Rory McIlroy’s quest to win his first Masters Tournament might just have become significantly more difficult.
The consensus is that only McIlroy can beat himself at Augusta National because he’s the best player in the world on his day.
That is unless Scottie Scheffler performs as well he did last year, when he won nine events, including the Green Jacket.
The bad news for McIlroy is that it appears the American is on his way back to those heights after his performance at the Houston Open so far.
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Scottie Scheffler is back to his best at the Houston Open
Scheffler’s return from injury hadn’t gone as well as expected up until the Houston Open this week.
He didn’t really threaten to win any of his five previous events, despite top 10 finishes at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
It now seems that the world number one his back to his best, though, as he shot an impressive three-under-par 67 on Thursday.
Then, on Friday morning, he produced an excellent eight-under 62 to equal the course record and go top of the leaderboard at the time he headed for the clubhouse.
Scheffler’s latest display started with lengthy birdie putts on the opening two holes, and it’s fair to say that his fans were immediately excited.
As it turned out, they had every right to be, as he continued in the same vein throughout the day to put himself in an excellent position to win his first title of the 2025 season.
Scottie Scheffler could stop Rory McIlroy from winning his first Masters
Rory McIlroy has undoubtedly been the best player in the world this year, with Signature Event wins at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass.
He’s many people’s pick to win the Masters in two weeks and finally complete the illustrious career Grand Slam.
However, Scheffler proved last season that he was on another level to anyone else, and if he plays that way at Augusta, McIlroy will have a problem.
The best-case scenario for all golf fans is that the two are in the final pairing on Sunday. That would be something special.
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