As he gears up for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Rory McIlroy — currently ranked No. 3 in the world, with four major championships and 26 PGA Tour wins on his illustrious resume —  isn't even trying to pretend he, or anybody else, is golfing on the same level as Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler, after all, has five wins in his last eight PGA Tour starts — all prestige events: the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, and the Memorial.

The three events he didn't win? The Houston Open, where he finished runner-up due to an 18th hole lip-out. The PGA Championship, where he posted a T8 despite being arrested before the second round. He was runner-up at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

He also took a few weeks off to welcome his first child.

While Scheffler was home, McIlroy stepped in to win back-t0-back events: the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Wells Fargo Championship.

“The fact that the only thing that took him from winning a golf tournament was going into a jail cell for an hour,” Rory joked Tuesday. “I think just the relentlessness. Look, a lot of stuff went on in his life, as well. They've just had a new child. He's been through some struggles in his game, particularly the putter that he's been able to turn around, as well. It's not as if he hasn't had his challenges along the way, or circumstances have been a little bit different for him. But yeah, I mean, the word that I describe it as is ‘relentless.'”

Ironically, it was McIlroy who may have inadvertently turned Scheffler into the most dominant golfer since Prime Tiger Woods. While in the broadcast booth for the Genesis Invitational, McIlroy offered keen advice to Scheffler whose lone weakness had been his putting.

“I've certainly been through my fair share of putting woes over the years, and I finally feel like I've broken through and become a pretty consistent putter,” McIlroy said. “For me, going to a mallet was a big change, … so I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet.”

Since then, Scheffler has gained strokes on the field with his putter.

“Well, he tried the Spider last summer for a couple of tournaments,” McIlroy said Tuesday when asked if he regrets positing the mallet idea publicly. “But I think the work that he's put in with Phil Kenyon as well, I think that's a big part of it. I know they started to work sort of after the FedExCup Playoffs last year. Obviously the work they've done has really been paying off.”

Entering the 2024 U.S. Open, the gap in Official World Golf Ranking points between Scheffler and McIlroy was about the same as between McIlroy and the 613th ranked player, per CBS' Kyle Porter.

Scheffler is a +480 favorite to win at Pinehurst No. 2 — shorter odds than the Dallas Mavericks have of coming back to win the NBA Finals, per FanDuel. McIlroy is next, at +1000.

“It seems like every time he shows up, he is the guy to beat, and deservedly so,” McIlroy continued. “Seems like he's always in contention. The most exciting thing about last week at Memorial was when he made the triple on 9, everyone was like, ‘Oh, looks like he might let people in here.' But he finds a way to steady the ship, make a few birdies when he needs to. Undoubtedly the best player in the world at the minute by a long way.”

Scheffler, McIlroy, and the no. 2 ranked player, PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele (+1700), are grouped together for the first two rounds of the U.S. Open. Scheffler, Schauffele, and McIlroy are ranked 1-3 in scoring average and strokes gained: total on the PGA Tour this season.

They'll tee off on hole No. 1 at 1:14 p.m. ET on Thursday. Lucky us.