Scottie Scheffler delivers strong message on Rory McIlroy after Masters win

Scottie Scheffler applied pressure to Rory McIlroy on Sunday afternoon at The Masters, but even a bogey-free weekend wasn’t enough to overcome the 12-shot deficit he faced entering the weekend.

Scheffler finished at 11-under par to place second, while McIlroy closed at 12-under to secure his second consecutive green jacket at Augusta National — a feat achieved by only three other golfers.

Both McIlroy and Scheffler are now two-time Masters champions and have held the top two spots in the world rankings for well over a year, underscoring the mutual respect between them — something Scheffler emphasized after his round while reflecting on McIlroy’s victory.

“Yeah, I mean, to me it doesn’t say much more, because I’ve competed against him for a long time and you don’t win the amount of tournaments that he’s won out here without being pretty resilient,” Scheffler said.

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He added to that sentiment, acknowledging that McIlroy did exactly what was needed to get the job done, while noting he would have needed a big round to catch him and ultimately came up a few shots short.

“Having a six-shot lead at Augusta is never easy, and losing that is something difficult. But at the end of the day, when you tee it up on Sunday, he was tied for the lead to start the day, and he went out, had a solid round, and did what he needed to do to get it done. I knew today I was going to have to do something special to catch him or Cam [Young], and I was close — just a few shots here or there.”