NEED TO KNOW
- Scottie Scheffler is shooting down comparisons between himself and Tiger Woods, calling them "a bit silly"
- Scheffler won The Open tournament this past weekend, his second major victory of the year
- Scheffler has been ranked the world's No. 1 golfer for 148 straight weeks, the longest streak since Woods held the top-ranked spot from 2005 until 2010.
Amid one of the most dominant runs on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods last cruised to major victory after major victory in the early 2000s, Scottie Scheffler is trying to hush the growing comparisons between himself and the golfing legend.
“I still think they’re a bit silly,” Scheffler said Sunday after winning the British Open, his second major victory of the year. “Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there.”
Scheffler, 29, added his fourth overall major tournament win on Sunday, beating the field by four strokes in one of the most dominant tournaments in recent golf memory. At one point on Sunday, Scheffler led by seven shots as he cruised to his latest major victory.
Richard Heathcote/Getty
This year alone, Scheffler has won the Open Championship and the PGA Championship – one of seven golfers to ever pull off the feat. And last year, the husband and father of one won the Masters (also by four shots) for a second time after first winning the tournament in 2022. He’s now just one U.S. Open victory shy of a career grand slam, whose final round in 2026 just so happens to be on his 30th birthday.
Scheffler's been ranked the No. 1 golfer in the world for 148 straight weeks – the longest such streak since Woods held the world’s top spot for 264 consecutive weeks between August 1999 and September 2004, and again for 281 straight weeks from June 2005 until October 2010.
The Associated Press even noted Scheffler’s mannerisms on the golf course this past weekend, which included a dramatic fist pump after sinking a 15-foot putt on the sixth hole, echoed the likes of Woods when he was at the top of his game.
But none of that evidence is enough to convince Scheffler he could be on the same playing field as Woods was at the height of his legendary career.
“I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf,” Scheffler said Sunday, according to the AP. “He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.”
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Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty
Rory McIlroy said Sunday that Scheffler has set “the bar that we’re all trying to get to,” while Xander Schauffele said Scheffler is “sort of taking that throne of dominance” from Woods for this generation of golfers.
Scheffler's title comes days after he opened up about how little winning means to him. Instead, the Dallas native has said it’s getting better that truly drives him to continue to play well.
“If I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes,” Scheffler said last week. “This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.”
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