PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND | Were it not for Scottie Scheffler, Harris English could have two major championship trophies this year.
English finished second to Scheffler at the PGA Championship in May and again Sunday at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Scheffler won the PGA by five strokes and the Open Championship by four but English likely cemented his place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team with his two runner-up finishes.
“Losing to Scottie twice in two majors, the only guy to beat me at the PGA and this week, I’m playing some good golf. Just need to clean it up a little bit,” said English, whose final-round 66 left him at 13-under-par 271.
English said he set two goals for himself in 2025 – to qualify for the Tour Championship, which he will do, and to make the Ryder Cup team, which seems a certainty now.
Starting the final round six strokes behind Scheffler, English tempered his expectations about winning but did not abandon hope.
“Even though winning today was probably not attainable unless I shot 9-under, I felt like I needed a really good round and wanted to play well in the Open Championship and give myself a run,” English said.
“I think my best finish was [T15] in this tournament coming into this year, so I knew I could play better than that and wanted to play better than that. It was awesome to finish like that.”
English emerged from a crowd of players behind Scheffler over the closing holes. An eagle at the par-5 12th kick-started his closing burst that included birdies at 16 and 17 to leave him one clear of third-place Chris Gotterup.
With a victory a week earlier at the Genesis Scottish Open followed by his performance in the Open Championship, Gotterup is on a roll that has pushed him into Ryder Cup consideration.
He missed eight cuts in 11 starts during the early part of the season before finding what was missing. For a moment, Gotterup was within four strokes of Scheffler as they made the turn but the margin quickly went back to six strokes early in the final nine.
“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,” said Gotterup, who has Danish relatives.
While happy with his own performance, English left Portrush impressed by Gotterup’s run through links golf.
“He was awesome. Obviously what he did last week was awesome to see, going toe-to-toe with Rory at the Scottish Open, and I think this is his first time playing links golf. It’s his first Open Championship,” English said.
“Obviously his ball flight suits this place. He can flight it, he can smash it. So it’s awesome. I’ve played in, I don’t know, nine or 10 of these and finished [15th], and for him to [in his] first one finish third is pretty incredible. Got a heck of a game, and I know the best is in front of him. I don’t know why it took him so long to play well out here.”
Ron Green Jr.