Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau went out on Friday at the 2026 Open Championship with the same aim: make up ground fast. At Royal Birkdale, though, the day was not just about climbing the board. It was cut day, and the field was being narrowed in real time.
Scheffler opened his second round by hitting his tee shot on the 1st hole during the 154th Open championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in England on July 17, 2026. Rory McIlroy was also in action on the 18th hole, another sign that the second round was moving toward its first hard conclusion of the week.
That is why the round drew so much attention. The Open Championship began with 156 golfers, but only the top 70 and ties were set to stay for the weekend. For players near the edge, every shot carried double weight: a chance to move up, and a chance simply to keep playing.
That pressure sat beneath the cleaner storyline around Scheffler and DeChambeau. Both are among the world’s best golfers, and both started the day trying to gain ground on the leaderboard. But in a major championship, cut day changes the math. A move up the standings matters only if it comes before the field is trimmed.
Royal Birkdale has offered no room for drift. The second round was the checkpoint, and it drew a line through the week’s early field. Players who survived the cut moved on to the weekend. Players who did not were done, no matter how much promise they had shown in the first two rounds.
For Scheffler, the opening shot on the 1st hole was the start of a round that had to do more than chase leaders. It had to secure his place for the days that follow. That is the real shape of Friday at the Open: a leaderboard battle playing out at the same time as the championship decides who gets to stay in it.
