Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are the best two golfers on the planet, and they have been for quite some time now.
McIlroy and Scheffler are great friends, and their rivalry is the polar opposite of an acrimonious one.
When the 29-year-old from Dallas won his first ever PGA Tour title in February 2022, the Northern Irishman already had 20 victories to his name, including four major championships.
However, just four years later, Scottie Scheffler now has 20 PGA Tour wins of his own, including four majors.
Rory McIlroy has, of course, stretched his tallies to 30 PGA Tour titles and six majors, and has now completed the career Grand Slam as well.
Scheffler and McIlroy are two of the hardest workers in the professional game, in every single department, on and off the golf course.
No other golfer has been close to the levels that the world numbers one and two have produced over the past four years.
The only thing we’re missing is a showdown between McIlroy and Scheffler in the final group of a major championship on a Sunday.
What Rory McIlroy admires about Scottie Scheffler
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis was a guest on The 5 Clubs Podcast on Monday, and he discussed a variety of topics ahead of the U.S. Open.
Lewis responded when asked whether McIlroy and Scheffler would relish a final round pairing with one another on Sunday at Shinnecock.
“They would both love it,“ he said.
“They respect each other, and they are friends.
“They admire each other so much. Rory, specifically about what Scottie has been able to do in this short period of time, which took him, you know, a decade plus to do.
“And he really appreciates Scottie’s attitude, his humility, and his competitiveness and his fire.
“They kind of mirror each other, from a personality perspective, a little bit. I mean, they’re not perfect matches, but they are grounded. They are sincere people, and they are highly motivated to beat the best, and they consider the other the best.
“So I think if they happen to be in the mix, battling each other on the back 9 Sunday here at this cathedral, boom, bam, the ratings are going to be fantastic.“
Brandel Chamblee on who’s better out of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy
Last month, Brandel Chamblee made it very clear why Scheffler is a better golfer than McIlroy.
“It’s not an opinion. There’s 20 years of data for Rory, and there’s sneaking up on 10 for Scottie,“ Chamblee said.
“Look, Rory’s gonna go down as one of the greatest players of all time. So this speaks to how unbelievably talented Scottie is.
“The best, if you cherry-pick the very best year, from, you know, choose whatever you want. Whatever metric you want.
“Strokes gained total or scoring average. But if we go scoring average, the best year Rory’s ever had, in terms of scoring average, is 2022, he averaged 68.6 and change.
“Scottie, who’s not had nearly as many years on the Tour, last year, he averaged 68.1. So that is a half a shot better, a round.
“What Rory has never done is lead the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach. He has finished second once. That was the Tiger Woods back in 2012.
“But Scottie has led strokes gained approach for the last three years.
“Rory has never led the PGA Tour in greens in regulation. Never.
“Scottie, this is his third year to lead it. He’s leading it again this year.
“Scottie has won the low scoring average three years in a row. Rory never did that.
“So, you know, whatever metric you want to use, the best Rory has ever played over the course of a year, he’s not even close to what Scottie did last year.
“Scottie is demonstrably better than Rory’s cherry-picked best year in almost 20 years.
“That’s not a knock on Rory. Good gracious, 68.6. You know who averaged lower than that before Scottie came along? Just Tiger.
“It was Tiger, then Rory, and then Scottie came along.“
