Jack Nicklaus weighs in on McIlroy and Scheffler rivalry

18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus sees more of himself in Scottie Scheffler than Rory McIlroy and feels the American’s accuracy off the tee will win more tournaments.

McIlroy and Scheffler have won three of the last six major tournaments including the Masters and PGA Championship respectively this season while McIlroy has further wins at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship with Scheffler winning the CJ Cup.

Both victories came under very different circumstances. McIlroy was bidding for the career grand slam at the Masters while also battling the demons of an eleven-year major drought while Scheffler continued his recent dominance in golf with his third major crown.

Although McIlroy now has five majors and has been tipped to win more, Nicklaus believes Scheffler might overtake the Holywood man.

“[I see myself more in] Scotty,” Nicklaus told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast. “First of all, Rory, the ball gets away from Rory right to left. Always has his career.

“He hasn’t corrected it, but he still has had a great career with it. But could he have had a better career if he’d gone a little bit the other way? I don’t know.

“Maybe yes, maybe no. But Scottie has learned at a fairly young age that keeping the ball in play [is key]. He’s long, he’s certainly long enough, as long as the rest of the guys. But he doesn’t try to be.

“He makes sure that he puts it in play so that he’s got a second shot to play. I think that wins golf tournaments more often than hitting it over the top of trees and so forth.”

Also on the podcast, Nicklaus revealed what he said to McIlroy after he became just the sixth golfer to win the grand slam last month, a limited club that includes Nicklaus himself.

“I think that getting over the line and winning The Masters is probably more important than winning the Grand Slam,” he added.

“I think that The Masters has been a bugaboo for him for 10 years. And I think that once he got The Masters behind him, the reward was the Grand Slam, so I’m very happy for him.

“It was great golf, and I dropped him a note and said a guy who makes four double-bogeys and still has enough talent to overcome that is pretty special.”