Professional golfers are a complicated bunch.
There’s a requirement to be selfish but there’s also a need to be part of a team — coach, trainer, caddie, life partner — if you want success. Golfers want to win, except they lose way, way more often. They have joy in small things, yet can be completely undone by that same small thing.
This year, the two biggest names in golf — Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler — have put on a show, establishing as close to a rivalry as the sport has despite the fact that they are two of the nicest guys on the PGA Tour. With three wins apiece, including one major each to boot, The Open Championship marks the final opportunity for a heavyweight fight.
But what does success, and being the best mean to both?
Scheffler unleashed perhaps the most insightful answer in any press conference ever featuring a golfer on Tuesday, stringing together five full minutes of deep thoughts on work, life and achieving dreams.
“Playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do. It really is. Just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting. It really is. The feeling of winning just doesn't last that long,” Scheffler said.
“To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister's there, it's such an amazing moment. Then it's like, 'OK, what are we going to eat for dinner?' Life goes on.”
Scheffler continued to say that yes, of course, it brought tears to his eyes to think about what he’s accomplished in golf. To live out a dream is so very special, he said. But he admitted he was not on the PGA Tour to “inspire someone to be the best player in the world,” because, he asked, "what’s the point?"
“This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart,” Scheffler said.
McIlroy, meanwhile, has long opened his heart to golf fans.
The humanization of his chase for a career Grand Slam is what makes him such a fascinating character in a game that is focused just on individuals. So, when he finally completed it at Augusta National earlier this year, you couldn’t help but feel a weird sense of para-social connection.
Still, as Scheffler alluded to, we, and McIlroy himself, were left wondering about the next thing quite quickly.
Sure, McIlroy got to spend a few days at home to celebrate, but he was already in the field at the Zurich Classic two weeks later. Then there was the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, and McIlroy did not appear like himself.
He admitted last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he would go on to finish tied for second, that he had come across the pond a few weeks prior and had basically been hiding out. McIlroy was so generous with his time and his insights for so long that for two straight majors it was odd to see him talk so little, or as was the case at the PGA Championship, not at all.
A refreshed McIlroy is a good McIlroy, though. The moment in 2019 when The Open returned to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 was too big for him, he admitted, as he missed the cut at the course where, as a 16-year-old, he shot a record 61.
He wasn’t ready for the emotions he would feel on Thursday six years ago, playing so poorly, and then Friday, playing so well yet missing the weekend by a single stroke.
“It means an awful lot,” McIlroy said simply on Monday. “But it's been an amazing year. The fact that I'm here at Portrush with the green jacket, having completed that lifelong dream … I want to do my best this week to enjoy everything that comes my way and enjoy the reaction of the fans and enjoy being in front of them and playing in front of them.
“But at the same time, I want to win this golf tournament, and I feel like I'm very capable of doing that.”
It’s seemed to be the common thought through the other major championships this year about Scheffler and McIlroy. When we are treated to sporting greatness by people who are performing at all-time levels, it’s alluring. Scheffler comes into The Open after 10 straight top-10 finishes, including three wins. He’s first in strokes gained: total. McIlroy has three wins himself, seven top 10s, and he’s second in strokes gained. The two best on the Tour are putting together not just the best seasons results-wise, but also statistically.
McIlroy is ready to go.
“I still feel like there's a lot left in there. The story certainly isn't over,” he said.
Scheffler is also ready to go, in his own way.
“I'm kind of sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point,” he said with a laugh.
No matter the focus or the feeling, there’s just one final major left in men’s golf for 2025 and if we’re lucky, these two will put on a show.
Best bets
We’ll leave Scheffler and McIlroy out of the list for Royal Portrush. Here are some other golfers worth a look:
Tyrell Hatton (+2500): Hatton is fresh off a fifth-place finish at LIV Dallas and finished sixth at Royal Portrush in 2019. He’s a strong ball striker and is one of just a handful of golfers to play the weekend at all three majors so far this year. The fact that he’s a bit of a hot head should actually be OK on links golf, since everyone else's brain will be in a blender, too.
Ben Griffin (+8000): Griffin, a two-time winner already this season, has finished inside the top 10 at the last two majors. Griffin is a solid ball-striker, a great putter and has clearly, mentally, gotten himself into a good spot — no matter the stage.
Shane Lowry (+2500): Lowry is the defending champion at Royal Portrush, having won in 2019. Outside of the majors Lowry has been solid, with nine top-20 finishes. Lowry also did exactly what he needed to do prior to The Open, coming across the pond about a month ago and playing golf again for fun while also being a present family man.
Collin Morikawa (+2500): It’s been an awfully weird season for Morikawa, a past Open Champion. He had a great couple of weeks to start the year (with two runner-ups before March), but has been a little pedestrian since then. He finished T8 at the Rocket Classic before missing the cut at the Scottish Open last week, but he’s got a new caddie on the bag (again) in Billy Foster — an iconic multi-decade looper who has won a major before with former boss Matt Fitzpatrick. Long one of the best ball-strikers on the planet, staying mentally focused this week will be key for Morikawa.
Taylor Pendrith (+11000): The Canadian has the game built for a place like Royal Portrush. He hits it plenty far, and straight. And he’s got a tidy short game — which should be key for the green complexes around the Northern Irish beauty. With a top-5 result at a major already this year, it’s time for Pendrith to get himself in the mix early.
Odds via BetMGM
