Xander Schauffele: 'Rory McIlroy winning the Masters is scary for the rest of us'

"If he's firing on all cylinders… I've played against him when he's done it, and it's not fun for me," Schauffele said about McIlroy. 

"No-one is going to be like Tiger," said Xander Schauffle, but he would put Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler a "close second". Pic: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Xander Schauffele is the world No.3. The Claret Jug and the Wanamaker Trophy are still in his care following wins at the Open Championship and the US PGA last year, and the American finished in a tie for eighth at the Masters just gone on the back of a bad rib injury.

This is one of golf’s brightest stars, but even he sits in the shade next to Rory McIlroy.

It’s natural to suspect that the McIlroy obsession is magnified on this island, not least ahead of The Open’s return to Royal Portrush in Co. Antrim this July, but his Grand Slam success at Augusta earlier this month highlighted again the global nature of his attraction.

“Well, it's incredible for the game of golf,” said Schauffele who was dialling in remotely for a media day held by the R&A at the next Open venue. “It is really good for the game of golf. There's no other way to put it, to be honest. Him winning… just anytime he's on-site, or at least having the Tiger Woods… 

“No-one is going to be like Tiger, but I'd call Rory and the likes of Scottie [Scheffler] a close second. If you just look at how many people follow them, how many people talk about them, anything to get eyeballs on our game is a good thing.

“Him winning the Masters, a generational talent to do what he did, is obviously an incredible achievement. Again, scary for guys like us. If that was something that was holding him back and now he feels free, that could be a pretty scary thing.” 

Step back and pause and it seems almost bizarre that a man like Schauffele would talk so admiringly and freely of a fellow pro in that fashion. This is a guy who has recorded five straight top tens of his own in his last five major appearances.

Go back a tad further and the Californian has now finished inside the top 20 at his last dozen majors, a run that started with the 2023 US PGA at Oak Hill Country Club having missed the cut at the Masters in the first of that year’s biggies.

Schauffele’s surge this past two years is consistent with a trend in the elite men’s game with the likes of Jordan Speith, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Scheffler all having their spurts of greatness of varying but, so far, limited lengths.

McIlroy had one of his own back in the day when he won his first four majors inside four years between 2011 and 2014, but the Northern Irishman remained at the top of the game in the eleven years between that last one and his green jacket performance a few weeks ago.

The obvious school of thought wasn’t long coalescing after Augusta: that this long-awaited success would release him from the mental shackles of more than a decade and prompt a second series of sweeps in golf’s showcase events.

“He has all the tools,” said Schauffele. “When I look at his game and what he can do… I look back at my game, and he was one of the examples at that time. I used him, Brooks, Bryson: those guys were all a lot stronger than me; they hit it further than me; they did certain things way better than I did.

“That was one of the areas where I tried to pick up some of that slack. Yeah, if he's firing on all cylinders… I've played against him when he's done it, and it's not fun for me.

"It's fun for everyone else to watch, but it's definitely a thing that's hard to beat. Would I be surprised if he started rattling some off? No. Am I going to be there to try and stop him? Absolutely.” 

McIlroy’s win in Georgia was a godsend for a game that is still racked by internal strife given the Ulsterman’s undoubted status as golf's most compelling figure now that Woods' era is over.

Next up in terms of majors is the US PGA at Quail Hollow in May where Schauffele will be hoping to defend a pro title for the first time in his career, and at a course where he felt the full brunt of McIlroy’s brilliance last year.

A fourth-round 65 from the now five-time major winner helped him overtake his American playing partner that day and clinch the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina. A week later and Schauffele transcended to Valhalla where he claimed that PGA title.

The loss to McIlroy at Quail Hollow was pivotal.

McIlroy caught fire on that back nine. So much so that he “absolutely trounced” the American who, in a weird sort of way, took comfort from the fact that a Rory McIlroy in that form was capable of doing it to just about anyone.

Schauffele knew he was hitting good shots and resolved to keep his head clear for the PGA. He had started working on his swing with Chris Como at the start of the year and a new strength coach in David Sundberg, while close calls of the past were used to build belief rather than sunder it.

Lo and behold, he went on to have his year of years.

Now he turns towards the summer with that painful rib injury and the eight-week layoff it landed on him as a thing of the past, his game in good nick and halfway to a Grand Slam of his own that was a goal committed to paper many years before.

The Masters will have to wait another year yet, but his record at the US Open is ridiculous with five top tens and a tie for 14th in his half-dozen appearances to date. None of which is to say that he would turn his nose up at another PGA or Open Championship.

Who knows what will happen between now and the latter’s third running at Royal Portrush in mid-July but, whatever transpires, it will be McIlroy and Shane Lowry soaking up the majority of the spotlight six years on from the course’s last hosting.

Maybe that will suit the defending champion just fine?

“Yeah, that's a really good point. I was just told we will have record attendance, for obvious reasons,” said Schauffele.

“One of their own just won the Grand Slam, so everyone wants to get a piece of him. That's no different for the media. If I can use it to my advantage to sort of cruise along and fly under the radar, that's exactly what I'll do.”