PGA Championship: Scottie Scheffler doesn't need rivalry with Rory McIlroy to keep winning and says runner-up run is 'bittersweet'

Scottie Scheffler shut down any talk of an on-course rivalry between himself and Rory McIlroy ahead of the PGA Championship, insisting that trying to beat the world No 2 did not motivate him.

The American golfer comes into this week having finished as a runner-up in his last three starts on the PGA Tour, the first of those being The Masters - which McIlroy successfully defended. Scheffler is the first player to finish as a runner-up in three successive PGA Tour events since Sergio Garcia in 2014.

The pair have played together many times in the past, notably going head-to-head in the singles at the 2025 Ryder Cup, but the top two players in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) have never squared off in the final group on Sunday at a major championship.

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Their match-up is one of the most interesting narratives in golf right now. Scheffler can follow McIlroy to become only the seventh player to win the career Grand Slam at the US Open next month at Shinnecock Hills but first, Scheffler will look to defend his PGA Championship title, live on Sky Sports.

Scheffler has won 20 times on the PGA Tour over the course of his career and sits third behind Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on the Career Money List. But the 29-year-old insisted he doesn't need external thoughts of McIlroy's recent successes to spur him to keep winning titles.

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"I would not say that it drives me," Scheffler said on Tuesday. "When I look over the course of my life, my sources of motivation have always been internal. I talk about my parents not pushing me to be a great golfer.

Speaking on his coach, Randy Smith, Scheffler said: "Randy has taught me my whole life but he's never said, 'hey, you're going to go out, you're going to win these tournaments, you're going to do this'. It's like, 'hey, let's do what we can to get better'.

"I've always loved that part of the journey. For me, getting better at golf is such an interesting and fun thing to try to accomplish. You're always toeing the line between getting better and getting worse. When I can go out by myself and practise and have something that I want to work on and improve on, that's one of my favourite things. I love trying to figure things out. That's always been what's driven me.

"I also love competition. I don't like losing. But at the end of the day the preparation, getting ready to come out here and play, is something that I really enjoy."

Scheffler added he doesn't pay much attention to what other players are doing, purely focusing on what he can do to improve.

"When I'm at home practising. I'm not thinking about something that somebody else is really good at," he said. "I'm seeing how something that I'm doing and how I can get better at that.

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"I don't really look for a lot of sources of outside motivation, if that answers your question."

Despite a successful 2025 season, claiming six PGA Tour victories, including the PGA Championship and The Open, Scheffler has only added one piece of silverware to his already overflowing trophy cabinet this year, coming up short at three other events.

He finished one shot behind McIlroy in second place at The Masters in April before fighting his way into contention at the RBC Heritage before being beaten by Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off. A week later, he arrived in Florida and fought gallantly as he attempted to chase down Cameron Young at the Cadillac Championship, ultimately falling short of his USA Ryder Cup team-mate, finishing second.

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"It was last week my wife was like, 'hey, Scottie, you're like the first guy in PGA Tour history to have three solo runner-up finishes in a row'," Scheffler said.

"I'm like, 'yeah, it's probably because the guy that was playing that good figured out a way to win one of those, he didn't come second in all three'.

"[It's] a little bit of it is bittersweet. Finishing second in a golf tournament is not bad, but I mean - especially in the way I did it in a couple of them. I was spotting guys so many strokes going into the weekend, mainly The Masters. Didn't have a very good chance going into the weekend there.

"Hilton Head [RBC Heritage], didn't have a very good chance going into the weekend there.

"Cadillac, I finished solo second, but really didn't really have that good of a chance.

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"So just different things. Overall, yeah, I'd say a little bit bittersweet. You know you're playing good golf, and you'd love to get some wins.

"Finishing second hurts but when you reflect and you're looking at things to work on, there's a lot less to clean up when you're finishing second than there is when you're finishing 30th."

McIlroy hails 'relentless' Scheffler

On Tuesday, McIlroy heaped praise on the "relentless" Scheffler, who believes the American's lifestyle and attitude to the game have helped him rise to the top.

Despite his slightly unorthodox swing, Scheffler is an artist with a golf club in his hand, and is clinical when he's chasing down the leader on a Sunday afternoon.

"It's his relentlessness," McIlroy said. "It's his comfort zone in which he does the same things over and over. It's not flashy, but he dots his i's and crosses his t's and does all the right things.

"It's that relentless pursuit of the process and not just letting the outcome happen."

While Scheffler endured a blip in his form between February and March of this year, finishing tied for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tied for 22nd at the Players - which are, by his stature in the game, low finishes - Scheffler is ranked first for strokes gained on the PGA Tour and first for greens made in regulation.

McIlroy noted that Scheffler's faith and his life away from the course may be one factor in why he's been so clinical on the PGA Tour.

"Whatever that means is what it means. I've said, again, his faith has a big part to do with how comfortable he is with doing that because he accepts whatever happens, whatever comes his way, and he moves on.

"There's not a lot of volatility there in his life and in his game and that sets him up so well for the future."

Who will win the PGA Championship? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage from the opening round begins on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract.