Scottie Scheffler Sums Up Royal Troon’s Brutal Back Nine With 7 Words

Scottie Scheffler has put himself in contention to win his second major of the year after firing an even-par 71 in the third round of the 152nd Open Championship on Saturday.

Scheffler, the 2024 Masters champion, currently sits at 2-under par for the tournament heading into Sunday.

He's just two strokes behind leader Billy Horschel (-4).

One of just two players yet to shoot an over-par round at The Open this week, Scheffler opened up about the difficulty of Royal Troon - particularly its brutal inward nine - after his third round on Saturday.

"I can think of a couple days with some crazy high winds that may have been more challenging, but overall the back nine, I think that was probably the hardest nine holes that I'll ever play ," Scheffler said, via CBS Sports .

"I shouldn't say ever, but it's definitely the hardest that I've played to this point."

The back nine at Royal Troon has challenged the sport's best all week with a pair of difficult par-3s and lengthy par-4s becoming tough to reach in two shots due to the wet, windy conditions in Scotland.

Scheffler, the current world No. 1, hit 13-of-14 fairways and 14-of-18 greens in regulation during his third round. For the week, he ranks No. 1 in the field in terms of Strokes Gained on Approach (+8.15).

That's not atypical for Scheffler, though, and neither are his putting stats for the week.

He currently ranks near the bottom of the field in Strokes Gained Putting (114th, -1.61 SG).

Just two strokes off the lead heading into the final round, Scheffler will begin his quest for the Claret Jug at 8:55 a.m. ET on Sunday alongside Daniel Brown.

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