Scottie Scheffler admits he had a rare feeling after Rory McIlroy’s lucky birdie on the final hole at East Lake

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Rory McIlroy played alongside Scottie Scheffler during the opening round of the Tour Championship at East Lake on Thursday.

McIlroy was once again upstaged by Scheffler, with the world number one shooting a seven-under par 63 on day one of the Tour Championship – three shots better than the Northern Irishman’s round of 66.

McIlroy chose to skip the FedEx St. Jude classic while Scheffler finished third in Memphis, before winning the BMW Championship last week.

It has actually been claimed that McIlroy doesn’t think he can consistently compete with Scheffler, and judging by the form of both players over the past three months, he’s spot on with that.

Scheffler is quite obviously on another level entirely to McIlroy right now, and that shone through brightly on day one at East Lake.

However, the 2025 Masters champion finished off his opening round with a flourish by making a birdie on the 18th hole, albeit an extremely lucky one.

Scottie Scheffler comments on Rory McIlroy’s birdie on the final hole at East Lake

McIlroy’s second shot on the par-five final hole finished in the bunker short of the green.

It wasn’t the easiest of bunker shots, but it was by no means a difficult one for a player of the Northern Irishman’s calibre.

However, McIlroy made somewhat of a mess of the shot.

He thinned his ball out of the sand, and had it not been for the grandstand behind the green, his ball most likely would have finished a good 30 yards from the flag.

However, his ball bounced back to around 17 feet from the hole, leaving him an uphill putt for birdie – one that he eventually rolled in.

And Scheffler commented on McIlroy’s slice of luck after his round.

He said: “I have never rooted so hard for somebody’s ball to come back, outside of my partner in a team event. Because we’re walking to 18 and Bones told us they were going to blow at any second, so I’m watching his ball fly towards the grandstand. I’m like, oh, my gosh, we’ve got no way of finishing this thing, so I was relieved when I saw it come back on the green.“

The PGA Tour blew the horn the second that Scheffler’s ball found the bottom of the cup on the 18th hole.

Had McIlroy’s ball not rebounded off the grandstands, they may have had to come back first thing in the morning to finish off their rounds, so it was a nice break for both players really.

Scottie Scheffler vs Rory McIlroy: Tour Championship day one stats compared

Scheffler and McIlroy are widely considered to be the two best players on the planet right now, and they have been for quite some time in fairness.

However, the American is making the man from Northern Ireland look distinctly average right now.

Here are their stats from the opening round of the Tour Championship on Thursday:

Scheffler’s driving and putting were hugely impressive on day one at East Lake, while McIlroy struggled on the greens at times.

However, the 36-year-old actually hit the ball pretty well, and he will be hoping that the lucky break he received on the 18th hole on Thursday will help inspire him to a low second round on Friday.