'He’s definitely a guy I look up to': Rory McIlroy tipped by rival to rediscover magic touch
World number one Scottie Scheffler has tipped Rory McIlroy to rediscover his magic touch ahead of this week’s BMW Championship in St Louis.
Only two players finished below McIlroy at last week’s FedEx St Jude Championship and the Northern Irishman conceded that he would have to “work pretty hard” after failing to break par in his four rounds last week in Memphis.
However, Scheffler, won his first event since January last week in Memphis, has no doubts that six-time major champion McIlroy will be doing all he can to improve his game.
He added: “When you look at when he won his first tournament to where he is now, he’s a guy who is just one of the best players in the world.
"He has sustained it for a really long time and he works extremely hard.
"He’s a guy I always see in the gym on the practice range...he’s a guy who’s always doing the things he needs to do in order to play well.
"He’s definitely a guy I look up to in a sense because of how long he’s been able to do it for, it’s quite impressive.”
Unsurprisingly, McIlroy’s poor showing at the FedEx St Jude Championship failed to see him make any in-roads in the FedExCup standings but he is still expected to be in the top 30 and make it to the Tour Championship, which runs from August 27-30, where he bids to win a record-extending fourth season-ending title.
This week Bellerive in St Louis is a fresh challenge for McIlroy as he tees up with Xander Schauffele for the opening two rounds.
“I’ve definitely got into some bad habits with my golf swing over the past few months,” McIlroy revealed in his press conference.
"As you play tournament golf, the golf swing takes a back seat and you’re trying to just hit shots and be visual and be instinctive...but as you do that, you can revert into some bad habits and I’ve certainly done that this year.
"I took some time off at the end of 2024 to work on my golf swing and I came out early in 2025 and I played really well and won three events pretty early in the season. I feel like that was done to the work at the end of 2024.
"I feel like I have to do some of that work again. It’s a bit of a work in progress but I spent the day at home in Florida on Monday working with my coach Michael and Harry (caddie) and I feel like we’re heading in the right direction.