Rory McIlroy brilliantly relegated Scottie Scheffler into second place in this year’s Masters tournament, and the first big men’s golfing showdown of 2026, and now the Northern Irishman is out to repeat the result in this week’s final major showdown of the year.
And golf fans will get to watch all the action when Rors and Scottie tee off side by side at 8.30am local time Thursday in the opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.
Of course, each player has won just once this season though it the Texas-born Scheffler who’s gone the longest in ’26 without the ‘W’.
For McIlroy, a three-time FedExCup champion, this week is just one leg of a longer race.
“I almost try to view the Playoffs as one big, long tournament, like a 12-round event,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I’ve been lucky enough to do pretty well on these things over the years, so I’ll try to add another one to the list.”
“Sometimes if I don’t turn enough, my right arm thrusts out the ways, instead of like down the line,” McIlroy said. “So just making sure my body rotation is enough to then feel like I can shake hands with the target, basically.”
But he is in no rush to overwork himself in the brutal Memphis heat.
“You’ve got to pace yourself,” McIlroy said. “It’s three long weeks. We’re going from here to St. Louis to Atlanta. … It’s going to be hot and sweaty. So you want to be able to conserve energy as well.”
“A lot of it is ball-striking around these places,” said Scheffler, who stands at No. 1 in the FedExCup. “You’ve got to hit a lot of fairways. When you’re in the fairway, you have good opportunity. The areas to hit in are really small, and I think that’s also what makes it a good golf course.”
- Copy thanks PGA Tour.
