Rory McIlroy’s Masters Win Could Launch Golf’s Next Great Rivalry, and Not a Moment Too Soon

McIlroy is now a two-time defending champ at Augusta but his career prime is ticking, writes Farrell Evans. Scottie Scheffler figures to be the biggest obstacle standing in his way.

Rory McIlroy (left) and Scottie Scheffler have won four of the last five majors. | Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

The absence of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the 90th Masters and the presence of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler on the leaderboard were both reminders of the excitement of showcasing golf’s very best players at the game’s biggest event.

Despite sharing the spotlight for a combined 21 majors and 127 PGA Tour tournament wins over nearly a 30-year period, Woods and Mickelson never staged the greatest duels of their generation. Instead of facing Mickelson head-to-head in the majors, Woods was challenged during his prime by a team of insurgents from Sergio Garcia and Bob May to Chris DiMarco, Y.E. Yang and Rocco Mediate. 

Since cementing his place in 2024 as the No. 1 player in the world after winning nine tournaments including the Masters, Scheffler has stood on the mountaintop alone with scarcely anyone in sight of his dominance in the game. But the resurgence of McIlroy after winning the last two green jackets begs for a new rivalry that could transcend the sport. Together, Scheffler, 29, and McIlroy, 36, have won four of out of the last five major championships. And were it not for McIlroy’s recovery shot from the trees on the 72nd hole on Sunday to salvage a one-shot victory over Scheffler, we might have seen them in a playoff—a perfect climax to the year’s first major.

Those precious seconds when CBS Sports failed to immediately find McIlroy’s second shot into 18 added to the suspense of wondering if the Northern Irishman might tumble into a playoff with Scheffler. I wasn’t rooting for a collapse that would cost McIlroy the green jacket, but for an outcome that would let Scheffler keep playing head-to-head with McIlroy. 

Still the ending that gave McIlroy his sixth major championship portends to a future that could bring these two men face to face late on Sunday afternoons in many future majors.

Scheffler’s bogey-free weekend at Augusta left him one shot short of a playoff with McIlroy. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Unless you consider the friendly rivalry between Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus that seemed to last in one form or another until Palmer died in 2016 at age 87, few golf rivalries have lived up to their billing or to the desires of a fandom looking for dramatic head-to-head duels.

Palmer and Nicklaus had each other and the dawn of televised golf, which brought the lush fairways and greens of the Augusta National Golf Club into the homes of millions of Americans. Woods was able to create that drama and global interests mostly on his own with his personal narrative and otherworldly performances on the course.  The 15-time major champion seemed to never stop peeking through injuries and personal crisis off the course.

McIlroy, who had a very swift ascent to the top of the game after taking his first major championship at age 22 in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional C.C., has fought his own personal demons to overcome expectations and pressure to become Woods’s heir apparent as the greatest player of his generation. McIlroy went 10 years without winning a major before his victory last year at the Masters. Now the second-ranked player in the world behind Scheffler, he finds himself in a place still looking up at a player who has been No. 1 in the world for 152 consecutive weeks.

With a double-digit point lead over McIlroy in the world ranking, Scheffler is the most dominant player in the game since Woods, who holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 with 281 from June 2005 to October 2010. Yet if anyone has a real chance of supplanting him at the top in the near future it could be McIlroy, who appears laser-focused on winning more major championships.

“For me it’s the majors, it’s the Ryder Cup, it’s the biggest tournaments in the world that keep me going,” said McIlroy on Sunday after the Masters. “That’s what’s going to keep me going from 36 until I’m 45.”

Over the next decade, Scheffler, who will be in the middle of his prime during that period, will likely be the most consistent force standing in McIlroy’s way of adding more majors to his Hall of Fame career. McIlroy is inspired by Justin Rose, who at 45 backed up his loss in a playoff last year with a tie for third this year.

With so many good players at the top of the game, it might be difficult for Scheffler and McIlroy to separate themselves from other rivals, but having them both on the top of the leaderboards at the coming major championships could mark a breakthrough in a sport whose most noteworthy rival of late has been between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Now a two-time defending Masters champion with the clock ticking on his career prime, it’s time for McIlroy to reach his fullest potential.

 “I’m a more complete version of myself,” he said Sunday. It will take the very best version of himself to beat Scheffler on the biggest stages and ignite a new rivalry in the game.

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