{"id":947493,"date":"2026-05-09T03:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/947493\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:51:24","slug":"rory-mcilroys-rival-admits-masters-champion-scares-him-after-incredible-feat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/947493\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy’s rival admits Masters champion ‘scares’ him after incredible feat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy’s rival Xander Schauffele has shared insight into how the Masters Champions scared him during his back-to-back Augusta victory.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old American is in action against the Northern Irishman at the Quail Hollow Club for the Truist Championship, in McIlroy’s first tournament since winning the Masters.<\/p>\n

The Californian shared his impression of McIlroy’s performance at Augusta, after the Grand Slam champion beat Scottie Scheffler by one stroke.<\/p>\n

Schauffele said: “I mean, he hits – you know, I think at Augusta it was an impressive display.<\/p>\n

\"Xander<\/p>\n

Xander Schauffele has shared insight into his rivalry with Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

“His best club was his worst club, and he still won the tournament. That’s a little scary, obviously, if you’re competing against him.<\/p>\n

“That being his driver. But a week like this week usually he’s hitting his driver on most holes and it’s his best club in his bag most times.<\/p>\n

“It’s a nice thing to watch him hit driver, and it’s definitely a good property to be able to fly it about 330 yards on.”<\/p>\n

The Masters champion is in action as he makes his long-awaited comeback to PGA Tour competition.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Schauffele said it’s ‘a little scary’ when McIlroy is on form<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

The Masters champion hadn’t swung a club competitively since claiming his second consecutive green jacket nearly a month ago at Augusta.<\/p>\n

His opening round at Quail Hollow proved remarkably steady – perhaps too steady. <\/p>\n

McIlroy rattled off 17 consecutive pars, coming tantalisingly close to what would have been a first in his PGA Tour career: 18 straight pars.<\/p>\n

But a lengthy putt dropped on the final hole, giving him a one-under 70 and sparing him that peculiar distinction.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

McIlroy put in a steady performance on round one at the Truist Championship<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

The moment prompted a brilliant exchange<\/a> with fellow Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood, who couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with the Northern Irishman.<\/p>\n

“I would have missed that on purpose,” Fleetwood cheekily told McIlroy after watching him sink the birdie putt.<\/p>\n

The Englishman doubled down: “You could have missed that on purpose.”<\/p>\n

McIlroy’s response was telling: “Well I was thinking, I can’t remember the last time on tour that I had a round of golf that I didn’t make a birdie in.”<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

McIlroy rattled off 17 consecutive pars<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

It’s clear the 37-year-old wasn’t about to let such an unwanted record stand, regardless of how amusing it might have been.<\/p>\n

While McIlroy’s driving was spot on throughout Thursday’s round, his putter simply refused to cooperate.<\/p>\n

He squandered birdie opportunities on multiple holes, including the 12th and 13th, where his putts slid wide of the target.<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t frustrated, I was hitting good putts,” McIlroy explained. “Some days they just don’t want to go in.”<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman is in action on day two with Fleetwood and Justin Rose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy’s rival Xander Schauffele has shared insight into how the Masters Champions scared him during his back-to-back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,12,4287,93,79,16,15,978,727,214317],"class_list":{"0":"post-947493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-rory-mcilroy","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-us-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116542589408301051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}