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Scottie Scheffler settled, settled and settled until he surged through the finish line of his opening 18 holes at the 2025 Open Championship. Signing for a first-round 68 to position himself one shot behind the early co-leaders of Matt Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li and Jacob Skov Olesen, the world No. 1 pushed his way up the peloton thanks to two birdies in his final three holes to come in at 3 under for his day.

If Scheffler's T4 position holds, it will represent the world No. 1's best yet at The Open after the initial refrain. Scheffler has finished inside the top 25 of all four his Open appearances -- including a top-10 effort last year at Royal Troon -- but never has he been this big a threat this early in the championship.

The round began how many of Scheffler's do. A nice approach into the par-3 3rd set up his first birdie of the morning before he took advantage of the par-5 7th, one of just four holes yielding an under-par scoring average in Round 1. Despite struggling with a scratchy driver, the Texan connected on six of his first seven greens in regulation. His putter cooperated as well as he gained more than two strokes on the field with the wand in hand by day's end.

"Different greens, different surface. These greens, it's just different. I don't know how you want me to elaborate on that," Scheffler said. "Definitely a bit smoother, but putting is one of those deals where, especially when there's a little bit of activity on the greens, you can hit a lot of good putts that don't go in. I'm trying to do my best to be perfect every week, but some weeks the putts just aren't going in and did a good job battling last week to finish top 10."

This waywardness would catch up with the three-time major champion, however. A pair of dropped shots on Nos. 9 and 11 sandwiched a birdie on the par-4 10th. An inaccurate tee shot handcuffed Scheffler on the next and forced him to play up the par-5 12th in a more conservative manner than he wished.

Still in red figures with the final third of the golf course in front of him, Scheffler summoned a different gear to pull him right in the thick of things. Three missed greens in regulation came on Nos. 13-15, but they were accompanied with three straight pars including 10-foot save on No. 14 which was cause for a fist pump from the right hand of Scheffler.

A laser-like approach into the difficult par-3 16th came calling soon after and led to one of just six birdies from the first 23 games that came through. Now running down hill, Scheffler found his stride with his scoring clubs and produced another pearl on his penultimate hole to pencil another circle on his scorecard.

One last chance arrived at the final hole but fell just wide as Scheffler signed for a 68. Amid a day that featured just about everything weather-wise -- spells of heavy rain, serious winds, calm periods and more -- Scheffler's stoicism shined through.

"Wind is something that obviously makes links golf challenging, but the rain adds a whole new element to it, especially when you're hitting the tee balls," Scheffler said. "You get a little moisture between the club face and the ball, especially with the longer clubs and the woods, and it can be pretty challenging."

Now, he'll kick his feet up and watch what his counterparts can do in the afternoon as Royal Portrush continues to pester the world's best. With an early scoring average just around 73.50, the par 71 is holding its own. The good news for Scheffler -- and perhaps some more bad news for others? He's holding his own, too.