Five biggest threats to Rory McIlroy winning the US PGA Championship
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler after winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson 2025 in Texas on May 4th. Photograph:He's back, if he ever truly went away. Scheffler's wait for a first win of the season came in rather spectacular style at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson where he had 12 shots to spare over Erik Van Rooyen in shooting a 31-under-par total of 253, which equalled the low 72-holes total on the PGA Tour. Scheffler had a slow start to the year after suffering a hand injury over the Christmas period but the world number one has fully recovered and will be McIlroy's main challenger.
Odds:
9/2
Joaquin Niemann
The Chilean has been the standout player on the LIV Golf circuit this season with three wins (in Adelaide, Singapore and Mexico). Niemann's two career wins on the PGA Tour (the Greenbrier in 2019 and the Genesis in 2022) came before his move to LIV. His form in the majors – no top-10s in 23 appearances (with a best finish of tied-16th in the 2023 Masters) – is at odds with his undoubted talent. His form suggests he is ready to finally contend.
Odds:
28/1
READ MORE
Justin Rose
Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy shake hands after the first playoff hole during the final round of the 2025 Masters in Augusta, Georgia on April 13th. Photograph:Ageing like a fine wine, the Englishman – with one career Major title, the US Open back in 2013 – has contended strongly in each of the last two Majors: he was runner-up to Xander Schauffele in last year's Open at Troon and lost out to Rory McIlroy in a playoff at the Masters. Started the year ranked 55th in the world and has moved up to 14th on the back of good form.
Odds:
55/1
Collin Morikawa
Collin Morikawa. Photograph: Emilee Chinn/Getty
The two-time Major champion – US PGA in 2020 and The Open in 2021 – hasn't won since the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour since the Zozo Championship at the tailend of 2023 but has posted two runner-up finishes so far this season. He has recently changed caddie to tour veteran Joe Greiner.
Odds:
20/1
Justin Thomas
Two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas. Photograph: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire
Back to the scene of his great win in the 2017 US PGA Championship, Thomas has hit a rich vein of form. He hasn't missed a cut all year and his impressive win in the RBC Heritage gave him his fifth top-10 finish in 10 tournaments this season.
Odds:
20/1
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
US Open: Rory McIlroy tries to put a smile on another chastening day at Oakmont
Rory McIlroy impressively went through his entire pre-round routine on the range and the short-game area with all the hope and expectation of making a third-round move in this 125th US Open at Oakmont. But when the time came for every shot to count, the world number two found himself in reverse. Ultimately, a third round of 74 for a 54-holes total of 220, 10 over par, has McIlroy cast among the also rans. His position was reflected in his post-round remarks. Question: 'What do you look for tomorrow?' READ MORE Answer: 'Hopefully a round in under four-and-a-half hours and get out of here!' McIlroy's aim to get up and running early in an attempt to navigate a route up the leaderboard never truly got going, as his outside hopes of a fourth title of the season – to add to the Pebble Beach pro-am, the Players and the Masters – dwindled with two bogeys, at the third and ninth, in an outward nine of 37 strokes. One of two birdies came on the 10th and the other on the drivable par-4 17th where he found a greenside bunker and splashed out to six feet. But there were also four bogeys, the last of them coming on the 18th where his tee shot finished in rough 20 yards right of the fairway. 'I was hoping to play better today but didn't,' admitted McIlroy, who'd impressively birdied the 18th in his second round to guarantee his presence for weekend, with his frustration evident when loose shots were penalised and he was even reduced at times to smiling at his plight. He added: 'It's funny, like it's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not. I was sort of thinking, 'do I really want two more days here or not?' So it makes it easier to play better when you're in that mindset. Of the demands placed on players by the course, McIlroy – who has committed to next week's Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour – claimed: 'The name of the game this week is staying patient, and try to do a good job of it out there, but it's one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly. 'I actually feel like I've played okay this week. It's a sort of golf course where the tiniest mistakes get penalised a lot and that's sort of how it's felt this week.'
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irked McIlroy hits out at media and pace of play after more Oakmont struggles
Rory McIlroy returned to media duties on Saturday at Oakmont but kept things short and very snappy indeed as he admitted to harbouring frustrations with journalists and said it had been easier to make the US Open cut 'when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not'. After another uninspiring round at this year's third major pushed the Holywood man to 10-over, McIlroy was visibly irked as he discussed in curt detail his decision to skip post-round interviews over the first two days in Pittsburgh and all four rounds at last month's PGA Championship. 'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do,' McIlroy said in an awkward media scrum which lasted all of five minutes and ended with a barb towards the week's pace of play in Pittsburgh. The 36-year-old who has endured a wholly underwhelming spell after completing the grand slam in April was asked if his decision had anything to do with his on-course travails. 'No, not really. It's more a frustration with you guys,' he replied. In what way? 'I don't know. I have been totally available for the last few years, and I'm not saying, maybe not [frustrated with] you guys, but maybe more just the whole thing.' After declining media after his first two rounds, Rory McIlroy spoke after his third round at the U.S. Open. Here's the full interview, for those interested. Touches on his "pretty average" play, feeling "a little flat," and thoughts on media obligations. — Paul Hodowanic (@PaulHodowanic) June 14, 2025 Asked if part of it was down to how issues around how his driver failing a pre-tournament test at the PGA had been reported, McIlroy replied: 'Yeah that was a part of it. But it's not as if…like at Augusta I skipped you guys on Thursday, so yeah, again, it's not out of the ordinary. I've done it before. I'm just doing it a little more often.' McIlroy's tetchy relations with the sport's chroniclers has come in a troubled year, with Shane Lowry and Collin Morikawa among those who have also hit out at some media demands place on player. Asked was he trying to force the tour to mandate talking to media, he insisted that wasn't the case. 'I'm not daring them to do anything,' said McIlroy. 'I hope they don't change it because, you know [skipping media] is a nice luxury to have. I'm just pointing out the fact that we have the ability to do it.' US Open organisers woke Saturday morning to find Oakmont soaked through and made the unusual decision to offer ticket-holders a full refund should the idea of trudging around along muddy fringes of fairways not appeal. For much of moving day McIlroy looked like a man who may have taken them up on the offer if it had been extended to players. Moving day in Pittsburgh saw the Irishman go mostly in reverse as momentum was as hard to find inside the ropes as in the quagmire outside them. McIlroy was back in the clubhouse and signing for a 4-over 74 fully 40 minutes before leaders Sam Burns, JJ Spaun and Viktor Hovland — the only trio to still be under par by mid-Saturday afternoon — had begun their third rounds. Tacking the 74 on to the 74 and 72 which preceded it this week meant that for the first time since the 2012 Open Championship, McIlroy had shot three consecutive rounds over par at a major. His wider search for a groove after Augusta continues to bear little fruit, his tetchy moments during Friday's round, tomahawking a club away in anger then smashing a tee block with his 3-wood, were not the actions of a man enjoying the moment. McIlroy had parked the histrionics and found life when he needed it most on Friday evening in western Pennsylvania a brilliant birdie on the the 18th to ensure weekend action. As it turned out, he would make the cut with a shot to spare, the last second-round stragglers returning to a sodden Oakmont course early Saturday morning to complete their rounds after inclement weather had forced them into the clubhouse on Friday night. According to McIlroy, making the cut had actually proven because he had given up caring. It's funny, like it's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not. (Laughing.) I was sort of thinking, do I really want two more days here or not. So it makes it easier to play better when you're in that mindset." The bad weather hung over the area all night and it was a lingering rainy start for some of the earlier pairings. McIlroy found himself in familiar territory alongside reigning Open champion Xander Schauffele having gone around Quail Hollow three times with the Californian at last month's PGA Championship. There had been some expectation that the most unforgiving test in American golf, which had taken an unholy and heavy toll on some of the game's best over the first two days, may be more gettable in the damp conditions. But for McIlroy there would be almost no breakthrough. He bogeyed the 3rd after overshooting the green by just a fraction but this has been a week when any miscalculations led to crooked numbers. He couldn't buy a put but earned a second bogey on the 9th after taking a penalty for an errant drive. He would finally find his first birdie of the day after the turn but immediately gave it back with another bogey at 11th, another couple of squares on the scorecard arriving on the 14th and 16th as he moved into double figures over par. Having gone for it on the drivable par-4 17th, McIlroy found the bunker but jumped into the trap to produce a quite gorgeous escape, his chip finishing within whispering distance for a belated second birdie. However one of the week's most frequent failings, a cut drive off the tee which cut too much (sometimes not enough), reappeared on 18 and he'd finish with another bogey. These two extra rounds around Oakmont are probably welcome opportunities to work on such issues with the Open at Portrush fast approaching but McIlroy is not a man used to being this far out of contention on moving day at a major. Among those actually finding some forward progress was Ryder Cup teammate Robert MacIntyre, the big Scot putting in a blemish-free front nine which included two birdies to push him into the top 10. Collin Morikawa opened with two birdies in his first three, the two-time major winner also looking to push into contention. World No.1 Scottie Scheffler was pushing hard to do likewise but two bogeys offset two birdies in his first eight holes. Much would ultimately depend on how the final five or six groups would fare. With just two major winners among the top 12 on the overnight leaderboard there was still so much golf to be played. Asked what he was hoping for in Sunday's final round, McIlroy's answer was, like the rest of his offerings short and not all that sweet. 'Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here,' he said.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Raids and fear cast a large shadow over Club World Cup's big launch
'When Donald Trump came in the laws just changed and it's hard for immigrants now ... you've got a lot of people being deported, people who have been in the United States for two decades. It's not nice, it's not right when someone who hasn't committed a crime has to go back somewhere. 'I just don't respect somebody like [Trump] that deports so many people and hurts so many families ... this country was built on immigrants. Nobody's from here.' It seems unlikely this is the kind of hard political messaging Gianni Infantino was hoping to associate himself with when Fifa booked the New York rapper French Montana as its headline act at Saturday's Club World Cup opening ceremony, a global spectacular taking place against a background of unrest over Trump's immigration and repatriation policies. French Montana moved to New York from Morocco aged 13 and has been outspoken in his support for the rights of undocumented US immigrants, although his place on the political spectrum has been muddied a little this year by an unexpected appearance on the Lara Trump track No Days Off. READ MORE His comments in interviews in 2019 and 2018, and his presence at the centre of Fifa's publicity for the launch night of its $1 billion show, will provide a deeply uncomfortable reminder of the perils of fawning over divisive political leaders. Infantino has spent the past year energetically cosying up to the US president, attending his inauguration in a state of high excitement and even delaying Fifa's annual meeting in order to follow Trump around a little longer on his visit to Qatar. French Montana is at least in tune with the Fifa zeitgeist. Already this week the news that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be part of the security operation for Saturday's game between Al Ahly and Inter Miami has sparked widespread disquiet. A year out from the World Cup that the US is sharing with Canada and Mexico, there is concern not only that supporters may stay away over fear of document checks and status wrangles, but that Fifa's showpiece men's club event is in danger of being piggybacked on as a political event by the Trump administration. Members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (Ero), assisted by the FBI and other federal agencies perform an arrest in Miami on May 28th. Photograph: Todd Heisler/The New York Times CBP has been openly promoting its role at Fifa's tournament for the past few months under the hashtag #CBPxFIFA. This came to a head this week as it ended up deleting a Facebook post that stated its agents would be 'suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games'. The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Ice and CBP officers will be present at Club World Cup fixtures, saying: 'All non-American citizens need to carry proof of their legal status.' This is not without recent precedent. CBP often operates at big sporting events, including February's Super Bowl in New Orleans. But it isn't hard to see how this might be interpreted as containing an element of threat. Ice officers are being escorted around Los Angeles by the US national guard, a hugely controversial move that has contributed to the current unrest in the city. CBP has also declined so far to address the reasons for the removal of its post about Fifa's grand jamboree, which fuelled fears the event may be rolled into the aggressive enforcement of Trump's immigration policy. A glance at CBP's X feed makes plain this is by no means a politically neutral entity. One post reads: 'The alarming riots in L.A. which have put hundreds of law enforcement officers at risk, are precisely why the Big Beautiful Bill is so important.' Another states: 'While rioters wave foreign flags and burn ours, our officers will always raise the stars and stripes with pride.' Approving references to Trump's policies are intercut with remarks about 'lies' from 'the mainstream media and sanctuary politicians'. Questions will naturally be asked about whether this constitutes an appropriate hashtag partner for football's apolitical governing body. Infantino was asked this week about the presence of immigration agencies at Fifa's launch party. His answer was characteristically vague, focusing instead on security issues. But there is concern on that front in Miami, fuelled by the chaos of the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia at the same venue last year, which led to arrests, barriers rushed and a one-hour kick-off delay. Fifa president Gianni Infantino gives US president Donald Trump a football to autograph during a signing ceremony after a state dinner with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha on May 14th. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images The Hard Rock Stadium has warned of 'multiple security and ticket check points', and the Miami Herald has unearthed a police video used as a training tool for the tournament in which a sergeant is heard saying: 'If things go south, we get prepared, we get ready. For civil unrest and unruly fans, this will get us ready for those events.' And Fifa is dipping its toe into some overheated waters here. Only this week the Trump administration explicitly instructed anything up to half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came legally to the United States under a Biden-era programme to 'leave immediately' if they have yet to make the step from 'parole' to full status. The state of heightened security has affected Fifa's party. On Wednesday a luxury pleasure flotilla chartered by the TV station Telemundo and containing Fifa officials and the Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was boarded by CBP officials in Biscayne Bay off the Miami coast. The event, staged to celebrate the approach of the World Cup, was abruptly cancelled. Officials later stated the raid was a routine inspection that uncovered some safety violations. But the mayor has since described the incident as 'deeply troubling' and told local media: 'Ensuring that all community members feel safe and included is crucial to maintaining our county's reputation as a welcoming destination for both residents and visitors.' Saturday's opening game, which gets under way at 8pm local time (1am in Ireland) is now a source of multiple migraines for Infantino. Trump will be absent, required instead to oversee his own Grand Military Parade in Washington. While this is no doubt a bone-deep personal disappointment for Infantino, it will at least spare him the embarrassment of marrying up his headline act's political statements with the capricious and easily offended commander-in-chief in the seat next to him. The game also coincides with a day of nationwide anti-Trump protests. Styled as the No Kings movement, a warning against the exercise of extreme executive power in the first year of Trump's second term, the protests will elide naturally with unrest over the actions of Ice and CBP. The wider Miami area will stage at least 10 No Kings events, including one half an hour's drive from Infantino's coronational seat at the Hard Rock Stadium, although it is unlikely Republican Miami-Dade will see anything like the scale of unrest in Los Angeles. As one Aventura man put it on Thursday morning: 'This is Florida. We don't truck with that s**t here.' This appears to be the politically sanctioned position. The state governor, Ron DeSantis, speaking on the Rubin Report this week, took the extraordinary step of encouraging members of the public who feel threatened by protests on Club World Cup match day one to drive through the crowds, an apparent extension of Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law. As DeSantis put it: 'If you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you.' The tagline for the opening night of Fifa's US mission is A New Era Begins. As things stand that new era will kick off against a rolling background of spot-check fear, off-message headline acts and an opening game shadowed by the prospect of governor-approved assault with a motor vehicle a few miles down the road. Over to you, Gianni. – Guardian
