Rory's lament and other stray shots
What if the next Masters came this week?
The Masters is over, but the Daily Drive rolls on. This week is the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where Pete Dye’s classic and claustrophobic Harbour Town Golf Links plays host to a $20 million PGA Tour signature event. All the PGA Tour’s big guns (except commitment WD Viktor Hovland) will be there including the twice green-jacketed Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Åberg. Today we look ahead as well as back to last week’s adventure at Augusta National.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy at the Masters (Joel Marklund/Augusta National)
Oh to be Scottie free
Rory McIlroy almost sounded wistful last week when speaking about Scottie Scheffler. How there’s no clutter in Scheffler’s head. How he seemingly makes it look easy in shooting a 66, as he did in the first round of the Masters when the two played together.
And, obviously, how Scheffler now has two green jackets in five attempts while McIlroy is 0-for-16 at Augusta and now 10 years into his quest to complete the career grand slam.
The gap between the current Nos. 1 and 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking never seemed wider.
And yet, McIlroy has certainly not been awful. It’s just that his results of late have not been to the standard we’ve come to expect from him and seem so ordinary compared to what Scheffler is doing.
McIlroy finished tied for 22nd at Augusta National, 15 shots behind the winner. He never shot in the 60s and his second-round 77 on a brutal, windy day knocked him out of the tournament. Clearly he’s searching as he heads to Hilton Head this week, a place that has never particularly suited him.
“I think I’m like 50th in the FedEx Cup. I need to get all the events under my belt as I can.” Rory McIlroy on committing last Friday to play the RBC Heritage
“Yeah, I need to take a little bit of time and reflect on this week and what I did well, what I didn’t do well, and sort of make a plan for the next few months, especially from here going through obviously the end of July,’’ McIlroy said following a final-round 73 at Augusta. “As you say, major season, they’re going to come thick and fast here, so hopefully get myself in a bit better form for those last three.’’
Amid LIV Golf recruitment rumors that surfaced via an unsubstantiated English media report, McIlroy outlined a busy schedule ahead that is to see him play this week’s RBC Heritage, a signature event he skipped last year to much fanfare.
(A London-based business and financial website called City A.M. reported that McIlroy is close to joining LIV for $850 million and a two-percent equity stake in LIV Golf; the publication cited two sources but admitted it could not confirm it is happening.)
He’s then signed up to play with Shane Lowry as his partner at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a team event. After a week off, it’s the Wells Fargo Championship followed by the PGA Championship at Valhalla — where he won his last major at the 2014 PGA. Then after another week off, it’s the Canadian Open, Memorial, U.S. Open and Travelers Championship.
That’s a lot of golf and McIlroy admitted it’s no time to be going through any major overhauls.
“All these disappointing weeks are 20ths, 25ths,’’ he said of his tour finishes. “They’re not terrible weeks by any stretch, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. I’m close in some ways, but then I feel quite far away in others. Once I get one thing, sort of put that to bed, then another things pops up, and it’s just one of those at the minute.’’
McIlroy said Friday’s winds and difficult conditions “exposes any weaknesses that you may have. That definitely exposed a few things.’’
Since winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour in January (a week after finishing second in another Dubai event), McIlroy has been nothing better than ordinary. In seven starts on the PGA Tour, he has seven finishes outside of the top 20 and just one in the top-10, a solo third at the Valero Texas Open that never saw him contention but offered some hope he was ready to make a move at the Masters.
Attempting to change up his approach, McIlroy spent less time at Augusta in advance of the tournament. He went to the club the week of the Valero after going to Las Vegas to get a look from noted instructor Butch Harmon. He then didn’t arrive at the Masters until Tuesday, the last of the 89 players to register.
The plan didn’t work any better than the 15 plans he’s tried before it.
Rory McIlroy congrats Scottie Scheffler after opening 66 (David Paul Morris/Augusta National)
And as Scheffler was on his way to victory, McIlroy could only yearn for the state of mind that the Masters winner enjoys.
“Nothing. Nothing. Not a lot of clutter,’’ McIlroy said when asked what is in Scheffler’s head these days. “The game feels pretty easy when you’re in stretches like this. That’s the hard thing whenever you’re not quite in form. You are searching and you are thinking about it so much, but then when you are in form, you don’t think about it at all. So it’s trying to find that balance.’’
Tyrrell Hatton will be back in Augusta next April. (Chloe Knott/Augusta National)
2025 Masters field
If next year’s Masters were played this week — if only — there would be 67 participants in the field counting the players currently ranked in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. As it stands now at the conclusion of play at Augusta National, there are 38 players officially qualified for the 2025 Masters next April.
There are 20 past champions qualified if we assume that Bernhard Langer will be healthy and wanting a mulligan to play a farewell Masters and Angel Cabrera can get his travel visa issues worked out in the next year.
Eight other major champions within the last five years are also in for next April, including 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau whose exemption expires after next April. Two 2019 major winners ran out of five-year Masters exemptions last week — U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and Open champ Shane Lowry.
Ten additional players will return next year for finishing in the top 12 last week: Ludvig Åberg (Sweden), Cam Davis (Australia), Tommy Fleetwood (England), Tyrrell Hatton (England), Mattieu Pavon (France) and Americans Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Adam Schenk, Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris.
Hatton is a big addition, considering he’s more than likely to eventually plummet outside the OWGR top 50 since he won’t be getting official points on that circuit. His presence means LIV will have at least 11 players in the Masters next year after having 13 last week and 18 in 2023.
Missing the top-12 invitation by one shot this year were four current OWGR top-50 players: Chris Kirk (25), Sepp Straka (28), Nicolai Højgaard (34) and Ben An (38).
LIV’s Joaquin Niemann finished T22 and had his chances of booking an automatic return blown away with a second-round 78. He shot 70, 71 and 73 in his other three rounds.
Of major note beyond the Masters:
Patrick Reed has a lifetime exemption to Augusta thanks to earning his green jacket in 2018. But his five-year exemptions for the other major championships have run out. His T12 in Augusta last week was huge, as he rose from 112th to 85th in the OWGR. The PGA of America traditionally invites those inside the top 100 to the PGA Championship, so he should be good for Valhalla next month. … Hatton climbed to No. 16 from 19th, which will help him retain more major chances this season. …Poland’s Adrian Meronk has already fallen to 67th in the world after reaching as high as 39th in January, which means he’s not currently exempt for June’s U.S. Open. So that and his Masters future are in serious jeopardy, the latter barring a top-four finish in the PGA or the 152nd Open.
Stray Shots
By Peter Kaufman
1 — Let’s get to Mr. Scheffler’s bravura performance a bit later in these proceedings. First, do we enjoy seeing the Masters play like a U.S. Open? Where are the back-nine charges for which Augusta is so justifiably famous? Scottie Scheffler’s 33 was terrific, but other than Tom Kim’s wonderful — and, of course, irrelevant — 66 about six hours earlier, no one laid waste to the course and no one mounted a charge.
Don’t we like 30 or 31 from a chaser on the back nine on Sunday? Has the course just become too tough?
This was a drama-less Masters, and despite Scheffler’s excellence, a trifle boring as well. One felt empathy for the televisors constantly cutting to someone, anyone, potentially making a putt that might put them just five shots behind on the back nine. Yes, for a few minutes on Nos. 7 and 8 there was a logjam at the top and bred hopes of a classic Masters Sunday back-nine shootout, but it was simply not to be.
2 — Scheffler refused to wilt whenever anyone showed a glimmer of coming at him. Really impressive stuff. A worthy champion. Who needs to be a great putter when you are stuffing the ball close from 100 or more yards like on 9 and 14? Greatness is not usually drama-less, and yet …
Scheffler’s majors record 2020-24: Ten top-10s and two victories (Masters). Also very impressive stuff. But listening to PGA Tour Radio this morning, he is being anointed as the most dominant player since Tiger. Not so fast. He may get there — and he certainly looks invincible just now — but just off the top of my head, I will posit that Jordan Spieth 2014-19 was pretty impressive, too. Ten top-10s in majors, but three were wins and five were seconds. Dominant. Plus Spieth lacks only a PGA Championship for the career slam, and Scheffler needs to annex three more non-Masters wins on that front.
Perhaps we can enjoy Scheffler’s skill and performance while not needing just yet to declare him the best since Tiger?
3 — Speaking of a long way to go, have we ever seen a world No. 2 looking as lost as Rory McIlroy? I have seen more confidence amongst 12-handicappers at the driving range. Much is continually made of his just needing the Masters to complete the career slam. Will he complete the career slam ahead of Speith? Ahead of Scheffler? For a few minutes on Sunday, it looked like Morikawa might mount a charge that would put him one U.S. Open away from the career slam as well.
We won’t know until or unless we know, but sitting here right now it is tough to see a world where Rory’s confidence and game align in a fashion to somehow win the Masters.
Ludvig Åberg finished runner-up as a major debutante. (David Paul Morris/Augusta National)
4 — Ludvig Åberg. Well now. The uber-talented young Swede by way of Texas Tech has burst upon the scene with tremendous fanfare and acclaim. Mr. Åberg turned pro last year with immediate tour status thanks to PGA Tour University. He was Captain Luke Donald pick for the Euros in the Ryder Cup having just barely turned pro. As a matter of fact, his record in majors is now second in the Masters — and nothing else played yet.
How the heck is he already now ranked No. 7 in the OWGR? Well, he’s won on both the PGA and DP World tours, been runner-up three times on PGA Tour, fourth twice, 19 times in the top 25 in of 26 career professional starts and only ever missed one cut. The algorithm is impressed. This young man dominated world amateur golf (interestingly he was a repeat winner of the prestigious collegiate Ben Hogan Award, something achieved only by one other collegian, someone named Jon Rahm). If I was Scheffler, this is a fellow I will expect to see in my rear-view pretty consistently.
Right now, Patrick Mahomes is the most famous Texas Tech athletic alum. While pro golfers seem oft to be confused that what they do rises to the popularity or remuneration of pro football, it’s not a stretch to wonder how long it might be until, at least in golf, Åberg has the achievements and personality to sit on TT’s athletics Mt. Rushmore alongside the Gifted One with the Chiefs.
Åberg’s youthful aggressiveness on 11 that led him to rinse his approach in the pond was disappointing. But he seems unsinkable. Let’s get used to seeing a lot of him, and none too soon. We need more star power on the PGA Tour.
5 — What we assuredly do not need is more non-stop, constant coverage of a broken-down 48-year-old shooting 82 in a major. Golf certainly has issues, starting with the ongoing hostilities — I mean “negotiations” — between PIF and the PGA Tour. But close upon that is that Tiger Woods still not only moves the needle, he actually still is the needle itself. Are we so bereft of wattage that the television powers-that-be continue to marvel when Tiger draws a breath, makes a putt, etc., all while finishing last amongst the players who made the cut and a mere 27 shots behind the winner? Apparently so.
6 — Augusta’s other real chasers — two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, former U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau and the very talented and likeable Max Homa (who delivered his best career major performance) — could not make it happen Sunday. It’s unclear what percentage we allocate to the constant pressure of Scheffler’s tremendous play or to their own inability to produce when it counts. But it was sad to see generally poor putting, as well as decision-making and execution, amongst the also-rans. Morikawa doubling Nos. 9 and 11 (also a super poor decision on his second, resulting in a water ball) was quite a surprise from this talent attempting to turn his rather poor 2024 around.
For those youngsters who feel like they can go flag-hunting on 11 with impunity: Ben Hogan, wanting to give the greenside pond a wide berth, famously declared “if my second shot ends up on the green, I have made a mistake.”
Isn’t the PGA Tour just that much more fun when Bryson is involved? Another bright and compelling star we only see at the majors now. Who wants to miss a shot from Bryson especially when he is in the hunt? The PGA Tour needs more, not fewer, quality and skilled characters. A deal needs to be made, and soon, with PIF.
ANGC says ixnay on the billboard J-Day. (David Cannon/Getty Images)
7 — Finally, Jason Day. This has always been a player and a personality to be admired. So it was sad to see him as a walking billboard for some “street fashion” company on the Augusta premises. Even if the tourney gendarmes had not told him to lose that garb (embarrassing, that), the combo pantaloon/vest advertisement he wore was not exactly either on-brand for Day or a good look for him.
Memo to Mr Day: if you think your home club might ask you to redress, then perhaps you should not bring that sartorial game to Augusta National.