The Open: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler involved in bizarre exchanges about future legacy ahead of Royal Birkdale | Golf News

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

The world’s top two are among the favourites to win the final men’s major of the season, with Scheffler returning as defending champion and McIlroy look to build on his victory at The Masters in April.

The pair have cemented their status as generational talents and among the best players of the 21st century, with 10 major wins and 50 PGA Tour titles between them, although both claim to be unconcerned about how they are remembered when they are no longer around.

“No, I don’t really care,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I would like to think that the people who love and care about me think a certain way of 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 six feet under. I don’t think I’ll be a ghost…I don’t care!”

He later added: “I think it would be a pretty unfulfilling pursuit if you’re just chasing records and chasing results. You have to enjoy the process. You have to enjoy the journey to get there. I’ve learned that the hard way at times by chasing results and chasing records too much.

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

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

“If you do that stuff enough times, hopefully you get yourself in a position to win. Then from there, yeah, you can start to think 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 on from questioning his fulfilment in the game in his pre-tournament press conference before victory.

The defending champion was philosophical again this time around, telling reporters: “I don’t really play for a place in history. I’m not playing for anything like that because – this is going to sound a little morbid – at the end of the day, I’m going to live my life, and it’s going to end.

“When it ends, I’m going somewhere else, and I’m not going to be here anymore. Legacy and all that stuff was never really something that motivated me. For me, it was always competition. I loved playing golf.”

Scheffler added: I have never once thought about how I’m going to be remembered. To me, it truly doesn’t matter from a sense of like accomplishment. When I die, ‘hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments and he won this much money’ – that has zero effect on me.”

McIlroy’ trending’ ahead of fresh major bid

The Northern Irishman admitted to having issues to fix in his game after an inconsistent week at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he finished tied fifth after a final-round 64, with McIlroy still making adjustments ahead of his bid for a seventh major title.

“Depends what hour of the day you get me, I think,” McIlroy said about the state of his game. “It’s funny, I felt really good the first two days in Scotland and then felt like my game just sort of deteriorated as the week went on. Even though I shot a good score on Sunday, it didn’t feel very good.

“I’ve done a good bit of work the past couple of days, getting the TrackMan out, seeing what my numbers are, and just trying to match up the feels of my swing with what I’m seeing. Also, I played 30 holes on Sunday. I felt a little bit tired yesterday, so I didn’t make it to the course.

“That allowed me a bit more time to hit some balls and dig into the swing a little bit. Felt good on the range. Felt good out on the course today. 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 a bit more stuff to do. So it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, albeit it was quite frustrating.

“I would say missing a cut is probably the hardest thing. I don’t think it hurts as much as coming close to winning and finishing second. I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurt more than missing the cut, but missing the cut is significantly more frustrating.”

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 wall-to-wall action from the final men’s major of the year getting under way at 6.30am on Thursday on Sky Sports Golf.

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