Tommy Fleetwood suggests whether he thinks Scottie Scheffler is more talented than Rory McIlroy

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Had Rory McIlroy not missed two short putts in the final three holes of the US Open, the Northern Irishman would have joined Scottie Scheffler in being a major champion in 2024, with the world number one winning The Masters earlier in the year.

Of course, Scottie Scheffler has had one of the greatest seasons of all-time this year. Scheffler won eight times worldwide. He clinched an Olympic gold medal, won The Tour Championship, became the first player in history to retain The Players Championship, and triumphed in four signature events.

Scheffler’s dominance has not been since the days of Tiger Woods. And while Scheffler has not been quite as impressive as Woods was in 2000 – when the 15-time major champion won nine times – his performances have opened up a debate about where he will rank amongst the all-time greats.

Certainly, Scheffler looks to have the potential to define this era. Most players would rip your arm off to do what the 28-year-old did in 2024 alone across an entire career.

Whether Scottie Scheffler is more talented than Rory McIlroy

It is too soon to say whether Scheffler is as good as Woods or Jack Nicklaus, but it is easier to compare him against many of his peers, including Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman has now gone a decade without winning a fifth major, while McIlroy does not appear to have the consistency of Scheffler.

Nevertheless, speaking on Why Golf, Tommy Fleetwood explained where he gives McIlroy the edge over Scheffler.

“I watch quite a lot of golf online, I think there’s always something you pick up on. I actually love golf, and I love learning about it, so I quite like watching a lot of other people’s swings. I think one of my biggest philosophies is watch what the best players do, and copy it. So I’m still doing that to this day,” he said.

“I think it’s hard to say Scottie Scheffler isn’t the best golfer on the planet at the moment. But you look at the top of the world rankings, there’s amazing, amazing players up there. I’ve always been a huge fan of Rory’s game and Rory’s ability, I’ve always thought of our generation, I would pick Rory as the most talented and the most gifted for sure. But right now, Scottie is undoubtedly the best player on the planet.”

How Scheffler currently compares with McIlroy

It is still slightly unfair to compare the careers of McIlroy and Scheffler considering that the latter was promoted to the PGA Tour in 2020. But it is interesting to see where the two-time Masters champion ranks against the 35-year-old.

Obviously, the most important number is the amount of major wins. Scheffler is already halfway to McIlroy’s current total – although few would have ever imagined in 2014 that McIlroy would go into 2025 still awaiting his fifth.

McIlroy has won 26 times on the PGA Tour, while Scheffler is halfway to that number also. But there is one incredible statistic concerning how many weeks the two men have spent at world number one. Scheffler is currently 11 weeks behind McIlroy, and it feels as if he will overtake him at the earliest opportunity even if he does not hit another shot in that time.

This is not to downplay any of McIlroy’s accomplishments at all. He is rightly going to be remembered as one of the best to have ever played the game, and few players have a better-looking swing than him.

It would have been fascinating to see what would have happened had McIlroy and Scheffler come through at the same time. But there is still plenty of time for their rivalry to enjoy all kinds of twists and turns.