Rory McIlroy Still Has To Suffer Under Scottie Scheffler Despite Potential Home Ground Triumph
After a thrilling week at Vidanta Vallarta in Mexico, the PGA Tour will now be gracing the greens at Palm Beach for the newly titled Cognizant Classic. Jake Knapp, fresh off his Mexico win, will be there, alongside many big names. However, one name stands out: Rory McIlroy. For the first time in six years, he will be competing at the event (previously known as the Honda Classic).
The Irishman has also been deemed a potential winner for this week’s event at the PGA National, seeing as it is his home ground. Although from Ireland, McIlroy has been living in South Florida with his wife and daughter in recent years, and now a victory is perhaps in order. However, as per recent reports, even if he does manage that, his ultimate win and the World No. 1 title will elude him, all thanks to his competitor and friend, Scottie Scheffler!
Rory McIlroy will have to wait a little longer to get back on top
Since February 2023, McIlroy has sat on either the second or third rank of the Official World Golf Ranking. Since then, the 24-time PGA Tour winner has tried it all to take back his No. 1 spot; however, it’s been far from easy. Scottie Scheffler has stood in his way, keeping the spot with consistent top performances!
And now that he’s not playing this week, one would think that the Irishman finally has a chance. But he doesn’t! Unfortunately, as per Nosferatu’s recent X post, even if Rors wins the Cognizant Classic, he won’t overtake Scheffler.
He will, however, be able to lessen the gap to the extent that at the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week, where both will be playing, as long as he finishes a few spots ahead of the American star, McIlroy may claim back his throne.
????NEWSFLASH
If @McIlroyRory wins @the_cognizant this week, he could not reach #1 in #OWGR, but he will get really close to Scottie Scheffler. It will mean that next week at @APinv, Rory will just need to finish ahead of Scottie in order to get back to world No.1!!
— Nosferatu (@VC606) February 28, 2024
The reason McIlroy won’t be able to overtake Scheffler this week, of course, boils down to his inconsistency. His last few starts on the PGA Tour have not been great. At the season opener on the Tour in Pebble Beach, McIlroy finished T66, and at the recent Genesis Invitational, too, he only managed a T24 finish. Notably, the one-time major winner tied for 6th and 10th at the same events, respectively.
These placements have caused a big gap of points between the two golfers. How large of a gap, though, exactly? Let’s find out.
