was the name on the Claret Jug.
The man engraving the winner’s name on the Claret Jug must have known X marked the spot where he needed to get to work, as Schauffele bagged four birdies in six holes from the eleventh to surge into a three shot lead.. The rest of us certainly did.
It was not Schauffele’s fault that the final hopeless were a bit of an anti-climax.
The X-man has never been the type of golfer who puts the x into exciting.
But by adding the Open crown to his breakthrough victory at the USPGA a couple of months ago, he has made himself the man to beat in the big events.
He will defend his Olympic title in Paris in a couple of week’s time. Anyone want to bet against him doubling up there too?
It is hard to believe Schauffele, 30, was regarded as a nearly man in the Majors before he held off Bryson DeChambeau by a shot at Valhalla two months ago.
He posted 12 top ten finishes without looking like he had the extra oomph needed to get over the line. Not any more.
It did not look like turning into such a comfortable victory as most of the leading contenders did exactly what was required by picking up a few shots on the easy front nine. – with the surprise exception of world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
His double bogey at the ninth – which saw him three-putt from six and a half feet – dropped him to two under par, the same score he started on.
After that, there was no chance of the Masters champion winning a second Major this year. And he had the resigned look of a man who knew it.
His playing partner, England’s Dan Brown, was handed a reality check as he played the same stretch in three over par to drop back to level.
But that was far less of a surprise, considering this was rarified atmosphere for the 272nd best golfer in the world.
No-one played the first nine holes better than Thirston Lawrence, who eventually finished fourth, a shot behind Rose and Horschel.
He was four under for that opening stretch, taking him to seven under for the tournament, and into the outright lead.
But when it came to tackling the tough holes on the way back in, no-one could touch Schauffele, who was a fairly pedestrian two under for his round at the midway point, and five under in all.
The 493 yards 11th and the 480 yards 11th are fearsome par fours where most players would sell their caddies for a couple of pars. Schauffele birdied both of them.
His approach from 172 yards at the 11th, which pulled up just two and a half feet from the flag, may well have been the shot of the week.
It was certainly the pivotal moment of the tournament. Schauffele might as well have taken out a megaphone and yelled out that it was time for one of the big boys to take charge.
He drained a 16-footer for another birdie two holes later, and that birdie was followed by another at the par three 14th – and yet another at the 16th.
After that it was no longer a question of who was going to win, but by how many.
And now we know – Schauffele, by two.
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