Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose are back in Britain to compete in the Genesis Scottish Open this week before moving on to The Open Championship next week.
It has been tough going for McIlroy and Rose since the drama that unfolded at The Masters back in April.
McIlroy has endured a tumultuous relationship with the media over the past three months, most of which has been brought on by himself, it must be said.
Meanwhile, Rose has missed three cuts since Augusta, with his best finish a tie for 42nd at the RBC Heritage.
Rose has received huge praise for how gracious he was in defeat to McIlroy at Augusta National in April.
The two PGA Tour stars are very good friends, and traveled up to The Scottish Open together this week.
Rory McIlroy shares what he and Justin Rose have noticed about the PGA Tour
McIlroy addressed the media at The Renaissance Club in Scotland on Wednesday, and he looked much happier than he has done recently on the other side of the Atlantic.
McIlroy was asked whether being back in the UK has freed him up a bit, after all the pressure he was under in America.
He said: “Yeah, I think the one thing I would say about the last couple of weeks is I felt like I could detach a little bit more and sort of hide in a way. And sometimes you need that to completely get away from — I feel like this world of golf can become all encompassing if you let it.
“But I think if you remove yourself a little bit from that environment, Justin Rose and I came up here together yesterday and we were just chatting about the — I don’t know, there’s a detachment from the sort of week-in, week-out grind when you get back over here, when you play PGA TOUR golf for that sort of first 25, 30 weeks of the year. We were sort of talking about that yesterday on the way up here.
“Yeah, look, it’s been lovely to get back and see some familiar faces, and as Briony said, it’s the first time back playing in the U.K. since what happened at Augusta, which that’s a really nice feeling, as well.“
McIlroy is obviously from Northern Ireland, so it’s kind of a home game for him this week in Scotland.
Then the 35-year-old will return home next week for The Open, and he clearly feels more comfortable with life in general over this side of the pond than he does in the United States.
Rory McIlroy in a race with Scottie Scheffler for player of the year
McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler have both won three times this season, with a major championship each to their name.
Scheffler has been far more consistent, but McIlroy did win The Players Championship as well as completing the career Grand Slam.
Here’s how golf journalists Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner see the current state of play.
Lavner said: “That’s a great question. This is fully a toss-up. I do think that the remaining two months of the PGA Tour season is going to determine it, because the resumes are going to be very, very close. I think right now I would give the edge to Rory McIlroy slightly just because of The Players Championship. The award is voted on by his peers and completing the career Grand Slam will hold a lot of sway with his peers. If I had to pick right now, which I don’t, I would take Rory just slightly.“
Then Hoggard offered his take.
He explained: “I’m going to come back and go the other way. I’m going to say Scottie Scheffler, he has been more consistent over the course of the season. I see where Lav is coming from with the historic value of what happened at The Masters. There is still some time, we have The Open Championship and the play-offs.“
The PGA Tour Player of the Year award will be a really close-run thing.
And how McIlroy and Scheffler perform at The Open next week and during the play-offs next month will be the deciding factor in the voting.
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