The Open: Scottie Scheffler overcomes numerous challenges, including caddie illness

Ted Scott struggled all day on Friday, laboring around Royal Troon with a nasty stomach bug. He had to lie down multiple times throughout the day, proof that this illness had gotten the best of him.

But on a challenging day like Friday, every player in the field—even top-ranked Scottie Scheffler—needed their right-hand man to help figure out wind direction, wind speed, putting reads, and plenty more. With the blowing as hard as 30 miles per hour at times, Royal Troon quickly turned into Royal Trouble. Players dropped down The Open Championship leaderboard faster than the blink of an eye. And yet, Scheffler carded a 1-under 70 for the second straight day as he sits five behind Shane Lowry through 36 holes.

“I think the golf course was more challenging today than yesterday,” Scheffler said.

“I’m not sure what the scores say, but it definitely felt to be a bit more challenging.”

Not only did Scheffler feel the wind more, but he also felt for his trusted confidante.

“He had a bit of food poisoning last night—well, it could have been food poisoning, could be some sort of stomach bug—but he seemed to feel better as the day went on. The doctor here took good care of him. But he did not sleep very much last night.” Scheffler said of Scott.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

“We didn’t know if he was going to be able to go this morning, but he fought it out. You saw him lying down probably quite a bit out there, which was pretty funny. But it’s just one of those deals; you’re used to him being in one position, standing there by the bag, and then all of a sudden, on No. 9 today, he was literally sitting on the 10th tee for like 10 minutes while we were putting out over there. I didn’t even see him, which was a bit unusual.”

Scott continued to fight despite his uneasiness. Scheffler added that he did a “great job,” which is a testament to Scott’s pedigree and talent.

But Scheffler has more talent than any other player in the world, even though his putter has sometimes let him down. It certainly did on Thursday, as he burned numerous edges. Yet Friday was much different, as Scheffler ranked ninth among the field in strokes gained putting. The World No. 1 rolled the rock beautifully, which should intimidate the rest of the field.

Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images

“I feel like I holed a good amount of putts today. I’d be interested to see what the statistics are because I felt like I holed a good amount of putts. I hit a lot of good ones, some up around the cup. It can be really challenging with how windy it is out there to hole a bunch of putts,” Scheffler said.

So I’d be interested to see what the stats say after today because yesterday was one of those days where it felt like nothing could fall. I think I was down maybe half a shot, which I would have imagined when I walked off the course would have been worse than that. So today, being able to hole a few, especially some important ones on the back nine, for par always feels good, keeping the momentum.”

Scheffler holed plenty of putts on the back nine, starting with a 9-footer for par on the 10th hole. He then rolled in a 35-footer for birdie on the par-3 14th and then made a 15-foot putt to save par on the 17th, the other par-3 on the back nine.

He, unfortunately, closed with a bogey after finding a pot bunker off the tee to drop back to 2-under. Scheffler sits in a tie for fourth with Dean Burmester and Billy Horschel, but with more weather looming, anything can happen. Nobody should doubt Scheffler, especially considering his putter is getting hot, and Scott’s health is improving.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.