04-10-25, 05:49 AM
Rory McIlroy WILL win the Masters – if he actually follows what we call SSB.
Scottie Scheffler Ball looked downright sexy.
Standing just a few feet away, Rory McIlroy must have been thinking that. After a tee shot down the right side of Augusta National’s second fairway, its operator worked his ball to a spot about 30 yards short of the hole, where he then pitched on en route to a birdie, about a half-hour into last year’s Masters — while McIlroy was already ruing. His effort on the 575-yard par-5? Ghastly. Tee shot into the right rough. A lay-up short of the green. From 100 yards away, a ball over the green. A missed 6-footer for par. A 6. By no means was it game over, but more of the same followed. More execution. More missteps. Seventy holes later, Scheffler had his second green jacket — and McIlroy had one question:
Why the hell wasn’t he doing this, especially at Augusta?
For over a decade now, while he’s found extraordinary success, arguably the game’s most gifted pro has also been relegated to explaining why he’s been stuck on four major championship wins — and most excruciatingly, zero Masters titles — while Scottie Scheffler Ball had made its proprietor the favorite every time he’s put his tee into the turf, as he is again this week, at the 2025 Masters. “I’m a big admirer of Scottie’s for a lot of different reasons,” McIlroy said in early February, after his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “But every time I play with him and I watch how he plays and how disciplined he is, it’s a really cool thing to watch. … But honestly, just trying to take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.”
McIlroy, awed and envious, was also absorbent. But that’s easier said than swung. Scheffler himself has said that. It’s not as if McIlroy desires to make doubles and triples — and Scheffler doesn’t. But patterns form. Conclusions can be drawn. What we are calling Scottie Scheffler Ball at Augusta takes shape.
Scottie Scheffler Ball looked downright sexy.
Standing just a few feet away, Rory McIlroy must have been thinking that. After a tee shot down the right side of Augusta National’s second fairway, its operator worked his ball to a spot about 30 yards short of the hole, where he then pitched on en route to a birdie, about a half-hour into last year’s Masters — while McIlroy was already ruing. His effort on the 575-yard par-5? Ghastly. Tee shot into the right rough. A lay-up short of the green. From 100 yards away, a ball over the green. A missed 6-footer for par. A 6. By no means was it game over, but more of the same followed. More execution. More missteps. Seventy holes later, Scheffler had his second green jacket — and McIlroy had one question:
Why the hell wasn’t he doing this, especially at Augusta?
For over a decade now, while he’s found extraordinary success, arguably the game’s most gifted pro has also been relegated to explaining why he’s been stuck on four major championship wins — and most excruciatingly, zero Masters titles — while Scottie Scheffler Ball had made its proprietor the favorite every time he’s put his tee into the turf, as he is again this week, at the 2025 Masters. “I’m a big admirer of Scottie’s for a lot of different reasons,” McIlroy said in early February, after his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “But every time I play with him and I watch how he plays and how disciplined he is, it’s a really cool thing to watch. … But honestly, just trying to take a little bit of a leaf out of his book.”
McIlroy, awed and envious, was also absorbent. But that’s easier said than swung. Scheffler himself has said that. It’s not as if McIlroy desires to make doubles and triples — and Scheffler doesn’t. But patterns form. Conclusions can be drawn. What we are calling Scottie Scheffler Ball at Augusta takes shape.
