In terms of consistency, nobody hits it better from tee to green than world No 1 Scottie Scheffler. But it’s that ability to stay in the present that sets the Texan apart and McIlroy knows focus and execution will be key if he’s to deny him his third successive victory in the $25m Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. While the statisticians say that Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry are the men best equipped in terms of key Sawgrass skills to win the $4.5m cheque, the threeball of McIlroy, Scheffler and the reigning Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele will make for fascinating viewing. It will be a chance for McIlroy to see how his game is shaping up just a month before he heads down Magnolia Lane to try to deny Scheffler his third green jacket in four years. But now that he’s decided to stick to the woods that served him well last year after they failed to perform for the first three rounds at Bay Hill, it’s also an opportunity for McIlroy to continue to play the conservatively aggressive golf that’s made Scheffler such a formidable force. “Mistakes can compound here pretty quickly, so you really just have to be on your game and execute as well as you can,” McIlroy said of a Stadium Course test he passed with flying colours by winning in 2019. “I think more than any other course that we play, that’s what it demands. You have to hit the ball where you’re looking, and if you can do that, you can do well here.” While Lowry’s tee-to-green play makes him one of the men to beat this week, what impresses McIlroy about Scheffler is his ability to compartmentalise his off-course life and his day job as the world’s best player. “I’ve struggled at times where I shoot a bad score, and I feel like I’m a bad person. I shoot a good score, and I feel like I’m a good person,” McIlroy admitted. “I think more than any other sport, it’s very hard to separate the two sides of it. But, as I said, I think Scottie does a really good job with that. “He gets to the golf course, he’s fully committed to doing what he does, then he seems to have a really good ability to forget about it once he leaves.” Even after winning nine times last year, when he became the first player to retain The Players and added another Masters to his résumé, Scheffler is not resting on his laurels. “Last year is last year,” Scheffler said. “I’m not trying to replicate it ... my goal is to be as prepared as possible when I step up on the first tee and then I want to have a good attitude when I go out and play over each shot. And that’s how I view success.” Marrying precision to the mental game will be the key, not just for McIlroy, Scheffler and the in-form Lowry, who rose to a career-high 14th in the world with his seventh-place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but also for Séamus Power, who lies 94th in the world rankings with only the top 100 fully exempt next year. As the best in the world play in Florida, Liam Nolan will be looking to continue his fast start to the season on the HotelPlanner Tour when he joins Alex Maguire in the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta. The Galwayman lies fifth in the rankings race for 20 DP World Tour cards while Maguire makes his first appearance of the season. The Players Championship, Sky Sports Golf, 11.30am