Scottie Scheffler has been cruising to victories left and right in the 2024 season, but he was not the only multiple-title winner alone. Coming up at second, Xander Schauffele was the only one to win two major championships this year. However, he still could not come close to Scheffler, who had eight victories, including the Olympic gold and the recent TOUR Championship, where Schauffele was T4.

What’s the one thing that Schauffele may want from the world No. 1, who offers him so many wins? At the post-match press conference of the TOUR Championship, the 2-time major winner divulged exactly that. Statistically speaking, Schauffele said that he is confident when driving well that he could catch up to Scheffler. But he added, “Overall, I’d say he’s probably got me in driving. Just his accuracy is really good when he needs to pick it up or drop the speed a little bit just to hit more fairways.”

Talking about playing at the East Lake Golf Club, Schauffele explained that the field needed to hit more fairways than usual for a better chance to win. But he could not do that. He expressed that he was probably last in fairway hit accuracy at the newly renovated East Lake and thus, “I’m never going to sniff having a chance” to win the TOUR Championship this year, said the 9-time PGA Tour winner.

Although Schauffele was probably not the last in driving accuracy at East Lake GC, overall, he has been ranked 73rd on the PGA Tour and truly struggled to find fairways. If Schauffele had expertise in this one skill, there would be no doubt that he would become the toughest competitor for the world No. 1. While Xander Schauffele praised Scheffler’s driving prowess, the world No. 3 admired something else that Scheffler had.

Like Xander Schauffele, McIlroy, too, wants one thing from Scheffler

It had been quite an ordinary season for McIlroy, as he clinched only two wins on the PGA Tour. The 4-time major winner will now shift to the DP World Tour for the rest of the year and play at the European side’s season finale in the UAE. But before that, McIlroy revealed the stark difference between him and Scottie Scheffler that gives Scheffler an edge over him.

Asked about the difference at the press conference, McIlroy said, “He makes more birdies than I do and he makes less bogeys. That sort of adds up to him being a little bit better right now.” The Northern Irishman relayed that he admired Scheffler’s skill in playing more bogey-free rounds, which may not be spectacular but is solid and always puts him in contention. On the other hand, it pushes the field to make extra effort to catch up to him.

So Xander Schauffele eyes Scheffler’s driving accuracy, whereas McIlroy admires his skill in making more birdies than bogeys. The combination of the two makes Scottie Scheffler the No. 1 golfer in the world. McIlroy and Schauffele will surely aim to catch up to their counterpart’s skills until they meet next time!