​NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — For the first time in nearly four years, Scottie Scheffler will not be around for the weekend. He squandered two crucial chances on the final three holes at the Scottish Open, including a 6-foot par miss that left him with a 2-over 72 and two shots outside the 36-hole cut. “Got off to a poor start and after that, I didn’t really finish it well enough to give myself a lot of looks,” Scheffler said. “That’s how you end up over par.”
Rather than chasing momentum over the weekend at The Renaissance Club, Scheffler was planning an earlier-than-expected departure for Royal Birkdale to prepare for the British Open. He had compiled 78 consecutive cuts dating back to the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, the longest streak on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods posted 142 straight cuts from February 1998 to May 2025. The cut line settled at 2-under 138 as the forecast for stronger afternoon winds never materialized, leaving Scheffler at even-par 140 after an early start. He shifted his focus toward defending his title at the British Open at Royal Birkdale, a links course he has not yet played in competition.
“A little different than I was planning,” Scheffler said. “Figure out how I get down to Birkdale and go from there.” Scheffler’s remarkable cut streak included 25 events without a 36-hole cut, a standard that Tiger Woods exemplified with 31 such tournaments during his own streak. Byron Nelson’s previous record stood at 113 consecutive cuts in an era when players had to finish in the money—usually among the top 20, with exceptions for majors and select other events.
“It’s a little different now with some of the signature events not having cuts,” Scheffler noted. “But I don’t think I finished outside the top 20 or so very often this year. I’m definitely proud of the consistency, and I wish I’d had a couple extra days over the weekend to make up some ground.”
Scheffler began the round three shots behind the leaders. He missed a short par opportunity at No. 11, a 3 1/2-foot try that would have steadied his momentum. On the par-5 12th, a poorly executed chip from high grass to a back pin caught a ridge and rolled into a bunker, yielding back-to-back bogeys and erasing any early chance of a late surge.
After turning at the par-5 first, he managed a lone birdie, draining a 30-foot putt, which was his only birdie on a reachable par-5 on the day. Over the next five holes, he had only one more birdie chance inside 20 feet, leaving limited opportunities to mount a late charge. His best hope came at the par-5 seventh, where Scheffler said a gust of wind left his second shot short of the target and rolling back toward the front, forcing him to settle for par after a neat pitch to seven feet left him with a birdie chance he could not convert.
The decisive moments came with his approach shots and short-game execution, which didn’t align with his typical precision. A wayward tee shot on the eighth found a divot, sending the ball low and right into a pot bunker. He managed to escape with a scramble par after splashing out to 20 feet and holing the subsequent putt, but the damage was already done.
As he left Scotland, Scheffler’s focus shifted to the British Open, where he will attempt to translate his consistency into another major breakthrough. He remains proud of his long-running streak and the steady performances that carried him through so many events this season, even as this weekend’s missteps at the Scottish Open kept him from contending for the title.