“Why is Rory McIlroy the expert on everything now?” – Fans react as McIlroy compares Scottie Scheffler to Tiger Woods in 2000
Rory McIlroy was chastised by fans for comparing current World No.1 golfer Scottie Scheffler to legend Tiger Woods. According to the Northern Irish golfer, Scheffler is playing like Woods did in 2000. He admired the 2022 Masters winner's golf style, drills, swings, and instinctive long shots.
McIlroy and Scheffler are both set to tee off this week at the Tour Championship, and both have a good chance of winning on Sunday, August 27. Ahead of the start of the tournament, McIlroy addressed the media where he opened up about Scheffler.
The PGA Tour shared a clip from the press conference on its Twitter account with a caption saying:
“He’s hit the ball as good as Tiger in 2000.” High praise from @McIlroyRory on Scottie Scheffler’s incredible season."
However, fans were unhappy with McIlroy comparing Scottie Scheffler to Tiger Woods. They jumped into the comments section of the post to say:
"Why is Rory the expert on everything now???"
"Rory talks far too much! You can be sure Scottie doesn’t give a toss about what Rory has to say about him so why should anyone else?" wrote another.
"Funny what happens when someone concentrates on playing rather than talking golf. You know what to do Rory," another fan commented.
Here are some more fans reactions:
"He's got unbelievable hands"- Rory McIlroy praises Scottie Scheffler
American golfer Scottie Scheffler has had an impressive season so far. He won the WM Phoenix Open and then the Players Championship earlier this year.
His incredible form helped him to top the FedEx Cup Standings after the 2023 BMW Championship and for the second year, he will be entering the Tour Championship with a score of under 10.
In a pre-tournament press conference of the Tour Championship, Rory McIlroy praised Scottie Scheffler for his incredible performances throughout the season.
He compared him to Tiger Woods, saying:
"Scottie's had......he could end up with the best ball-striking season of all-time. You know he's hit the ball as good, if not better than Tiger hit it in 2000. Which is the benchmark for all of us."
McIlroy continued:
"You watch Scottie hit a ball and the feet are going everywhere. It's just so..but he just, he's not afraid to hit shots. Like he'll hit little bunt cuts with the driver. He'll hit big high draws. He plays around with the golf ball a ton. He's got unbelievable hands.
"Yeah, he's pure feel.....I see him work really hard on the range and I see him work like doing his drills and doing all this stuff. But then I feel like once he gets on the golf course he's able to just let all that go and just become so reactive and instinctive and just a pure athlete on the course. So, it's really, really cool to watch. Yeah, like as I said, the numbers that he's put up this year are phenomenal," he concluded.
The 2023 Tour Championship will start on Thursday, August 24, at the East Lakes Golf Course and will run through the weekend to have its finale on Sunday, August 27.
Rory McIlroy will pair up with the 2023 Masters winner and his Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm to start the game at 1:49 pm ET while Scottie Scheffler will tee off with 2023 BMW Championship winner Viktor Hovland at 2 pm ET.