Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler look set to have company when it comes to the major winners in 2025, with the pair some way back of the lead at the US Open with one round to go.
Scottie Scheffler is not entirely out of the race to win the US Open, but the world number one will need one of the best rounds of his life if he is going to triumph at Oakmont.
It is a very different story for Rory McIlroy.
After barely making the cut, McIlroy finds himself at 10 over par with 18 holes to play in Pennsylvania. He has struggled to prove a point to some of his critics.
Scottie Scheffler responds to Rory McIlroy’s comments about motivation
McIlroy has been struggling for form for several weeks now. He missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open the week before the US Open, while he also stumbled into the weekend at the PGA Championship.
Of course, it probably should not have come as a huge surprise that McIlroy’s form would dip after he won The Masters in April. The victory completed the career grand slam for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy admitted that he had struggled to find the motivation to practice ahead of the Canadian Open following his fifth major triumph.
And speaking after his third round at the US Open, Scheffler insisted that he can empathise with McIlroy’s struggles since that incredible day at Augusta National.
“There’s definitely an aspect of having an achievement that you’ve thought about for a long time and then being able to achieve that goal. There’s typically — I mean, winning a major championship in general just takes a lot out of you. I think physically and mentally it’s a pretty taxing thing to do,” he said.
“It’s really hard to describe to somebody that hasn’t really lived through it just because of — I mean, when I woke up after the PGA Championship this year, I literally felt like I got hit by a bus. Like I felt terrible. And it’s just part of the adrenaline, part of competing for four days on a really difficult golf course, keeping your head in it for 72 holes, which is a long time, and just mentally it’s exhausting. Physically it’s a grind too.
“So if that’s how I felt after the PGA, I can only imagine how Rory felt after winning the career Grand Slam, and it’s not easy to show up every week out here and play well. This is a very difficult sport. We play very difficult golf courses like this one.
“We’re all out here just trying to do our best, and it’s a hard game, and sometimes it can look easy and sometimes it can feel really difficult, but at the end of the day, we’re just showing up trying to do our best and then we go home.”
Further proof of the difference between Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy
It is fascinating to hear Scheffler speak about how much the PGA Championship took out of him. He had also won The CJ CUP Byron Nelson just before the second major of the year.
And perhaps that shows where Scheffler is a little different to many of his peers. He finished in the top five at the Charles Schwab Challenge after winning at Quail Hollow.
And he made it three wins in four starts at The Memorial Tournament.
Four wins in five looks unlikely as things stand. But clearly, Scheffler has an incredible desire to win every time he tees it up.
McIlroy needs to find a way to now regain that himself.
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