SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER’S FOUR-YEAR run of 78 successive made cuts finally came to an end as the world number one crashed out of the Scottish Open on Friday.

One consolation for Scheffler is that his exit gives him more time to become familiar with the Royal Birkdale course near Liverpool where he will begin the defence of his British Open title, the oldest of golf’s four major championships, next week.

The four-time major winner arrived in North Berwick, near Edinburgh, bidding for a first win on Scottish soil but a second-round 72, two over par, finished a sequence of made cuts that had lasted for 1,428 days.

By contrast, Rory McIlroy posted 66 to retain a share of the lead.

The Holywood native, who became just the sixth player in golf history to complete a career Grand Slam of major titles with victory in the US Masters in April, is tied at the top of the leaderboard with Englishman Jordan Smith – who posted an impressive 63 on Friday – and South Korea’s Tom Kim.

Scheffler bowed out on level par, two strokes shy of the cut. He needed a chip-in birdie on the last to have any hope of reaching the third round, but ended with a bogey instead.

The 30-year-old American’s departure meant he failed to make the weekend of a PGA Tour event – the Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned tournament – for the first time since the 2022 FedEx St Jude Championship.

“A little different to what I was planning,” said Scheffler. “I’ll figure out how to get down to Birkdale and kind of go from there.

“This week I really wanted to play well, and this is a golf course I feel like I can play well on – I just haven’t for some reason.

“It could be one of those things where you just get over jet lag, get used to a new style of golf, and maybe I just haven’t adjusted as quickly, or this golf course just doesn’t suit my eye much,” he added.

Jon Rahm, in his first PGA Tour event outside the majors since his controversial move to LIV in 2023, shot a second-round 65 to get to two under and make the cut, having been five over after 11 holes on Thursday.

Tom McKibbin had earlier leapt into contention with an eagle on the par-five seventh, but three back-nine bogeys saw him slip to a round of 71 and a two-under finish.

Padraig Harrington missed the cut after finishing the day on four over par.

Shane Lowry will also not be playing into the weekend after an even-par finish.

– © AFP 2026

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Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.