Rory McIlroy's 'desire' will dictate future as Scottie Scheffler tipped to relight opponent's 'fire'

Rory McIlroy needs to assess how much he truly wants to be world No 1 again alongside balancing his home life, according to former golfer Rob Lee.

The Northern Irishman finished in a seven-way tie for fourth at the FedEx Cup over the weekend, finishing five shots off tournament winner Scottie Scheffler despite showing earlier signs of promise.

Now 37, six-time major winner McIlroy admitted his "fuse was shorter than it used to be" before the final round at the East Lake Golf Club.

He had arrived in Atlanta off the back of three weeks of competing in a row, something he admitted he would never exceed again despite still managing a fourth-place finish over the weekend.

"That just tells you how good he is," Lee told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast. "But I think Rory's body language this week wasn't great. He looked slightly… is grumpy the right word?

"But he's just slightly off that kind of affable, bouncy Rory that we normally see. So there's stuff going on with him… Rory's in this position. He's played golf for 20 years at the highest level. He's 37.

"He realises there are other things in life, but the last thing he wants to do is not be able to be peak Rory. So his conundrum is 'how much can I pare back my schedule, but still perform the way I know I can?' That's the place he's in now.

"37 is still golfing prime. It's going to come down, for him, to desire. How much does he still want it? And if he still wants it, I think he's going to have to play a bit more."

McIlroy took an extended break after The Open, spending more time with his family before returning for this three-week run of events.

"I absolutely think he can win more majors," Lee continued. "But going along with that is you sacrifice your home life. You're not as home as much as you want to be… I actually think Rory is in mentally quite a good place at the moment, and he is focused on some family stuff at the moment."

Speaking before his final round, McIlroy admitted: "once you lose your enthusiasm to go to the course, it is time to take a break." That comment could suggest golf fans could be seeing less and less of the world No 2 as time goes on.

"I think that's plausible," Sean Zak agreed. "I think that the changes coming to the PGA Tour schedule could pull a little bit more out of him, could help him balance being a dual member a little bit better."

Zak went on to suggest McIlroy may need to set himself a goal of beating Scheffler to top spot to reignite his motivation.

"You know, of all the golfers at the top of the game, I think he better than most shows what things matter to him and shows the goals that he's set," he said.

"And I think ever since that Grand Slam-finishing Masters win, he has just struggled to really place "OK, what's the next goal?"

"When you look at 2025, when he won that Masters, the next goal was really, 'OK, let's win at Bethpage' - and then they did that.

"Then after that, it was 'gosh, OK, what is the next goal?' I think for him to live up to what we're asking him to do right now, what a lot of fans would like him to do, is his next goal needs to be taking Scottie off the top mark or matching Scottie in some way.

"I bet if Scottie won a major this year, Rory might feel a little bit more of the fire beneath him because you get to some point where they've all won a bunch.

"What is the tiebreaker? How many majors did you win? Rory still has a nice little lead on Scottie - but how long will that last? We think that he probably won't hold that lead.

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"It's just funny because I think Rory McIlroy, let's say [at] 21 years old was like "I want to be number one in the world. I want to win every single tournament."

"Rory McIlroy, 37-year-old, he may have to do the same thing. It should be 'I want to be number one. I want the world to think I'm the best golfer because at my best, I certainly am.'"

McIlroy will next compete at the Irish Open, starting on September 10.