There is little doubt as to who are the best two male golfers in the world as we go into the Open Championship at Royal Portrush this week. Rory McIlroy has won three times on the PGA Tour this year, including the Players Championship and the Masters, the latter securing him the career Grand Slam. Scottie Scheffler has also recorded three victories, including the USPGA Championship. His three wins have all arrived since McIlroy won his last one of this campaign, at Augusta, and he has finished in the top-10 in his last nine starts in the States. He is in formidable form.
This double domination explains why they are the two most heavily backed entrants at Portrush. Bookmakers do not all offer precisely the same odds, of course, but generally Scheffler is priced at around 9-2 with McIlroy at 6-1 to win the game’s oldest tournament in his homeland. It is likely that Scheffler’s run since the beginning of May is the chief reason for him being favourite. Although McIlroy had a nightmare opening round of 79 at Portrush in 2019, he has won the Open. Scheffler has not, although he has had top-10 placings in two of the past four championships.
The next two most-fancied golfers with the bookies are a couple of LIV men, Jon Rahm (12-1) and Bryson DeChambeau (16-1). The odds obviously do not necessarily suggest the realistic chances of a particular player winning the Open (they rather reflect what a specific bookmaker needs to offer in order to balance his books), but there is a reason why they are rated as men more likely than, say, Tommy Fleetwood or Tyrrell Hatton. They have won major championships. Two each, to be exact. In fact, Scheffler and Rahm will both be bidding to win their third leg of the four that comprise the career Grand Slam. As will Brooks Koepka.
The point has been made latterly that the only shame of the Scottie/Rory rivalry is that they have not really gone head-to-head in the majors. Perhaps that is no wonder; prior to this year’s Masters, McIlroy had not won one since 2014 and Scheffler didn’t play in his first until 2019. However, in his last 20 starts he has had 15 top-10s. When Scheffler won the 2022 Masters with McIlroy just three shots back as runner-up, that apparent closeness obscured the reality that McIlroy had holed a 50-foot bunker shot on the last whereas Scheffler had taken three putts from about five feet.
A good battle or three with the stakes at their highest over the course of the next few seasons would be fabulous. For example, when thinking about the career of Lee Trevino one thing always stays with me. He won six major championships. Jack Nicklaus was second in four of those. More than that, Trevino beat him by a shot in two of them and after a playoff in another. I’m sure he cherished each of the six enormously but don’t you think there would have been an added oomph on the four occasions he left the world’s best player in his wake? So come on, Rory and Scottie. We don’t mind if this starts this week.