What Rory McIlroy has started doing in interviews recently which he has ‘never’ done in his career before

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Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are the top two golfers in the world right now and there is zero argument to be had.

While some over on LIV Golf might suggest a lack of OWGR points hinders their claims for the top spots, McIlroy and Scheffler have been the two most consistent players in golf for years now.

2024 was Scheffler’s year as he won nine times but in 2025, McIlroy is the one pushing ahead, with two PGA Tour wins already, including The Players.

• READ MORE: Scottie Scheffler admits the mistake he made in his first two Masters appearances which he won’t be doing this year

Of course, having the pair both playing well is always going to give fans reason to suggest a rivalry is brewing.

However, according to one golf analyst, that might be over-egging things just a bit for now.

Why Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler can’t be golf rivals

Speaking on the Golf Channel about Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler and a potential rivalry, golf analyst Mark Rolfing got into the details and claimed that while players can be rivals, golf makes it difficult.

“Golf is one of the most difficult sports by far to have a true rivalry. In order to have a rivalry there is one key ingredient that you have to have and that is a rooting interest in order to have a rivalry. If you take a look at those two players right now. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who is going to root against either one of those players? It is very difficult to do,” Rolfing said.

“You think about the NFL, let’s say. Let’s take that sport for example. Why do people root for the NFL? They root on their home team. They root because they are betting on the game or, in a lot of cases, they root against the other team.

“There is a built in rooting interest that we don’t have in golf, so we are always trying to create these rivalries yet the players themselves are hard to root against.”

• READ MORE: Bubba Watson says what was ‘crazy’ about Augusta National at the Masters in 2024 as he gives his view on the golf course

Why Scottie Scheffler is influencing Rory McIlroy’s interviews

Picking up on something that McIlroy has started to do recently, Rolfing suggested that Scheffler being around and being so good is somehow driving McIlroy on.

Indeed, so much so, that Rolfing noted a few comments from McIlroy recently.

“Two things are going on here. The first is that it is a big game between Scheffler and McIlroy right now in terms of the rankings. Rory is trying to close that, the most important part of this though is that Rory has now publicly come out and said that this is important to him,” Rolfing continued.

“It’s almost like he is having a restart at the age of 35. He has put Scheffler in his sights. He has put the number one world ranking in his sights again.

“We never heard him talk about Scottie Scheffler at all. But lately we have been hearing him talk about Scheffler’s on course management and things like that. We are also hearing Rory talk about the difference between the two of them in their personal lives and the way Scottie does things.”

As it stands, McIlroy is having the better 2025 but McIlroy will be concerned by Scheffler’s form at the Houston Open so far.

Going into The Masters, it would make for superb viewing if the duo do end up going head to head somewhere down the line.