Scottie Scheffler left in Rory McIlroy’s shadow as frustration builds in world No 1’s bid for Players three-peat

So far this week, only one Longhorn has managed to rattle the cage of Rory McIlroy. Unfortunately for Scottie Scheffler, it was a kid who was chucked out of here on Tuesday.

McIlroy was practicing ahead of this year’s Players Championship when he sent a drive into the water. ‘Just like 2011 at Augusta,’ someone shouted.

It was a reference to McIlroy’s meltdown at The Masters. It was made by Luke Potter, a star golfer for the University of Texas Longhorns. 

He was escorted out and and he wrote a letter of apology to McIlroy. But not before the Northern Irishman snapped – and briefly nabbed his phone.

Scheffler, on the other hand, has sat on the shoulder of McIlroy for the past two days. The 28-year-old is a graduate of the University of Texas, too. He mingled with Potter before this tournament and reportedly passed on a few crumbs of wisdom. 

Since then, though, Scheffler has simply watched as McIlroy marched ahead towards the top of the leaderboard. 

The world No 1 carded a second-round 70 that included five birdies and three bogeys

Heading into the weekend, Scheffler sits four shots behind world No 2 Rory McIlroy

Heading into the weekend, Scheffler is five-under-par – four shots off his rival and six off the clubhouse leader Min Woo Lee. His hopes of a historic three-peat appear to be fading in the Florida sun. 

This was a similar story to Thursday’s opening round. Nothing went disastrously wrong as the world No 1 shot a 70 that included five birdies and three bogeys.

But it was another day when Scheffler failed to catch fire – or mask his frustration.  After missing a par putt on the par-three third – his 12th hole of the day – he bent over at the waist and put his hand to his face.

At the sixth, he found the bunker off the tee and then watched his par putt lip out of the hole. The world No 1 shook his head and stared at the floor. 

On the penultimate hole of this second round, cameras caught Scheffler berating himself; by the time his birdie putt missed by millimeters on the last, he could only let out a wry smile.   

‘The last two days I felt like I could have scored a lot better – the amount of good putts I hit that just went right around the hole,’ Scheffler said.

‘At times last year those were the putts that would go in, and the last few weeks seems like they haven’t been.

Thankfully for the world No 1? Lee and McIlroy both had a late wobble and the weekend forecast – strong winds and rain – should add another layer of unpredictability to proceedings.

McIlroy stole a fan’s phone earlier in the week after being heckled during a practice round

This was another day when Scheffler failed to catch fire – or mask his frustration in Florida

So only a fool would write off Scheffler from here. This time last year, he was six shots off the lead and nursing a dodgy neck. Neither prevented him from winning back-to-back titles.

‘Having that in the back of my head at times is always a good thing. I don’t have to play perfect golf in order to try to win tournaments,’ the world No 1 said. ‘So if there’s a day where I’m not swinging it so well or things just feel off, I can kind of remind myself of times like that.’

Scheffler matched both the biggest comeback and the lowest closing round by a winner of this tournament. 

As for McIlroy? No one need remind him of his own history, either. As Potter tried to point out, the Northern Irishman has form when it comes to – err- throwing away promising positions.

McIlroy eventually returned the youngster’s phone. Only time will tell if he and the other front runners give up the initiative at TPC Sawgrass.

‘I’m looking forward to trying to climb the leaderboard over the weekend,’ Scheffler said.  

‘It’s going to be pretty challenging this weekend. The golf course was definitely gettable the first two days. I wasn’t able to take advantage of it the way that I would have hoped to, but going into tomorrow and Sunday, there’s definitely be some opportunities there.’