Two-time major winner John Daly has shared his verdict on Rory McIlroy and Scottie SchefflerKylee Hansen Junior Golf Reporter and Jake Bayliss Sport Writer – U35s
12:00, 22 Feb 2026
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler both enjoyed hugely successful campaigns in 2025(Image: Richard Heathcote, Getty Images)
John Daly showed conviction when choosing between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler’s impressive seasons last year. McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam at the Masters and helped secure victory for Team Europe at the Ryder Cup triumph on US soil, while Scottie Scheffler claimed two majors.
Daly, 59, himself won the 1991 PGA Championship and The Open in 1995 and has remained a prominent figure on the PGA Tour as he nears the end of his golfing career. He was regularly spotted at Augusta National during the Masters as McIlroy made history.
The Northern Irishman joined an exclusive group of just six golfers to complete the career Slam. However, Scheffler was awarded Player of the Year honours after clinching two majors, despite losing the Ryder Cup to World No. 2 McIlroy.
The pair are part of a competitive field at the Genesis Invitational, both aiming to replicate their success in 2026. Daly weighed in on who enjoyed the better campaign between Scheffler and McIlroy last year.
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“I’d have to go with Scottie,” Daly told HardRock Bet when asked who had the stronger 2025 season. “I mean, Scottie’s won a few more, and then he won two majors this year. You have to go with Scottie.”
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Scheffler won the PGA Championship and the Open Championship in 2025. Meanwhile, McIlroy overcame Justin Rose in a play-off to claim the Green Jacket at the Masters.
As the world’s elite pursue silverware on the PGA Tour, other top stars continue to compete for LIV Golf. Two-time major winner Daly hopes a solution can be found to end the divide within golf.
Daly, speaking before the likes of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed left the Saudi-backed breakaway, said on the subject: “I don’t even know if it’s really a rivalry. I just wish both parties would get together and solve it and be one, somehow or another.
John Daly has offered his take on the 2025 golf season(Image: Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images)
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“I think anytime you’re doing more world golf, I think it makes golf bigger. Now, with our World Golf Championships that started on the PGA Tour, it does go a little worldwide.
“But with LIV, if we can combine it somehow, I don’t know the answer to that – that’s up to those guys. But I hate not seeing the best players in the world on a stage of one field, whether it be a LIV event or a [PGA] Tour event or a major.
“You see them in the majors, at least the guys that play LIV can play the majors. I don’t know, it’s just separated some really great golfers.
“I just wish everybody could get along and get together where everybody’s competing with and against each other, because I think that’s what golf really needs, seeing the best against the best every week.”