Rory McIlroy claims Scottie Scheffler has done something ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’ which doesn’t get talked about enough

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Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will tee it up at the Houston Open and ahead of getting underway, McIlroy has spoken highly of the world number one.

McIlroy comes into the tournament as the man in form, while Scheffler has yet to win in 2025.

With The Masters just a few weeks away, all eyes are on Scheffler to see if he can produce the form he showed in 2024 to put himself in a good place to win at Augusta.

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And while Houston might be the place for Scheffler to bounce back, Rory McIlroy believes Scheffler’s efforts in the last 12 months don’t get the appreciation they deserve.

Rory McIlroy praises Scottie Scheffler ahead of the Houston Open

With McIlroy now back up as world number two, he’s the only one with a realistic chance of hunting down Scheffler.

And after McIlroy praised Scheffler before The Players, he’s spoken of the his counterpart again and now suggested the reality is that Scheffler isn’t actually praised enough.

“It’s awesome,” McIlroy quipped. “I think what Scottie’s done the last couple years in golf is amazing. It’s great to have him be — he’s great for the game. What he did last year, I don’t think it gets talked about enough.

“His season last year is up there with one of the all-time great seasons in the history of the game. He’s an amazing player, he’s a great person as well, he’s got a great family. It’s good to see him doing – like it’s good for the game and it’s nice to see nice people succeed.

“I have nothing but respect and admiration for Scottie.”

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What Rory McIlroy wants to take from Scottie Scheffler’s game

With the quest to be the best golfer in the world often coming down to small details, there’s often things players can take from each other.

For Rory McIlroy though, it’s all about one specific element of Scheffler’s game coming into his own.

Yeah, I’ve had quite a bit of success too though, so I don’t think there’s a lot of missing pieces so to say,” McIlroy said when asked about trying to emulate Scheffler.

“I think you’re always looking around, seeing if there’s certain things you can maybe take out of someone’s game. I think it’s hard to not look at what Scottie’s done the last couple years and not take notice and sort of try to dig in, OK, why has he been able to separate himself a little bit from the rest of his peers at this point.

“To me, one thing he was definitely doing a little better than me the last couple years was that sort of course strategy and course management and that’s something that it’s forced me to look at and maybe be a little more thoughtful and diligent with that side of it.”

McIlroy has already won twice in 2025 and has very much looked in control of his golf game in general.

With Scheffler in the same field this weekend in Houston, it will be interesting to see just how much the duo crank it up.