2023 British Open: It would take ‘a hurricane’ for Scottie Scheffler to have a chance at The Open

After just skimming the cut line, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished his third round with a 1-over 72 to drop to 4 over at The Open, 14 shots off the lead when he signed his scorecard.

Following the round, Scheffler chatted with the media and, this is no joke, was asked about his chances of winning on Sunday. 

“Win? Unless a hurricane happens this afternoon,” Scheffler said with a laugh. “A hurricane and then some I think is what it’s going to take for me.”

The U.K. has been hit with a hurricane before, notably The Great Storm that landed in England in 1987. Unfortunately for Scheffler, Saturday afternoon was cool and calm and ripe for scoring.

Full-field scores from the 151st Open Championship

Scheffler did a little bit of scoring in the morning, with four birdies. But he also had five bogeys and had an unusual occurrence on the fifth hole.

“Yeah, that was strange. I was standing over my shot and they had the TV going full volume over there and it was commentating my shot. So I heard my name in the distance and I was like, all right, I’ve got to back off,” Scheffler said. “I’ve never heard a distraction like that before. Usually something that loud it’s music or something. Hopefully they turn that down as the leaders get back there.

“I’ve never been so distracted by something like that before. It was pretty funny, just hearing your own name on the coverage. It was a weird moment for sure.”

There was also a moment on the 18th tee when Scheffler went to hit his tee shots but fans were allowed to walk across the fairway. Scheffler was ready to strike, so, might as well go for it?

“I hit it over them,” he said. “Yeah, there was only a few people crossing and I didn’t know when they were going to stop, if there was anybody on the green. I knew I was hitting it over them, so I was just trying to get it up there somewhere before it started raining again.”

It was an eventful third round for Scheffler. Just not eventful enough to get him into contention.