Brandel Chamblee gives his honest opinion on Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy which he ‘hates to say’

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy have been the standouts on the PGA Tour this season, with both now eyeing further success at The Open Championship.

Scheffler and McIlroy could help the PGA Tour by battling it out at The Open Championship, which returns to Royal Portrush this week.

Both players have just taken on the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, where McIlroy finished T2 and Scheffler finished T8.

They therefore enter the last major of 2025 in fine form, having both clinched three PGA Tour wins this season.

Their honours list involves a major championship title each, with the Northern Irishman winning The Masters and the American winning the PGA Championship.

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Brandel Chamblee picks who is the better golfer between Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy

Amid their dominance, Brandel Chamblee has compared the duo, with golfing legend Tiger Woods earning his almost inevitable reference.

Chamblee said of Scheffler on The Smylie Show: “In 2023 you start looking at his strokes gained approach and he was Tiger-esque.

“He was better than anybody had been. We thought Collin Morikawa was amazing with his strokes gained approach.

“We thought Will Zalatoris was amazing with his strokes gained approach but in 2023 Scottie took it to another level.

“Then he got better in 2024. There is no other data that matters more than strokes gained approach. He just took it to another level.

“He has done it now for three years and so now you look at him and you think, you could easily be one of the greatest players of all time.

“He is so much better, and I hate to say this but it’s true, than Rory McIlroy. He is better than Rory McIlroy in the way Secretariat was better than Sham at the Belmont in 1973.

“Now Tiger is that much better in totality than Scottie Scheffler is but Scottie is just miles better than the second-best player on the PGA Tour.

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“So you look at him and he has sustained it now for three years and you begin to look at a player and think can they sustain dominance for five years?

“The greatest players of all time sustained dominance for five plus years and we haven’t had a player sustain dominance, true dominance, but five years since Tiger Woods.

“Rory has not done it, [Jordan] Spieth did not do it, Dustin Johnson did not do it, Brooks Koepka did not do it. Two or three years? Yes. But not five.

“You look at Scottie and you think all the things that beset the players that I just mentioned to me are unlikely to beset Scottie.

“He is not going to physiologically hurt himself, changing his body. He is not going to change his swing. He is not going to have any disruption off of the golf course. You just can’t see it happening.”

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy strokes gained approach stats ahead of The Open Championship

As mentioned, they boast identical PGA Tour records this season, but it is Scheffler who tops the world rankings.

He is in first place ahead of McIlroy in second, with Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Russell Henley completing the top five.

And perhaps unsurprisingly, it is the world number one who is the man to beat in terms of strokes gained on the PGA Tour.

Thanks to his stunning season, which was incidentally delayed due to hand surgery, he tops the pile for strokes gained total, tee-to-green, off-the-tee and approach the green.