By Daniel Matthews At Pinehurst, North Carolina
23:10 12 Jun 2024, updated 23:10 12 Jun 2024
On Wednesday afternoon, Rory McIlroy was fine-tuning his US Open preparations – firing iron shots over the rolling hills of the Pinehurst practice ground – when Scottie Scheffler ambled by. The pair embraced. ‘Nice playing again, son. Very good!’ McIlroy said.
He congratulated Ted Scott, the caddie who last week guided Scheffler to his fifth victory of the season. Then, as Scheffler headed off to sign some autographs and hit some putts, he turned back to McIlroy. ‘See you tomorrow!’ the world No 1 shouted.
It begged a couple of questions: What do they have in store on Thursday? What more drama and chaos can they possibly they put us through this week?
McIlroy and Scheffler will be reunited on the first tee on Thursday lunchtime, two thirds of a blockbuster group also including PGA champion Xander Schauffele. World Nos 1, 2 and 3. They will be the focus of attention over the first two days here. They’re used to that by now, of course.
This tournament lands almost a year to the day after the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF first announced a shock merger. Since then, McIlroy has remained on the front life of golf’s civil war. Since then, Scheffler has threaded together a run of remarkable dominance over his rivals.
All fairly tame compared to the circus of recent weeks, though, when these two have played a leading role once more. The bedlam began in April, when Scheffler cruised to a second Masters win despite having one foot out of Augusta all weekend, as his wife Meredith prepared to give birth to their first son.
Less than a month has passed since news emerged that McIlroy had filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica Stoll, just days before the PGA Championship.
By the end of that week, Scheffler had been put in the back of a cop car, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, charged with a felony and then escorted back to Valhalla in time to tee off. He didn’t top the leaderboard for once, at least.
As McIlroy joked this week: ‘The only thing that took him from winning a golf tournament was going into a jail cell for an hour.’
Scheffler’s case rumbled on for a couple of weeks, until all charges were dropped against the world No 1. Much of the noise around McIlroy and his private life had begun to fall silent, too.
And then, on Tuesday, DailyMail.com revealed that the Northern Irishman’s divorce was off. Just when golf threatened to take center stage once more.
Instead, eyes trained on McIlroy’s left hand as he returned to practice on Wednesday. There was no wedding ring but no sense of any emotional hangover. Not as he as he warmed up or as he embraced Scheffler.
On the range, McIlroy was flanked by his caddie, Harry Diamond, and his manager, Sean O’Flaherty. He occasionally hit a shot. But the Northern Irishman spent most of Wednesday’s practice session laughing and joking with his team.
Eventually McIlroy made his way on to the first tee for a final trip around Pinehurst No 2 before Thursday’s opening round. He was given a huge ovation and he seemed to enjoy himself, too.
The 35-year-old believes he is ‘closer than ever’ to ending his decade-long wait for a fifth major. So it was rather fitting, then, that he played Wednesday’s practice round alongside Martin Kaymer.
The German was the last man to win the US Open here, in 2014. Scheffler is widely expected to triumph this time round. But McIlroy is well fancied, too.
‘Rory’s going to win this thing,’ one fan shouted after the Northern Irishman arrowed his approach to within a few feet of the first hole.
The crowd hollered again on the second, when he showed tremendous control around these perilous greens. McIlroy gave them a performative club twirl a couple of holes later, when he holed a huge putt from deep in a hollow.
He was given a few reminders that this course will not bend to his will that easily. But McIlroy smiled and chatted his way around Pinehurst as the glare of the sun relented briefly.
The spotlight won’t fade anytime soon and it would be another remarkable chapter of a bonkers year if he were to triumph here.
The 35-year-old does at least have form, though. A decade ago, he won just days on from announcing the end of his engagement to Caroline Wozniacki. Two majors then followed soon after. He shone again in 2022, even while spearheading the PGA Tour’s fight against LIV Golf.
Even this year, he won twice in the weeks before news of his divorce broke and followed up a T12-finish at Valhalla by coming fourth at the RBC Canadian Open.
So perhaps his time has come. Or perhaps Schauffele will emerge through the chaos to triumph once more. Or perhaps Scheffler and McIlroy have more chaos around the corner. What’s the opposite of tempting fate?