During a conference call with media members Monday afternoon to preview the upcoming Masters Tournament, ESPN analysts Curtis Strange and Andy North – both of whom won a pair of U.S. Open trophies – found themselves answering questions about the same two players.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
At one point, North asked his own question to Strange:
“If you had Scottie and Rory, would you take them against the rest of the field? I think they’re playing that well, that’s not that crazy,” North said.
To which Strange responded, “It’s much like the question with Tiger against the field back when he was winning everything. It’s probably a bad bet, but I’d have to go with it just because.”
Though the 96-player Masters field is uncommonly large, Scheffler and McIlroy are 1 and 1A on the list of favorites, both for their talent and their stories. By next weekend, neither may be the story but the narrative starts with them.
Other storylines will develop. Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau will factor into the plot. Maybe Justin Thomas has it figured out again and can put the consecutive missed cuts at Augusta behind him. It’s a major which means Brooks Koepka bears watching as do Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry.
But it starts with Scheffler and McIlroy, both of whom left Houston Sunday evening feeling good about where they are going and not just because they shot 63 and 64, respectively, in the final round there.
There has been a soft undercurrent of questions surrounding Scheffler’s performance before his second straight runner-up finish at Houston. Even he admitted he’s been frustrated by how he played in his first five starts after recovering from the puncture wound on his hand suffered in December.
It’s not as if Scheffler was in a Max Homa-like slump – he had three top-11 finishes in five starts – but he’s made winning seem so routine that he wasn’t his usual dominant self. Though Min Woo Lee beat him in Houston, all seems right with Scheffler’s game now.
“If you took Scottie’s record and didn’t have a name on it, people would go, oh, my gosh, this guy has had an incredible year,” North said.
Scheffler ranks third in strokes gained total, seventh in strokes gained off the tee, eighth in strokes gained approach and 42nd in strokes gained putting. Cue the “Jaws” music.
“[I] definitely feel better. I feel like I can still clean up a few things in my swing. My ball-striking wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked for it to have been this week, but overall … I felt like we’re improving in the ball-striking,” Scheffler said in Houston.
“I did some things that I really liked under the gun.”
“[I] still don’t think my game is absolutely 100 percent under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things.” – Rory McIlroy
Scheffler said he plans to spend this week at home in Dallas, working with his swing coach Randy Smith and playing some golf with his friends before heading to Augusta on Sunday, where he will host his second Champions Dinner in three years Tuesday night.
McIlroy, meanwhile, returns to Augusta National next week trying again to win the one major he hasn’t won to complete the career Grand Slam. This will be McIlroy’s 11th attempt to become the sixth player to win all four major championships.
This will be the first time McIlroy heads to Augusta having won twice on the PGA Tour in the first three months of the year. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February then picked up his second Players Championship title last month, winning a playoff over J.J. Spaun.
Before leaving Houston, where he finished tied for fifth, McIlroy sounded like his game is close to where he wants it.
“[I] still don’t think my game is absolutely 100 percent under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things,” said McIlroy, who said his longtime swing coach Michael Bannon was coming in early for pre-Masters work.
“It’s just about feeling as comfortable as I can be with the things I’ve been working on, which is sort of iron play, wedges. Obviously short game’s really, really important around Augusta as well.”
As the defending champion, Scheffler will have a few early-week duties, most notably hosting the Tuesday night Champions Dinner where he will serve, among other things, cheeseburger sliders, chili, a cowboy ribeye, blackened redfish and a chocolate chip cookie skillet with ice cream.
McIlroy can make his own schedule before his Thursday tee time, chasing the elusive equation that could have him explaining why now rather than why not on Sunday evening.
“I’m looking forward to the Rory-Scottie show,” Strange said on the conference call.
He’s not alone.