After months of frustration, Scottie Scheffler is back on the radar with a win in his hometown at TPC Craig Ranch. The 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson triumph gave him the confidence to go on another run of victories. And his very next target is at Rory McIlroy‘s playground, the Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The only problem is, Scheffler hasn’t had the same success in other majors as he has in the Masters Tournament. But the world No. 1 is confident that all that will change this week.

Sitting down for a Press Conference in Charlotte, he was questioned, “Obviously, Xander and Rory tomorrow for the first group. Just your reaction to that group, and what’s it like when you’re playing in a major and you’re in one of those marquee groups with two of the big names, two of the winners of majors, things like that, your thoughts on that?” Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy are paired together in the same group for the first two rounds of the 2025 PGA Championship. The reporter wants to know what Mr. Inevitable thought about that.

Scheffler replied, “Yeah, I’m playing with two guys that are playing some of the best golf in the world. Xander won two majors last year, and Rory already won THE PLAYERS and the Masters this year so he’s playing some fantastic golf.” He certainly seems to be aware of the challenges he has to face. While Schauffele may not have achieved much success this year, he did come off an outstanding season, winning two majors. McIlroy is also in outstanding form, walking into Quail Hollow with three wins in his bag already.

However, Scheffler seems more excited than apprehensive about the situation. He further added, “Yeah, it should be a lot of fun. I’ve seen that pairing before, and we have a good time out there, and it’s competitive. I think when I look back on my career, these will be some of the fondest memories getting to play with some of the best players in the world and compete to try to win tournaments.” Being the outstanding golfer that he is, he thrives in a competitive environment like this. Scheffler’s natural instincts would help him perform better being paired with two strong contenders. Interestingly, the last time they were paired together was in this year’s THE PLAYERS Championship. As Scheffler has already mentioned, McIlroy won that event. But the World No. 1 finished tied at 20th at TPC Sawgrass while Schauffele ended at the 72nd position, 25 strokes away from the top.

Trying to dig deep into Scottie’s psyche, another reporter asked, “You’ve talked a lot about being present in each tournament and not thinking about how you played the year before. You’ve mentioned we all start at even par coming into the week. Your win at the Byron Nelson, do you feel that’s momentum coming into this week, or have you kind of scratched that off and just are focusing on this week?” Simply put, the journalist wanted to know if the win at TPC Craig Ranch will help Scheffler’s confidence at Quail Hollow. Considering the fact that he finished at the top of the table last year, it would be interesting to see what he does in 2025. Especially after Mr. Inevitable claimed that “last year means nothing” as far as his run in this season goes.

The world no. 1 replied, “Yeah, I think there’s definitely a balance there. It would be silly to say that I can’t ride the positive momentum from a good week like that. To finish off that tournament the way I did and have it not really be too close on the back nine, I played some really nice golf. I talked a little bit about how I felt like my game was trending, so it was nice to see some results from a lot of hard work to start the year, and I feel like my game is in a good spot. I think it would be silly to say I can’t ride a little bit of that momentum going into this tournament.” Every athlete in the world would ride the momentum they gain from a win onto the next challenge, and Scheffler is no different. After finally breaking the winless streak, the 2-time Masters winner is eager to use that to his advantage and finally win a major outside Augusta National.

Interestingly, Scottie Scheffler’s record in the PGA Championship suggests that he is definitely capable of winning the major. Let’s see how close he has gotten to achieving the goal.

Two strokes that separated Scottie Scheffler from another major

Scottie Scheffler holds an excellent record in the iconic golf major event. Apart from the missed cut in 2022, he has never finished outside the top 8 in any other edition of the PGA Championship. That includes the 2024 version of the major, which saw him serve jail time before the second round tee-off. If the orange jumpsuit couldn’t stop him from finishing in the top 10, then there is not much that can.

Having said that, there was one golfer who did steal the PGA Championship from Scheffler in the past. In 2023, the world No. 1 had an excellent final round at Oak Hill Country Club of 5-under 65 (the lowest score of the last round), to jump up to contention. However, despite a bogey-filled day, Brooks Koepka managed to outplay Scheffler by 2 strokes. It will be interesting to see if the title is as closely contested this year as well. What will be even more intriguing to see is if Scottie Scheffler can ward off the threat this time around.