Rory McIlroy has been told that he has still got work to do to catch up with Scottie Scheffler, despite winning The Masters for a second consecutive year this past week.
McIlroy was at least tied for the lead after each round at Augusta National. The Northern Irishman ended up winning by one shot over Scheffler to secure his sixth major title.
Scheffler remains well out in front at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings. But McIlroy has closed the gap with his second Masters title.
Rory McIlroy is still adrift of Scottie Scheffler despite Masters win
This year’s Masters was the first time since the 2002 US Open that the top two players in the world have finished first and second in a major.
McIlroy and Scheffler have also won four of the last five Masters, and four of the last five majors between them. With that, it is inevitable that fans will start dreaming of further battles between the pair on the biggest stages.
Interestingly, when asked about the rivalry between the two, Andrew Coltart told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast that McIlroy has needed to do a lot more.
“No, Scottie has separated himself from the rest. We’ve been waiting for Rory to step up and he’s a long way away from it,” he said.
“Scottie’s been world number one for 152 consecutive weeks now. There needs to be a jostling of positions for it to be called a rivalry. He’s separated himself from the pack in the last couple of years, and it’s been really disappointing from Rory’s point of view that he’s not been able to close the gap, get the gap close and really get in there. Hopefully that’s about to change.
“Hopefully that gap is going to decrease and they are going to start jostling for that number one position. I don’t believe Rory’s happy being number two.”
Where Rory McIlroy’s latest win ranks among his major victories
While McIlroy did wobble over the weekend at Augusta National, it was remarkable just how comfortable his victory this year was in comparison with 12 months ago.
It was particularly impressive because McIlroy seemed to be nowhere near his best. McIlroy became the first Masters champion to lose strokes to the field over the weekend.
But Coltart suggested that his performance makes this past week potentially his greatest major victory.
“I do think, and this was great, all his majors he’s won playing well. This to me was a much better performance because you can’t have your A game all the time, and he did with his B game, not being detrimental to anybody else in the field, this to me was one of his best ever major wins because he managed his game a hell of a lot better,” he said.
McIlroy needed some time to reset after his win at Augusta National this time last year. It knocked him off his stride for several months, it seemed.
This year saw McIlroy provide a glimpse of what could be to come now that he has removed the burden of trying to complete the Career Grand Slam and win a first major in more than a decade.
It is going to be fascinating to see what he can now go on to achieve.
