If only the PGA of America had the ability to flex Ryder Cup Sunday, we could start the 12 singles matches early and have them wrap up by the time NFL games start. Pretty good Sunday, right?
It’s hard to argue it — two dominant days from the European Ryder Cup team have taken major juice out of Sunday’s singles finale, although there is one mega duel that headlines the dozen matches that close out the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy — the top-two players in the world for the past several years — face off in the headliner of 12 Sunday singles matches. They tee off at 12:35 p.m. ET in the fourth match out.
Although with Europe holding a commanding 11.5-4.5 lead — and needing just 2.5 points to retain the Ryder Cup — the Rory vs. Scottie tilt might not matter much for who takes home the trophy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not must-see TV.
For starters, the top players in golf rarely square off like this. The WGC Match Play no longer exists, and even then it wasn’t guaranteed to get the top names facing off against each other. Match play, the oldest, purest form of golf, just isn’t played much in the professional game.
In team events like the Presidents Cup, captains go back and forth, taking turns picking players to match up against ones from the other team. At the Ryder Cup, that doesn’t happen. Captains submit their lineups, Nos. 1 through 12 for singles, and see where it lines up with the other side. Sure, you can guess who is likely to lead-off or anchor, but it’s mostly a crapshoot. That makes it even less likely some of the stars align.
Unless, of course, captains work behind the scenes.
However it happened, Rory vs. Scottie is catnip for golf fans.
Both golfers have had magnificent years — and they’ve both had interesting weeks on Long Island.
Scheffler won six times in 2025, with major victories in the PGA Championship and Open Championship. McIlroy won three times on the PGA Tour, which included the Players Championship and Masters, the latter completing the career Grand Slam.
Scheffler won just last week at the Procore Championship, while McIlroy won the Irish Open a couple of weeks ago.
This week, however, Scheffler has struggled. He’s 0-4 in his four matchups, which comes two years after he was 0–2–2 at the Rome Ryder Cup. McIlroy, meanwhile, is 3-1-0, and has played well despite taking the brunt of the Long Islanders’ heckling wrath. It got so bad on Saturday, extra police officers were even dispatched to his afternoon match.
For Scheffler, a victory on Sunday means he’s not winless this week, and it means he won’t have this ugly streak he’s looking to kick in Ireland in two years. It’s a small win but could have important significance. For McIlroy, a win is his final Long Island act, one last chance for him to have the last laugh in what’s been a difficult week batting the U.S. and a hostile home crowd.
It’s unclear how the galleries will treat McIlroy on Sunday. Europe’s repeat is hardly in question, and that could take some juice out of the event (for which ticket prices have already plummeted). But the Ryder Cup is a golf tournament on steroids, and the pageantry and passion can often enable even the most mild hecklers. Hopefully that doesn’t become the case on Sunday because Scheffler vs. McIlroy is good enough theater on its own, a fitting end to a golf season and an olive branch to bummed-out Ryder Cup fans.
