The Masters 2025: USA Ryder Cup hero sends huge warning about 'the Rory-Scottie show'

Curtis Strange would take the top two players in the world to win the first Major of the season ahead of the rest of the 96-man field

The Masters will be “the Rory-Scottie show”, according to Curtis Strange. And the former US Ryder Cup captain claims he would take the top two players in the world against the rest of the field.

World No.1 Scheffler is bidding to win his third Green Jacket in four years. And world No.2 McIlroy, who Strange reported was in Augusta on Monday despite his elbow issue, will be trying to win for the first time in Augusta and complete a career Grand Slam. There are 96 players currently in the field for the first Major of the season which starts on April 10.

But Strange reckons the winner will come from the two favourites.

“I’m looking forward to the Rory-Scottie show,” the double US Open winner told ESPN. “This year, once again, we have Scottie and Rory playing well. Rory seems to be hitting on all cylinders, which is a good thing for the Slam. Scottie going for three then Xander (Schauffele) and (Collin) Morikawa, a few others playing well. It’s hard to get past the first two or three, honestly.

“I just think they both have so much talent. I really think that Scottie, last year, was more consistent, obviously, because he won nine times. But I think Rory, just like that, could have a year like that, get some putts to go, get in a rhythm, get in a rhythm just like Scottie did last year.

“You go on hunches, and you go on feelings, and I spoke about Rory and Scottie this year. I really think both of them will be there at the stretch, at the end. I just think they both have so much talent.

"Would I take them against the rest of the field? It’s much like the question with Tiger against the field back when he was winning everything. It’s probably a bad bet, but I’d have to go with it just because.”

McIlroy, who won The Players Championship last month, reported he would need “treatment” on his sore right elbow after his tied fifth finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Sunday.

But speaking on Monday night in the USA, Strange said: "The word is, he’s at Augusta today, okay, playing, or walking around anyway. I heard the story about the elbow yesterday afternoon, too, but he’s at Augusta today.

“What do you say to a guy — what will we all say to a guy who has more talent in his little finger and just hasn’t performed at one tournament that he desperately wants to win? It doesn’t make him a failure. That doesn’t make him an underachiever by any stretch. It’s just he hasn’t come through at this one particular week of the year. But I don’t know, I think he’s playing well. I think he’s making some putts.”

McIlroy, who won his fourth and last Major at the 2014 US PGA, has spoken about how he has sought to take tips from Scheffler’s approach

“It’s about patience,” Strange added. “It’s about playing the game, playing your game. When Rory has the length he has, you want to take advantage of that length and play so aggressively. But it just doesn’t work out sometimes.

"I know the analytics show that you’ve got to bomb it, bomb it, bomb it, hit it close to the green every time. Well, I don’t care what the analytics say, that’s not how you play this game. We saw a little bit of that at Pebble, laying up where he should lay up, and I think Augusta National, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s about the score on the board, it’s not about how far you hit it.

“He has the length to do a lot of different things, and I think watching Scottie play, as he’s admitted, would be advantageous. Learn something.”