The Open: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler involved in strange exchange over future legacy ahead of Royal Birkdale | Golf News

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy have both dismissed concerns about how their future legacies are perceived ahead of their latest bid for major success at The Open.

The world number two are among the favorites to win the men’s final this season, with Scheffler returning as the defending champion and McIlroy looking to build on his victory at The Masters in April.

The pair cemented their status as the production talents and best players of the 21st century, with 10 major wins and 50 PGA Tour titles between them, although both say they don’t care how they’re remembered when they’re gone.

“No, I don’t really care,” McIlroy said in a pre-tournament press conference. “I’d like to think that people who love and care about me think a certain way about me, but yeah, I’ll be long gone. I’ll be dead.

“I don’t think I’ll be seeing what people say about me. I’ll be under six feet. I don’t think I’ll be a ghost…I don’t care!”

Later he added: “I think it can be a good pursuit that is not fulfilled if you just chase records and chase results. You have to enjoy the process. You have to enjoy the journey to get there. I learned that the hard way is sometimes by chasing results and chasing records too much.

“You start focusing on your craft and your practice and doing the things you need to do to try to become a better golfer. When you do that, the results and the wins almost take care of themselves, or at least you put yourself in a good enough position to at least get in the door a few times.

“Obviously you’re trying to win, but winning is not a tangible goal, is it? The real goal is I want to do this with my swing or I want to hit this type of shot or I want to feel good when I’m over the ball, whatever it is.

“If you do those things enough times, hopefully you’ll put yourself in a position to win. And then you start there, yeah, you can start thinking about winning the tournament. But if all you’re thinking about is winning and results, you’re playing the wrong game.”

Scheffler is looking to become the first player since Padraig Harrington to win back-to-back editions of The Open, a year since questioning his fulfillment in the game at a pre-tournament press conference before the victory.

The defending champion was also philosophical about this, telling reporters: “I don’t really play a role in history. I don’t play something like that because – this is going to sound a little harsh – at the end of the day, I’m going to live my life, and it’s going to be over.

“If it ends, I’ll go somewhere else, and I won’t be here anymore. The legacy and all that wasn’t really what motivated me. For me, it was always competition. I loved playing golf.”

Scheffler added: I never once thought about how I would be remembered. To me, it means nothing in the sense of achieving the same. If I die, ‘hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 championships and won this much money’ – that doesn’t matter to me.”

McIlroy ‘trending’ ahead of new big bid

The Northern Irishman admitted he has issues in his game to work on after an inconsistent week at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he finished tied for fifth after a final-round 64, as McIlroy continues to make adjustments ahead of his bid for a seventh major title.

“It depends on what time of day you find me, I guess,” McIlroy said of the state of his game. “It’s funny, I felt really good the first two days in Scotland and then I felt like my game went down as the week went on. Even though I scored well on Sunday, it didn’t feel good.

“I’ve done a great job the last few days, pulling out TrackMan, seeing what my numbers are, and just trying to combine the feelings of my swing with what I’m seeing. Also, I played 30 holes on Sunday. I felt a little tired yesterday, so I didn’t make it to the course.

“That gave me more time to hit balls and get into the swing a little bit. I felt good on the range. I felt better on the course today. I’m definitely trending in the right direction.”

Scheffler, who missed his first cut since 2022 at the event, added: “You never want to have a weekend off, but going into a tournament when you’re defending, there’s always something to do. So it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, although it was frustrating.

“I’d say missing is probably the hardest thing. I don’t think it’s as painful as coming close to winning and finishing second. I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurts more than missing, but missing the cutter hurts me more.”

When is The Open live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports is once again the exclusive home of The Open in the UK and Ireland, with a wall-to-wall run from the final men’s final of the year starting at 6.30am on Thursday on Sky Sports Golf.

There will be at least 15 hours of coverage for both of the first two rounds, with bonus feeds available on Sky Sports+ or Sky Sports Appwith extended testimony beginning at 9am on Saturday and 8am on Sunday.