Rory McIlroy jokes that he won’t be giving Scottie Scheffler any more advice after the American heeded his direction to change putter…and then romped to a five-shot win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Rory McIlroy acknowledges the ‘ticking clock’ in his head since he last won a major. It is also recognized that efforts to stop it can be helped by keeping his mouth shut.

The latter was admitted by the world number 2 on Wednesday, albeit less in relation to his regular commentary on golf politics and more in the context of the beast he has seemingly awakened in Scottie Scheffler.

It was McIlroy who a few weeks ago publicly recommended that Scheffler could benefit from a putter change if he wanted to reduce the huge discrepancy between his otherworldly ball striking and his work on the greens, which is among the worst on the course. last year’s PGA Tour.

The problem for McIlroy and the rest of golf is that Scheffler has changed the equipment and the impact has been dramatic – his five-shot victory at Bay Hill last week was ominous because of the message that Scheffler might be unplayable with a hot putter could be. .

Whether it was McIlroy’s advice that was decisive is open to debate, but in a wink ahead of Thursday’s first round at the Players Championship he appears to have stopped giving tips to his closest rivals.

Scheffler showed why he’s world No. 1 with victory the week he changed his putter

Scottie Scheffler beams as he holds up the Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy on Bay Hill

“I’m not going to give him any more advice, that’s for sure,” McIlroy said. ‘Scottie has had enough criticism about his putting, you talk about it enough.

“I was asked that question and I was actually trying to talk more about myself than Scottie. It was like, ‘Okay, when I was putting with a knife, I was struggling. When I went to the Spider I found a little more success and was a little more consistent.” I didn’t know he was going to put it in the bag straight away and win by five!’

A month out from the Masters, the field’s hopes could now rest on Scheffler’s improvement proving short-lived. As for McIlroy, now in his 10th year since his fourth of four majors, the forecasts are a little less optimistic as he has amassed 66-24-21-21 since winning the Dubai Desert Classic in January. His driving and setting are good, but his irons have developed an unusual habit of pulling to the left.

He arrived at Sawgrass this week accepting that he needed a good show, and also admitted that he was growing impatience with his big drought. “It’s (built up in his mind), but at the same time, I look at my record in the majors over the last couple of years, and I’ve definitely started performing.

“Look, I’m under no illusions that the clock is ticking and it’s been ten years since I won one. I just have to keep putting myself in those positions, and sooner or later it will happen.”

McIlroy is well aware that it has been ten years since his last major win at the 2014 PGA Championship

As for the ongoing drama surrounding the PGA Tour’s peace negotiations with LIV’s Saudi paymasters, McIlroy has called for a quick resolution. This week’s flagship event of the PGA Tour already bears the scars of civil war – the mere absence of Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith makes a mockery of historical claims to be golf’s strongest field.

“I want the train to move faster so we can get this thing behind us,” said McIlroy, who also lent his support to Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, 24 hours after Xander Schauffele spoke on behalf of many in saying he had no confidence of golfers had lost. about his handling of the saga.

He said, “Look what Jay has done since he took over. “If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, I think the PGA Tour is in a much stronger position than when Jay took over.”