What Scottie Scheffler did at The Open leaves stunned Shane Lowry at a loss

Former Open champion Shane Lowry has admitted his admiration for Scottie Scheffler after witnessing his game firsthand at Royal Portrush. Despite Rory McIlroy being the clear crowd favourite in Northern Ireland, it is Scheffler who led the pack at the end of day three.

The American is four shots clear on 14-under-par and eyeing his fourth major title. The 29-year-old has twice won the Masters and emerged victorious at the PGA Championship earlier this year.

Lowry, who clinched The Open title at Portrush in 2019, was grouped with Scheffler for the opening rounds. The world No. 1 carded a solid three-under on the first day, prompting Lowry to marvel at Scheffler's knack for steering clear of trouble on the course even under testing conditions.

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"I think when you're playing golf in this weather, your mechanical thoughts go out the window and you just need to play with feel," Lowry told "I played with the best in the world today, I played with Scottie Scheffler and that's the way he plays golf.

"He gave an exhibition of playing golf today. I was doing my best to keep up with him. It's amazing to actually watch him play the game because he's so impressive with the scores he shoots.

"Even the times he looks like he hits bad shots, they're not actually that bad. It was nice to be out with him today and watch him do that."

Playing alongside Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, Irish golfer Lowry started with one-under on Thursday, making the cut at par, but then dropping to three-over on the third day. Despite his subsequent ups and downs, Lowry shared that the atmosphere within the group was laidback throughout the opening round.

"It was pretty friendly. I get on well with Scottie and Collin," Lowry said. "Obviously, Thursdays are a bit different to Sundays. You're out there for six hours as well so you need to do something!

"You can't just stand there and think to yourself. You need to talk and we had some chats. We talked about all sorts of stuff. It was nice. He's a good player to play with, obviously."

At the top of the leaderboard, Scheffler has been distancing himself from the pack. He notched his best-ever major score with a seven-under on the second day, followed by a stellar bogey-free four-under on Saturday, positioning himself as the frontrunner.

"I made two really important putts and I feel like anytime you can keep a clean card during a major championship, you're gonna be having a pretty good day," Scheffler said after his third round.

"Winning a major championship is not an easy task. I've put myself in a good position. Going into tomorrow, I'm gonna step up on the first tee and try to get the ball in the fairway. When I get to the second shot, try to get that on the green."