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IIn 1940, “The Wizard of Oz” did not win the Academy Award for Best Picture the previous year, because another classic – “Gone with the Wind” – was released the same year.
A year later, Ted Williams hit .406 for the Boston Red Sox (he remains baseball’s last .400 hitter), while Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak for the New York Yankees, earning him the American League’s Most Valuable Player award.
Which brings us to the 2025 Rory McIlroy-Scottie Scheffler question:
Who had the better season?
Scheffler appears likely to win his fourth consecutive PGA Tour player of the year award, but like “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind,” both seasons will stand the test of time.
In what felt like the destined conclusion to a golf season written in the stars, McIlroy looked set to cap his extraordinary 2025 by winning the DP World Tour Championship while capturing his seventh Race for Dubai title. Matt Fitzpatrick defeated McIlroy in a play-off to win the final of the European tour, but McIlroy further cemented his position as the greatest European golfer of all time by winning the season championship for the seventh time.
It would have been McIlroy’s fifth individual victory of the year, along with the European Ryder Cup triumph, capping a season that could ultimately define his brilliance.
There was the Masters victory that completed a career Grand Slam, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, another Players Championship and the Amgen Irish Open, a collection of achievements that reads like a McIlroy wish list.
That’s a career packed into one storybook season.
And Scheffler was just as good, maybe a tad better.
Here’s what Scheffler achieved when he stopped cutting his own pasta with wine glasses:
He played 20 PGA Tour events, won six, including two major championships, made it all and never finished outside the top 25.
Scheffler won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the PGA Championship, the Memorial Tournament, the Open Championship, the BMW Championship and the Procore Championship. The Americans lost the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, but Scheffler, who had a 1-4 record, defeated McIlroy by 1 in Sunday’s singles.
Starting at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in late March, Scheffler made 15 starts and never finished lower than T8.
Scheffler led the PGA Tour in total strokes gained and strokes gained approaching the green. He was second in strokes gained off the tee and 21st in strokes gained while putting. It’s hard to be much better than that.
“I have a clear head and I’m not really bothered by all the politics in golf, and I can just concentrate on playing and playing where I want and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments I want to play.” – Rory McIlroy
McIlroy’s victory at Augusta in April, electrified by lightning-quick twists, was his first major championship win in eleven years and made him just the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam, literally dropping him to his knees when his play-off victory over Justin Rose was complete.
It was cathartic and emotionally draining, leaving McIlroy happily adrift for a while as he savored his achievement while wondering if he could find another hill to climb.
“I don’t think my desire is gone. It’s certainly not gone. But I think it’s just one of those things where I don’t have to choose where I want to place my desire and what I want my goals to be,” McIlroy said this fall.
“I’m certainly not less driven, but maybe just more driven in specific areas. I don’t feel like chasing as much anymore. I’m not going after the Grand Slam anymore. I’m not going after these things. I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done in the game. I’m still driven to do more, but you know, it’s kind of a pinpoint to drive in certain directions.”
“I have a clear head and I’m not really bothered by all the politics in golf, and I can just concentrate on playing and playing where I want and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments I want to play.”
In his understated yet resolute manner, Scheffler seems to have mastered the ability to operate on his own terms. He seemed more comfortable as a public figure this year and understood what his voice means during the game, but Scheffler doesn’t seem to be swayed by whichever way the wind is blowing at the moment.
It’s been just under four years since Scheffler won his first PGA Tour event and now he has won 15 times in two seasons (including the 2024 Olympics and the Hero World Challenge).
As good as McIlroy has been, he admitted earlier this year that he uses Scheffler as a North Star of sorts, looking for elements of the Texan’s game and attitude and incorporating them into his own behavior, saying: “He’s the bar we’re all trying to get to.”
Scheffler opened a window into his psyche at the Open Championship in July when he said the joy of winning can disappear in five minutes, but his relentless consistency both defines and separates him.
“Looking at this year, multiple major championships, some major PGA Tour events. It was another really great year for me. I gave myself some opportunities to win and was able to take advantage of them. And anytime you have a year where you can win multiple major championships, I think it’s a pretty special year,” Scheffler said late in the summer.
“I may have had a slower start than I had hoped, but I had a really good start in the Byron [Nelson} in May and that kind of propelled me to having a really great year.”
That’s as close as Scheffler comes to chest thumping.
On Sunday, having accomplished his primary goal of winning the Race to Dubai title again, McIlroy was asked if he ever takes time to savor what he’s accomplished.
“Yeah, sometimes,” McIlroy said. “I think as you’re still playing, it’s probably detrimental to do it too much. But yeah, there’s times when I catch myself, and I think about my place in the game and where I’m going to end up.
“Again, as a 36-year-old, hopefully with a lot of years left in the tank, I don’t think about it too much. But you can appreciate that, up until this point, it’s been a pretty good run.”
Scottie Scheffler knows exactly what McIlroy means.
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