Scottie Scheffler Enjoying the almost weekly battle to be number one in the world with Jon Rahm And Rory McIlroy even if he is still behind the couple in terms of career victories.
The 26-year-old made his big breakthrough at last year’s Masters, adding his fifth title with one of four wins in a two-month streak and a win at February’s WM Phoenix Open.
However, Rahm’s three successes this season made him world number one, and McIlroy kept the pressure on them as world number three.
All three will play together in a marquee group for the first two rounds of the season. Players ChampionshipThe flagship event of the PGA Tour.
A win for Scheffler or McIlroy would have returned them to the top of the standings, with the first to finish in at least the top five and the Northern Irishman to be in the top eight.
“I think it’s fun when three guys jockey for world number one, and I’m so happy to be one of them,” said the American.
“Rory and Jon are such talented players that whenever I can talk to those guys in the same breath, that’s special to me, especially growing up watching a guy like Rory play golf for a long time.
“Both Jon and Rory have won a lot of golf tournaments here. I think if you add up all of our wins, mine would be a pretty small percentage of the total wins.
“I hope we continue to play well and can compete here for a long time.”
When asked about grouping all three together, Scheffler added: “The way I approach it, I think it would be a lot of fun.
“I’m just looking forward to going there and watching them play and have a good time there and compete together.
“You look forward to finally being there and beating the best players in the world with another guy at the top of his game.”
Two-time big winner Collin Morikawa feels he has some unfinished business at Sawgrass after three disappointing visits so far.
The 26-year-old claims that he felt ready to win in his first game of 2020, but that the tournament would be canceled due to Covid, where he was under four after the first round.
The final round 66 was the highlight of his comeback the following year, while 12 months ago he missed the cut by two shots failing to break 73 in either round.
“I really thought I was going to win Covid in year one, and then it was Covid. Honestly, my game felt good to come to this tournament in 2020.”
“Comparing 2023 to 2022, I think I did a lot more and was able to really struggle, and that was the biggest thing.
“The few cuts that were missed were odd as the game still felt really good, but we’ve done a lot of good work over the last few days, so I’m excited to be back.”