Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler final June on the U.S. Open.
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For Rory McIlroy, issues didn’t add up. He seemingly began to do the mathematics.
Final yr, Scottie Scheffler earned over $29 million in PGA Tour prize cash, proper? Verify.
Over his profession, he’s as much as $71 million, which places him third on the Tour’s all-time checklist, behind simply Tiger Woods and McIlroy himself, proper? Verify.
And Scheffler harm himself — cooking ravioli at Christmas? Additionally verify.
The information shocked when it began to flow into on Dec. 27. Scheffler, the world No. 1 and a nine-time winner final yr, punctured his proper hand with glass and wanted surgical procedure, his supervisor, Blake Smith, mentioned. He’d additionally have to miss event play.
He missed 4 occasions. This week, on the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, Scheffler is again. Throughout his time away, he mentioned he mirrored some, an train he mentioned he hardly ever does. “I simply actually wished to jog my reminiscence,” Scheffler mentioned earlier this month. “And since I wasn’t capable of play golf, I attempted to virtually practice slightly bit at dwelling the place I used to be reminding my mind of what I used to be feeling over sure photographs and the way my fingers felt on the membership and stuff like that. So I wasn’t, you already know, completely testing from golf, if that is sensible.”
However after listening to in regards to the damage, McIlroy had a query on Tuesday in his pre-Pebble press convention.
He was questioning in regards to the dinner prep. And the cash made.
“I feel he made sufficient cash to rent a chef,” McIlroy cracked. “It’s like why are you cooking your self?
“I hoped it was going to be extra of a enjoyable story than that. We had been collectively in Vegas on the seventeenth of December and performed that match with Brooks and Bryson. Firstly, simply concern and hope he was OK. It feels like he’s. It’s good that he’s teeing it up this week.
“Yeah, get a chef.”
Must you be curious, Scheffler later mentioned he does have one. It’s wis spouse, Meredith. “She’s fairly cute, he mentioned.
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On a barely extra severe notice, McIlroy was additionally requested what he felt stood out in Scheffler’s 2024 marketing campaign, outdoors of the essential statistics. It was a fascinating query, because it offers you a little bit of a window into what McIlroy values.
“I’ve by no means — that is anybody, that is Tiger, that is within the historical past of golf — I don’t assume I’ve ever seen a golfer play as many bogey-free rounds as Scottie,” McIlroy mentioned. “He simply doesn’t make errors. It’s so spectacular. He performs the proper shot on the proper time over and time and again. You clearly want the technical skill to have the ability to do this, however he doesn’t make errors. And while you don’t make errors on the golf course, the sport can change into fairly simple.
“So tremendous spectacular. If he continues to do this, he’s going to be the dominant pressure that he was final yr and the yr earlier than that.”
However is McIlroy proper? On the stats web page on the PGA Tour’s web site, bogey-free rounds should not listed, although in 2024, golf stats guru Justin Ray tweeted on Aug. 15 that Xander Schauffele had carded his Tour-best nineteenth bogey-free spherical, which was 5 higher than Scheffler, the next-best professional within the class. (From that time, over 12 rounds, Schauffele and Scheffler posted three extra bogey-free scorecards, although two of Scheffler’s got here on the Hero World Problem.)
Nonetheless, Scheffler’s bogey-free play is spectacular. Under is a have a look at the place the rounds had been performed.
– Sentry spherical 1, Jan. 4
– American Categorical spherical 2, Jan. 19
– American Categorical spherical 4, Jan. 21
– AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am spherical 2, Feb. 2
– WM Phoenix Open spherical 2, Feb. 9
– Arnold Palmer Invitational spherical 4, March 10
– Gamers Championship, spherical 4, March 17
– Texas Kids’s Houston Open spherical 1, March 28
– Masters spherical 1, April 11
– RBC Heritage spherical 2, April 19
– RBC Heritage spherical 3, April 20
– Charles Schwab Problem spherical 2, Could 24
– Charles Schwab Problem spherical 3, Could 25
– Vacationers Championship spherical 4, June 23
– FedEx St. Jude Championship spherical 2, Aug. 16
– Hero World Problem spherical 2, Dec. 6
– Hero World Problem spherical 4, Dec. 8
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“It’s a easy approach to put it,” Scheffler mentioned, “however I feel having superior management of my golf ball is what enabled me to not make quite a lot of errors. That’s like having a superb really feel the place my swing’s at so I understand how to handle my method across the course, taking part in the suitable shot. I made loads of errors, however I feel it’s extra about managing the place the miss is. And when I’ve a extremely good really feel the place the membership is as I did for lots of final season, I’m capable of actually work my method across the golf course.
“It’s quite a bit less complicated than simply not making a mistake. It’s simple to say play it to the center of the inexperienced, however on the finish of the day, you’ve received to hit the photographs. I feel at instances final yr I simply had actually good management of my ball and that’s how I used to be capable of keep away from the errors.”
There’s additionally this: On July 25, Ray shared that Lydia Ko had posted her 131st bogey-free spherical for the reason that begin of the 2014 season — and the next-closest professional over that interval (Lizette Salas) was at 84. (To complete the season, Ko posted seven extra bogey-free rounds — the primary, second and fourth rounds of the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship, the primary and second rounds of the BMW Girls Championship, the third spherical of the Annika, and the fourth spherical of the CME Group Tour Championship.)
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