Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy head into The Players as the world’s top three players and have been grouped together for the first rounds at TPC Sawgrass; Watch the opening round live on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Golf
By Ali Stafford at TPC Sawgrass
Last Updated: 08/03/23 8:14pm
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World No 2 Scottie Scheffler claims he’s looking forward to watching Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm after it was announced the world’s top three golfers would be paired together at The Players Championship.
World No 2 Scottie Scheffler claims he’s looking forward to watching Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm after it was announced the world’s top three golfers would be paired together at The Players Championship.
Scottie Scheffler is relishing the chance to resume the rivalry at the top of the men’s game after being handed a star-studded grouping with Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy at The Players.
Scheffler briefly held the world No 1 spot after winning the WM Phoenix Open last month, only for Rahm to overtake him a week later with Genesis Invitational victory – a fifth title in nine worldwide starts.
McIlroy is also a winner on the PGA Tour this season and completes the world’s top three, with all three having the chance to end the week top of the world rankings depending on their performances at TPC Sawgrass.
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Paul McGinley thinks Jon Rahm will have the edge over Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler as the three are grouped together in the opening round of The Players Championship.
The trio have been grouped together for the first two rounds of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, teeing off at 7.56am local time (12.56pm GMT) on Thursday and 12.56pm (5.56pm GMT) the following day, with Scheffler looking forward to be alongside his fellow world No 1 contenders.
“The way I’m approaching it is I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Scheffler said in his pre-tournament press conference. “Rory [McIlroy] and Jon [Rahm] are very talented golfers. I’m just looking forward to going out there and watching them play and having a good time out there and competing together.
Scheffler is chasing a second victory of the PGA Tour season
“I’m sure that the fans will be out there watching us, and it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully we’ll be able to make some birdies and give them some roars. Should be a lot of fun.
“Hopefully we’ll all continue to play great golf. I think it’s fun having three guys kind of jostling for the world No 1 and I’m very pleased to be one of them. Rory and Jon are both such talented players that any time I can be spoken in the same breath as those guys it’s special for me.
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“Especially growing up watching a guy like Rory play golf for a long time. So hopefully we’ll continue to play good and be able to compete for a long time out here.”
Scheffler ’50/50′ on PGA Tour changes
The PGA Tour announcement last week that eight designated events in the 2024 schedule will have limited fields of 70-78 players and no cut, along with elevated purses, with Scheffler understanding why the decision has generated a mixed view from the golfing world.
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Jon Rahm claims that without LIV Golf, the PGA Tour wouldn’t be making any changes to its structure
“The cuts is a hard one because I don’t have a strong opinion either way,” Scheffler added. “I’m 50/50 on that because as a player I think a cut is good. I think when you go to the other side and you go to sponsors, a cut is probably bad.
“From a player’s point of view, sometimes there’s value to making cuts. Like if we’re going to have an elevated event the week before a major and there’s no cut and I show up and I play two awful rounds, sometimes you would rather be just like, all right, just kick me out of the tournament, let me go regroup and get ready for next week.
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Rory McIlroy suggests that innovation for the PGA Tour schedule is something that will benefit all of professional golf
“From a sponsor and fan point of view, it’s arguably not very good. So, for me I don’t stand too hard on one side of the fence on that. I’m not the guy running the business. I’m the one out here trying to play.
“All I can do is go out there and approach these events. But it’s something maybe we’ll fiddle around with in the future. I don’t know exactly what the format will be for every event next year, but we’ll see.”
Watch The Players throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage from the opening round begins on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Golf!
