Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland disagree over who has had the better season between Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele as the PGA Tour season nears its climax.
World No. 1 Scheffler has a commanding lead atop the FedEx Cup standings as the playoffs begin at TPC Southwind in Tennessee on Thursday. The 28-year-old has six PGA Tour wins this season, including The Masters, and he followed it by winning Olympic gold in Paris.
Schauffele, meanwhile, cemented his status as one of the best players of his generation, ending his heartbreak at the majors by winning the PGA Championship and The Open in the space of two months. A debate has ensued over who has had the better season, and four-time major winner McIlroy and reigning FedEx Cup champion Hovland weighed in ahead of this week's FedEx St Jude Championship.
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"Scottie's," McIlroy replied when asked whose season he would prefer. "I think winning the Masters, an Olympic gold medal, winning, whatever it is, six times, it's pretty hard to top that."
Hovland, however, bluntly went in the opposite direction. The Norwegian said: "I mean, two majors. That sounds pretty nice to me."
McIlroy was particularly impressed by Scheffler's performance at Le Golf National, shooting a nine-under-par final round – including a staggering 29 on the back nine – to surge through the field and edge out Tommy Fleetwood by one shot to stand on the top step of the podium.
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"It's up there [with the best rounds I have seen]," McIlroy said. "I thought I was on course for a 29 as well at one point. But for him to just keep it going, he's amazing even when you think he's not really in the tournament or he's sort of on the fringes of contention. He always seems to find a way to hit the shots or hole the putts.
"I've described Scottie as relentless, and this is just another example of that. He's had an incredible couple of years. It was sort of like once he won that first one, it's just like the floodgates have opened and he's found a next gear and a next level. As a golf fan, it's really cool to see."
Scheffler has made it clear he is not a fan of the Tour Championship format, which will likely see him start just two shots clear of Schauffele at East Lake in two weeks despite his dominance on tour. He says the outcome of the playoffs will not change his view of the season.
"I talked about it the last few years. I think it's silly," Scheffler said. "You can't call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament. Hypothetically we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn't heal the way it did at THE PLAYERS, I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No. It is what it is.
"It's a fun tournament. I don't really consider it the season-long race like I think the way it's called. But you've got to figure out a way to strike a balance between it being a good TV product and it still being a season-long race. Right now, I don't know exactly how the ratings are or anything like that, but I know for a fact you can't really quite call it the season-long race when it comes down to one strokeplay tournament on the same golf course each year.
"I'm not going to look back on my season really any differently if I don't win East Lake."
