When quizzed at the RBC Canadian Open on who would come out on top in men’s professional golf if every player played to their absolute best, Tommy Fleetwood was stuck between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.
Fleetwood, a runner-up in this event last year, believes that Rory McIlroy is still the best player of his generation despite the recent dominance of Scottie Scheffler but also admitted he would find it hard to bet against Scottie Scheffler on current form.
Although McIlroy is still searching for his fifth major title, he has won twice on the PGA Tour this season and once on the DP World Tour despite not having his best form while Scheffler has won four times including the Masters and the PLAYERS Championship.
“I would like to see it. Look, I still, I’ve said it a few times, and I never want to speak out of turn about other players, I still believe from everything that I’ve experienced since I’ve been playing that Rory is the best of our generation. I still believe that,” said Fleetwood.
“However, players do arrive, and it’s hard to say anything to back against Scottie Scheffler. Now, if you were a betting man, I think it’s very hard to bet against Scottie Scheffler, the way he’s playing. Who knows. It will be a great debate. It will be great to see at any given time, because it does happen rarely, the best players in the world and in the World Rankings, if you get two or three of them playing absolutely their best game, it would be lovely to see.
“Very difficult question. I think golf courses do make a difference. Then I also think, you know, you look at, major championships are generally, most of the time I think they’re a good indicator of the best players in the world, and you look at the guys that end up at the top end of that leaderboard on a major, I think it always, for the most part, does them justice.”
Talor Gooch controversially said after winning the team competition at a LIV event that it was comparable to a Ryder Cup environment.
Fleetwood had similar sentiments for the atmosphere generated at the RBC Canadian Open last year when he went head to head with home hero Nick Taylor who became the first home winner in 69 years.
“Yeah, it was actually on its way to being a Ryder Cup. I think — there was a couple of really cool things for me. I think, look, the support for Nick, he had a whole nation behind him, and I think that was amazing. I know what that feels like and it’s great.
“I actually, they weren’t that bad with me, they just definitely didn’t want me to win, which was fine. A bunch of the European players came out to watch the playoff and I think when I saw those guys coming out I think that was one of the coolest moment, just having that support from those guys. For me, that was really cool and a really sort of touching moment that they would come out and watch me play and support me, because they sort of understood what the atmosphere was.
“Yeah, it was great. I think to have tournaments like that and atmospheres like that is, yeah, it’s a huge reason of why we do what we do. Those events and those moments live in everybody’s memory as players, really, and they’re very, very cool. It was enjoyable.”