Augusta, Ga. – The video for a moment looks like a parody “Saturday Night Live”.
Tiger Woods He plays the role of the host. Behind him, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McILroy They have the same Sage Green Nike T -shirt, the same white Nike hat, ready to explain and show how the same long iron shots hit in their different ways as part Video released Taylormade – Club manufacturer who both sponsor them.
McIlroy’s First Swing is a perfect high fading with a 4-gelfet that lands like a feathers and rolls 10 feet from a pin. Scheffler and Woods wonder the shot.
“I just try to do the same as the same,” Scheffler jokes before hitting about 20 feet from the hole. “I had to intervene my little flatter than you, because you hit it further than me.”
As the golf world descends in the first year, where 28 -year -old Scheffler has become a beloved Augusta champion, while McIlroy is trying to avoid playing the role of Sisyphus, again the two best players in the world come to bind competition. In the last calendar year they won combined 10 events. Since 2022, both of them have eight TOP 10 at the main championships.
While Scheffler has two main winnings over this span, McIlroy did not report more. The fact that McIlroy is at the age of 35 is here, in his 17th masters, again near the peak of the world ranking is a proof of his consistency. It is also a reminder of the anvil that it still bears: the main drought that is now heading for its 11th year. Grand Slam Career, which remains unfinished.
Ten years ago, McILroy’s masterpiece had a kind of cadence in 2015 that became known in Augusta: a slow start and a turbulent surface that wasn’t good enough. On Sunday McILroy had a shade of fluorescent green, which resembled a highlighter when he played next to Woods and shot 66-jumped after a low lap of the day finished 12 under the winner, 21 years, 21 years Jordan Spieth. He played his last 45 holes for 15 pod.
When McIlroy greeted the patrons and sighs, CBS ‘Jim Nantz could be heard on the broadcast.
“He will have to wait another year,” Nantz said. Then, after McIlroy’s television conversation before Spieth’s final putt. “(McILroy and Spieth) will be one and two in the world by the end of the day and set up the future, rivalry for sport.”
Fast forward to 2025 and no one plays a better golf than McILroy. While Spieth is no longer his highest competition, Scheffler slipped into this place and has become dominant in the last three years that the whole field has been forced to recognize and praise his game. And McIlroy was motivated – even forced to improve to keep up.
“When Scott had seen what he did … It all inspired us to try to be better,” McIlroy said after winning the players’ championship, his second victory of the season. “I know I have to be better to compete with him.”
“He has a significantly more victory in the tournament than me, has more main victories,” Scheffler told Houstona Open two weeks ago. “When you’re a competitive person like Rory, I think you’re always looking for some source of motivation … especially when you’re older.”
When Scheffler asked about his motivation, he said that his is mostly inner, not paying attention to what other players do, but adheres to the presence and focus on how his competitive spirit manages him.
“Is it strange to me?” Scheffler said that McIlroy found motivation in him. “No, I really don’t think about it.”
Golf is unique in that Bryson Brazambeau It points to Tuesday, facing the course more than you are any particular opponent. Other players would claim to face more than anyone else. On the other hand, the way in which team sports are framed is often this insatiable need to build one player against another. Knowers and rivalry are a lifestyle of convincing theater, historical moments and often the best performances.
This sport – especially at this point – decreases. Any battles between players down to the section are an uncontrollable feature of the tournament, not an engineering reality by logging or planning. Even the way the players are again paired over the last wheel is monitored by the golf rule “First In, Last Out” over any idea to prefer which two players would be more convincing to watch together.
And so it is rare that the connection between two players in this sport feels naturally connected at the exact moment. But this week is difficult to deny. Over the past three months, Scheffler and McILroy have been looking at each other and responding to them by a combination of polite admiration and envy on the tongue. Among them is not rivalry, only Juxtaposition created by their own success.
“I don’t think I have ever seen golfers playing as many bogey wheels as Scottie,” McIlroy said at Pebble Beach. “It just doesn’t make mistakes. It’s so impressive. It plays the right shot at the right time again and again. Obviously, you need a technical ability to do it, but doesn’t make mistakes. And if you don’t make mistakes on the golf course, the game can be quite easy.
“I’m just trying to hit 350 down in the middle (like Rory),” Scheffler said on Tuesday when he asked what McILroy’s game would like to imitate.
“I feel that sometimes he’s doing a really good job when he plays for free and plays freely,” Scheffler said in his real answer. “It’s really easy for me to notice. It’s much harder to go there and say,” Hey, I’ll play freely, “then I’ll actually do it.”
Two of the last three years Scheffler has made it easy to win the green jacket. Meanwhile, McIlroy painted different frames with the same color disappointment during 17 performances, showing how difficult it is to ensure the most prestigious sport title.
“I understand narration and noise, and there are many expectations and accumulation every year in this tournament,” McIlroy said. “I have to treat this tournament like all other tournaments I play all year round.”
2:18
McIlroy ‘blocks the noise’ of previous Master’s disappointment
Rory Mciltory says that “holds his head down” and ignores “narration” about his previous shortcomings in Masters.
While Scheffler Balks, when questions about the champion defense and resort to the answer to how he gains any advantage for him, as soon as the tournament starts, McILroy cannot stop the noise, just try to escape it. It’s in every corner. It’s not only when they enter a press conference room or arrive at Magnolia Lane, but also when Tiger Woods says It is only a matter of time before McIlroy wins. It is there, because it has been 11 years since Major won, but it is also there, because in the 11 years no one has played better, more consistent golf than him.
“It is very impressive, not only his week a week, but year after year his longevity,” Scheffler said with the players. “It’s very difficult in this game. You can fight with a number of things … injury, aging. Rory has stayed healthy for a long time. He played a great golf for a long time and it is definitely not as easy as you would think.”
Whether this week he will win his fifth major or in five years, will come for a moment when Scheffler plays a professional golf and McIlroy is no longer in the picture. But for the time being, what makes their connection unique, Scheffler is exactly what McILroy needs to keep up, while McILroy is set up to give Scheffler what he didn’t have in last season: someone who can constantly defend him.
Masters is not a match competition and no, McIlroy and Scheffler are not going this week. But if their recent performances are some hint, there should be no surprise if one of them wins and the other is part of the other story.
