Golf Fans: Scottie Scheffler is the New Tiger Woods
No doubt about it we are in the Scottie Scheffler era of the game of golf. The final chapter of the Tiger Woods era is finished. That has been proof enough over the last few years. Between injuries and age it’s clear that Tiger’s legendary time has come and gone.
It wasn’t immediate, but an heir has risen above the rest. Over the last decade the torch has been tossed and dropped by a handful of players, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, John Rahm, Justin Thomas, etc. These guys all have had runs of great play and winning tournaments, but nobody could sustain the consistent winning over extended periods like Tiger Woods. That has changed in the last 2 years. Scottie Scheffler has taken up the title and gained plenty of ground between himself and the field.
Scheffler is the new Tiger Woods. He’s so good and seems to be in complete control at all times on the course. When other players see his name at the top of the leaderboard, or in the hunt things start to get tight. Does doubt start to creep in or are they thinking, “oh no, here he comes.” So far, both of those seem to be happening.
The thing about his era is, the other golfers will most likely stay closer to Scottie than they did against Tiger. There is a reason for that Tiger Woods changed how golfers practice, train and play the game. Everyone on tour now has a workout regimen, trainers, teams, etc. Because the players in the PGA now, grew up idolizing Tiger. They saw how he did it, so they have that as their baseline. For the most part those players will stay closer to the top than others did in the early 00’s.
Scottie is not in Tiger’s league (yet), but it is clear that he is the big thing on the PGA Tour. Not totally sure? Since his first win at the 2022 Waste Management Open in Phoenix the floodgates have opened on his winning. He defended that WM title, while also winning and then becoming the first person to defend the Players Championship. That’s ever. Jack, Tiger, Rory, Phil, none of them has ever won that in back to back years. He’s a 2x Masters Champion in four attempts.
His dominance started to show in 2023 when he finished top 10 in three of the four majors. 10th at the Masters, second at the PGA Championship and tied for third at the U.S. Open. To really hammer the point home so far in 2024 he has played in 10 tournaments. Here are his finishes, in order from start of the year to present day:
T5th
T17th
T6th
T3rd
T10th
Winner
Winner
T2
Winner
Winner
He has won 4 of his last 5 while finishing in the top 10 nine times. He’s only played 10 tournaments this year! That’s Tiger Woods stuff. Hop on the bandwagon, because it’s going to be a fun ride. He’s an easy player to cheer for too. Good on Scheffler. Now the hard part, keeping that #1 golf ranking. He’s currently been #1 for 49 weeks straight. Woods had a run of 264 straight weeks from 1999-2004 and a record setting 281 straight weeks from 2005-2010. Long way to go for Scheffler, but he seems to have the best chance to do it since Tiger.
MLB Superstar Opening Golf Course in South Jersey Designed by Tiger Woods
