World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler isn’t intimidated by playing links golf this week at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

He doesn’t care that he’s the favorite and won’t dwell on it if he doesn’t walk away with his fourth major championship this week. Or if he does happen to lift the Claret Jug on Sunday afternoon.

What really matters to him, what really fulfills him, he told reporters Tuesday, is doing the right thing for his family.

“Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son,” Scheffler said. “That’s why I talk about family being my priority because it really is. I’m blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that’s going to be the last day that I play out here for a living.

“This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That’s why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me? Because I’d much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that’s what’s more important to me.”

Scheffler has 16 PGA Tour wins, including three this season. He won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in May to go with his two Masters championships. And he appreciates those wins but still struggles with finding the lasting satisfaction in all of it.

“That’s something that I wrestle with on a daily basis,” Scheffler said. “It’s like showing up at the Masters every year; it’s like why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly? I don’t know because, if I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes.”

Still, the competitive fire is stirring in Scheffler, 29, this week at the Open, which begins Thursday. He practiced Monday at Royal Portrush and walked away with an assessment that many competitors — especially his fellow Americans unaccustomed to the links — probably don’t share.

“Golf course is good. It’s in really good shape,” he said. “Seems like a fun place to play.”

While others are worrying about trajectory and putting spin on the ball, Scheffler is less scientific in his approach to the links course.

“I just try to have a picture of what type of shot I want to hit and match the club to that. There’s not a lot of thought that goes into it for me; it’s more just getting a picture of what I think is correct and making sure it’s not too far off with my caddie Ted (Scott), and then we go from there and I try and hit the shot,” he said.

Scheffler has limited experience on the links courses but does not feel overmatched.

“I think it fits my strengths because I like to do things very creatively, and I think out here you kind of have to,” he said. “I think each year we come over, I start learning a bit more and more.”

He continued: “There’s a lot of different shots you have to play. It’s an interesting golf course, and from what I’ve seen, it seems to be really fun to play and very fair.”

And at this stage of his career, fun and family are everything for Scheffler. Even if the fun of winning doesn’t stick with him very long.

“If I come in second this week or if I finish dead last, no matter what happens, we’re always on to the next week. That’s one of the beautiful things about golf, and it’s also one of the frustrating things because you can have such great accomplishments, but the show goes on. That’s just how it is,” he said.

“It’s great to win tournaments. It’s a lot of fun. Sometimes the feeling only lasts about two minutes, it seems like, when you’re celebrating, and then it’s like, OK, now you’ve got to go do all this other stuff, which is great, but sometimes the feeling of winning only lasts a few seconds. It’s pretty exciting and fun, but it just doesn’t last that long.”

–Field Level Media

Four birdies in his final eight holes swept Xander Schauffele to a two-shot victory in The Open Championship last year at Royal Troon in Scotland.

The World No. 3 hopes to catch a similar wave as he attempts to defend the Claret Jug this week at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

“There’s typically a good wave and a bad wave in an Open Championship,” Schauffele said Tuesday. “You just keep your fingers crossed that you’re in the good wave and try and play well. If you’re not, fight for your life and make the cut and then try and do something on the weekend.”

No golfer has won back-to-back Opens since Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (2007-08) did it right after Tiger Woods (2005-06).

Schauffele, 31, dealt with a rib injury earlier this year and has yet to win a tournament this season after collecting his first two major victories last year at the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the Open. He matched his best finish of the season last week with a T8 at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Although he’s had success with links-style golf, he admits he still has a lot to learn.

“I think even from last week to this week, we actually have divots flying this week. Last week was ball mark-less and divot-less,” Schauffele said.

“Just learning how the ball reacts on certain grass, if it’s going to jump or not, when you’re sitting in like a fescue bush or weed, how that’s going to come out, how much it’s going to grab your club. There’s so many things you still learn on the way.

“More of it’s just the mentality. I think, when you say links golf, it comes with weather, and when you play in bad weather, you have to have a good attitude.”

Schauffele played well at the first three majors this year, tying for eighth at the Masters, for 28th at the PGA and for 12th place at the U.S. Open.

He tied for 41st the last time the Open was played at Royal Portrush in 2019.

“Coming here, I feel like I’m trying to relearn this golf course, get comfortable with certain sight lines, some blind tee shots,” he said.

“I think, if I can get myself in the mix is when I think I would have an advantage. That’s where my biggest edge would be. I can lean on experience at other points in time, but I think the most fun and the biggest advantage I would have is coming down the stretch if I can get close to that lead.

Schauffele is paired with Spain’s Jon Rahm and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun for the first two rounds.

–Field Level Media

Jon Rahm knows it has been 37 years since a Spaniard won The Open Championship, when Seve Ballesteros lifted his third Claret Jug in 1988.

Rahm has had several close calls, with ties for second in 2023, third in 2021 and seventh last year. He also finished T11 the last time it was played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in 2019.

“I can’t really give you an answer why (it has been so long),” Rahm said Tuesday as he prepares for the start of the 153rd Open on Thursday.

“The way Seve played, it’s a bit of a different way to play on links courses. I think one of the reasons he was so loved in Great Britain and Ireland, because I don’t think anybody conceived that that was the way to play links golf — just hit driver everywhere and somehow find a way to put it on the green and chip and putt. It was not normal, which is a testament to how good of a golfer he was.”

Countrymen Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia made strong runs at The Open Championship. Olazabal twice finished third and Garcia twice finished second.

“I think Sergio and I are obviously more known for being ball strikers,” Rahm said. “Ollie, besides the driver, everything else was outstanding, one of the best iron players ever. Incredible golf game, both Ollie and Sergio; it’s just never easy to win an Open.”

Rahm, 30, returns to Royal Portrush in top form, having finished in the top 15 at all three majors so far and coming off a runner-up showing last week at the LIV Golf Andalucia event in his home country.

Rahm played through blustery conditions at Real Club Valderrama and carded a 6-under 65 on Sunday to finish one stroke behind winner Talor Gooch.

“We had quite a bit of wind, and that’s always going to be a very hopeful week to get ready for (the Open),” Rahm said. “The other thing Valderrama does, it’s challenging. Every golf shot you hit there, it’s very little margin of error, so it does prep you mentally to get ready for a challenge that a major can be. Not to the fullest, but it’s challenging enough to where you have to think about it quite a bit. With the wind obviously there’s differences, but in those two aspects it helps.”

Rahm has enjoyed success in Ireland, including his first title on the European Tour at the Irish Open in 2017, which he won again two years later.

“From what I’ve played in Ireland, I think maybe the designs — or I really don’t know how to explain it best, but it just seems they use the contours in different ways,” the two-time major winner said. “All the courses seem to be in a way where there’s a few more dunes.”

Rahm is paired with defending champion Xander Schauffele and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun for the first two rounds.

–Field Level Media

The 153rd Open Championship begins at 1:35 a.m. ET Thursday morning at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Below are the scheduled pairings for the opening round and viewing options.

Thursday’s featured groups
(All times ET)
4:58 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Jon Rahm
5:09 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
9:48 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose
9:59 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland
10:10 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood

First round tee times
(All times ET; (a) amateur)
1:35 a.m. — Padraig Harrington, Nicolai Hojgaard, Tom McKibbin
1:46 a.m. — Louis Oosthuizen, Guido Migliozzi, K.J. Choi
1:57 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Marco Penge, Justin Hastings (a)

2:08 a.m. — Jason Day, Taylor Pendrith, Jacob Skov Olesen
2:19 a.m. — Phil Mickelson, Daniel van Tonder, Ryan Peake
2:30 a.m. — Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An, Niklas Norgaard
2:41 a.m. — Jordan Smith, Haotong Li, Dustin Johnson
2:52 a.m. — Darren Clarke, Davis Riley, Lucas Herbert

3:03 a.m. — Kevin Yu, Julien Guerrier, Mikiya Akutsu
3:14 a.m. — Thomas Detry, Chris Gotterup, Lee Westwood
3:25 a.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, Mackenzie Hughes
3:36 a.m. — Thorbjorn Olesen, Matthew Jordan, Filip Jakubcik (a)
3:47 a.m. — Henrik Stenson, Stephan Jaeger, Sebastian Soderberg

4:03 a.m. — Kristoffer Reitan, Martin Couvra, Adrien Saddier
4:14 a.m. — Takumi Kanaya, Justin Walters, Bryan Newman (a)
4:25 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Fox, Matt Fitzpatrick
4:36 a.m. — Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Akshay Bhatia
4:47 a.m. — Sam Burns, Aldrich Potgieter, Brooks Koepka
4:58 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Jon Rahm

5:09 a.m. — Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler
5:20 a.m. — Corey Conners, Wyndham Clark, Tom Hoge
5:31 a.m. — Denny McCarthy, Nico Echavarria, Patrick Reed
5:42 a.m. — Matt Schmid, Ryggs Johnston, Richard Teder (a)
5:53 a.m. — Dylan Naidoo, Darren Fichardt, John Axelsen

6:04 a.m. — Justin Suh, Oliver Lindell, Jesper Sandborg
6:15 a.m. — Sadom Kaewkanjana, Riki Kawamoto, Sampson Zheng
6:26 a.m. — Stewart Cink, Matteo Manassero, Marc Leishman
6:47 a.m. — Francesco Molinari, Jesper Svensson, Connor Graham (a)
6:58 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Daniel Hillier, Daniel Brown

7:09 a.m. — Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler, Ethan Fang (a)
7:20 a.m. — Laurie Canter, Elvis Smylie, Sergio Garcia
7:31 a.m. — Andrew Novak, Matthieu Pavpn, Matt Wallace
7:42 a.m. — Davis Thompson, Dean Burmester, Rikuya Hoshino
7:53 a.m. — Si Woo Kim, Shugo Imahira, Sebastian Cave (a)

8:04 a.m. — Michael Kim, Bud Cauley, John Parry
8:15 a.m. — Matt McCarty, Shaun Norris, Angel Hidalgo
8:26 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Daniel Berger
8:37 a.m. — Rasmus Hojgaard, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Romain Langasque
8:48 a.m. — Aaron Rai, Sahith Theegala, Harry Hall

9:04 a.m. — Justin Leonard, Thriston Lawrence, Antoine Rozner
9:15 a.m. — J.T. Poston, Chris Kirk, Carlos Ortiz
9:26 a.m. — Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann
9:37 a.m. — Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, Min Woo Lee
9:48 a.m. — Robert MacIntyre, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose
9:59 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland

10:10 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
10:21 a.m. — Harris English, Nick Taylor, Tony Finau
10:32 a.m. — Lucas Glover, Johnattan Vegas, Tom Kim
10:43 a.m. — Brian Campbell, John Catlin, Frazer Jones (a)
10:54 a.m. — Nathan Kimsey, Jason Kokrak, Cameron Adam (a)

11:04 a.m. — Daniel Young, Curtis Luck, Curtis Knipes
11:16 a.m. — Younghan Song, George Bloor, O.J. Farrell

How to watch The Open Championship
(All times ET)
1:30-4 a.m.: Stream on Peacock
4 a.m-3:30 p.m.: USA Network, NBC Sports app, Peacock, Fubo
3:30-6 p.m.: Golf Channel

–Field Level Media