TROON, Scotland (Reuters) – World number one Scottie Scheffler has racked up six wins on the U.S. PGA Tour this season but will need more creative flair to tame the links course hosting this year’s British Open, the American said on Tuesday.
Scheffler skipped last week’s Scottish Open so he could study the layout at Royal Troon, eager to tackle the challenge of the wind-whipped coastal conditions.
“You have to be more creative here. I love that part of it. I feel like, when I do come over here, this is really how golf was intended to be played,” said Scheffler, who won his second Masters green jacket at Augusta this year.
“There’s a lot more opportunity for shot making and being creative around the greens,” he told reporters. “It will definitely be different tactics out here.
“The links golf is obviously different than what we play at home, so getting used to the firmness of the fairways, getting used to the bunkering and the speed of the greens is obviously different as well.”
Scheffler enjoyed his best finish at the year’s final major in 2021, when he tied for eighth, but has failed to crack the top 20 in his last two appearances.
Scheffler, preparing for this year’s Paris Olympics, knows the windy conditions will demand quick thinking.
“Today, we got downwind on a lot of holes on the front nine. You could hit drivers if you wanted to and could hit irons if you wanted to as well. A lot of it is game-time decision based on the wind,” he said.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)
