Rory McIlroy’s record when playing in the same group as Scottie Scheffler as they are paired up at the FedEx St Jude

Rory McIlroy has been dropped into the deep end on his return to the PGA Tour.

The back-to-back Masters champion hasn’t touched a golf ball since The Open at Royal Birkdale, recharging his batteries ahead of a busy stretch of golf. He’ll be playing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, starting with the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis.

The world number two has been paired with world number one Scottie Scheffler for the first two days of action at TPC Southwind. That’s one way to be welcomed back to competitive action!

Playing against the best player on the planet can go one of two ways for players. They can either rise to his level or struggle with the spotlight. McIlroy is clearly no stranger to the spotlight, so he’s surely relishing the challenge of playing alongside Scheffler.

But how has he fared when playing with Scheffler in recent years? It turns out, the American really has his number.

McIlroy and Scheffler have played alongside each other a number of times in recent years, as tournament organizers have created the marquee group of all marquee groups. And recently, Scheffler has dominated the duel.

When playing in the same grouping during stroke-play events on the PGA Tour, Scheffler holds the advantage in direct round-by-round scoring. Statistically, Scheffler posts the lower score in more than half of their paired rounds.

In their last 10 competitive rounds together, dating back to the opening round of the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst, Scheffler has outscored McIlroy six times.

That makes the head-to-head relatively even, but not when you consider that Scheffler has outperformed McIlroy in each of his last five rounds when paired with the career grand slam winner.

From the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, which Scheffler won, to their most recent matchup at the Tour Championship, McIlroy has not outscored Scheffler in the same group.

Even when McIlroy has played well, Scheffler has simply played better. McIlroy shot a 66 at East Lake at last year’s Tour Championship, but Scheffler shot a 63.

It’s hard to see this streak being broken after McIlroy hasn’t practiced for three weeks, however no one in the world is better when they’re producing their best stuff. Hopefully we’re in for a classic duel between these two golfing greats.

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