Scheffler keen for more duels with McIlroy in 2023

Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the third round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Saturday, June 18, 2022. (Chris Keane/USGA)

Rory McIlroy might be world number one, but Scottie Scheffler hasn't gone away and insists he can't wait to take on the Holywood star down the stretch in 2023.

The Masters champion (26) held the world number one ranking for 30 weeks in 2022, winning the WM Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play before cruising to a three-shot win over McIlroy at Augusta National.

McIlroy would depose him as world number one just a few weeks after coming from six shots behind the Texan at East Lake to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup,

But thanks to McIlroy's absence, the Texan (26) can return to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking with victory in this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua.

In fact, he can afford to finish solo third at the Plantation Course and still topple McIlroy as world number one, not that he's ever lost much sleep worrying about his ranking.

"I feel like when you're at the top, if you feel like you're at the top, you're not really motivated to continue to work," Scheffler said. "For me, I never felt like No. 1 in the world. I'm just myself. I just show up and try and play good golf. So outside of that, I didn't look too far ahead."

He admits he probably never got the credit as a bona fide world number one, but he's looking forward to the chance to take on McIlroy and the game's best more often now that LIV Golf has forced the PGA Tour to create a string of $20 million "elevated" events.

"For me, I never felt like No. 1 in the world," he said. "I'm just myself. I just show up and try and play good golf. So outside of that, I didn't look too far ahead."

That said, he's looking ahead to hosting the Champions Dinner at the Masters in April but when asked about the possibility of awkwardness in the room after Augusta National agreed to invite past champions who have defected to LIV Golf, he raised a giggle.

"I haven't seen many of the LIV guys," he said, pointing to the absence this week of defending champion Cameron Smith. "I saw Bubba [Watson] on vacation this year, and I told him that I was just going to have a separate table for him in the corner by himself (laughing) only kidding, obviously. In the world of golf, I think it's definitely a little sad what's happening."

He believes players will put their differences aside at the Masters and admits he's excited about the season ahead with the new "designated" events set to gather the top players more often.

"I believe that the more often we can get the best players together playing against each other and it's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "I'm excited to get my next chance going down the stretch with Rory. I'm excited to compete against Sam [Burns] and Patrick [Cantlay] and all the guys that I kind of went down the stretch with last year. Had a few wins and a few seconds and I'm excited to go back and do it again."

As for the Masters, Augusta National yesterday announced reigning NCAA Men's Golf individual champion Gordon Sargent (19) from Vanderbilt University and Japan's Kazuki Higa (27), a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, have accepted special invitations to compete in April.