{"id":15975,"date":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/15975\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T17:28:08","slug":"scottie-scheffler-vs-everybody-the-open-champion-is-making-his-case-among-the-greats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/15975\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottie Scheffler vs. Everybody: The Open Champion is making his case among the greats"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Tiger Woods wrapped up his eight-shot Open Championship victory at St. Andrews in 2000, his second-straight blowout major championship, a collective exasperation overcame the entirety of golf\u2019s competitive body.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the best who ever played,\u201d Mark Calcavecchia said that Sunday, \u201cand he\u2019s 24.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the best player in the world by a long, long way and we have got to raise our standards to join his,\u201d Colin Montgomerie said. \u201cWe have got to go up to his and we are all trying. We are all failing, but we are all trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got to leave a few for his friends, doesn\u2019t he?\u201d Jean Van de Velde said. \u201cHe can\u2019t have them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you put Old Tom Morris with Tiger Woods,\u201d Ernie Els said, \u201c(Woods) would probably beat him by 80 shots right now. The guy is unbelievable, man. I\u2019m running out of words. Give me a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, how eerily similar those sentiments sound in the aftermath of Scottie Scheffler\u2019s four-shot domination \u2014 that was at one point as large as eight shots \u2014 at Royal Portrush for his fourth major championship in four years and third in eight starts. Even if it was already understood, this Open Championship was the final confirmation that Scheffler is not just the current best player in the world. He\u2019s the type of supreme conqueror any given sport might find once every few decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cScottie Scheffler is \u2014 it\u2019s inevitable,\u201d Rory McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour shots behind, kind of like playing for second,\u201d Haotong Li said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us,\u201d defending champ Xander Schauffele conceded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Scottie\u2019s feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott\u2019s, we\u2019d be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods,\u201d Shane Lowry said.<\/p>\n

It is time to truly have the conversation about where Scottie Scheffler belongs in golf history. First, it was only the best ball striking since Tiger. Then it was the best individual season since Tiger. But this is no longer simply a nice run, or a great peak. We\u2019re now at four, steady, undeniable years of golf so much better than any peer. Scheffler is not only the best of his era. He\u2019s among the greatest to ever play the sport.<\/p>\n

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Scottie Scheffler has downplayed comparisons to Tiger Woods but for how much longer can he avoid it? (Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

With his fourth major championship, Scheffler earned the third leg of the career Grand Slam. But he\u2019s just the fourth golfer to win the Masters, the PGA Championship and the Open Championship all before the age of 30. His company? Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Per Justin Ray, Scheffler is one of three players since the creation of the Masters in 1934 to win four or more major titles by at least three strokes. The others are Woods (seven wins) and Nicklaus (six).<\/p>\n

DataGolf created a metric called DG Points that interweaves underlying advanced strokes gained stats with tangible accomplishments to rank the best golf seasons since 1983. Scheffler\u2019s last four all rank in the top 20. Of the last 42 years in golf, 12 of the 20 best seasons are owned by Woods or Scheffler. Nobody else has more than two.<\/p>\n

Scheffler\u2019s career in totality can\u2019t be properly judged until it\u2019s all over. His current run may be far greater than any peak in Phil Mickelson\u2019s career, but we can\u2019t argue against six majors, 45 PGA Tour wins and 21 1\/2 Ryder Cup points. At least not yet. The pain and beauty of golf reside in the understood vulnerability that it could all end at any moment. Woods\u2019 career is primarily broken down between two all-time three-year runs with relative lulls in between. Rory McIlroy won four majors in four years. Brooks Koepka won four in three. Jordan Spieth won three in three. All of them experienced dramatic dips shortly after.<\/p>\n

Look at the timeline comparing McIlroy\u2019s and Scheffler\u2019s pace to winning four majors. McIlroy was four years younger, but the pace is identical in terms of major starts. It\u2019s a reminder that what feels inevitable rarely is. It took another 39 major starts for McIlroy to win his fifth.<\/p>\n

Amazing graphic here. Wow. pic.twitter.com\/HxujDKnPCO<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) July 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

With that said, there\u2019s zero indication that Scheffler\u2019s pace will slow. If anything, we thought it was happening this winter when Scheffler cut his hand in a freak cooking accident and needed surgery. It led to a \u201cslow start\u201d as he \u201conly\u201d finished top 25 each week instead of winning. That\u2019s in the past. He\u2019s won four of his last eight tournaments \u2014 including two majors \u2014 and hasn\u2019t been worse than eighth since March.<\/p>\n

In reality, none of the great peaks of Scheffler\u2019s contemporaries come close to the comprehensive significance of what Scheffler is doing. He is no longer competing with the greats of this era. He\u2019s competing with the greatest of all time.<\/p>\n

It can be unfortunate when we reduce golf greatness down to major championships. It\u2019s the most important test of that greatness, absolutely, but it does not paint the entire picture.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s peak came the closest, winning four majors from 2011 to 2014. He won 12 times worldwide, and his 2012 and 2014 seasons rank in the DG Points top 20. At the height of his 2014 peak, though, he was gaining 2.40 strokes on the field per round. Impressive, but Adam Scott, Jim Furyk and Justin Rose were right behind him at 2.23, 2.23 and 2.05, respectively.<\/p>\n

Scheffler is gaining 3.10 strokes on the field. Next best is McIlroy at 2.10, followed by Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. That\u2019s an average, with recency weighed heavier, across the last 150 rounds. So nearly the past two years of golf. These four years, Scheffler has won 20 times worldwide, and counting.<\/p>\n

McIlroy finished top five 37 times in those four years. Scheffler has finished there 48 times (and it\u2019s just July).<\/p>\n

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Even Rory McIlroy, left, admits he\u2019s chasing Scottie Scheffler. (Krista Jasso \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those who hyperfixate on majors will then throw Koepka\u2019s (incredible) career in. But that\u2019s not even really a conversation. Koepka won four majors in three years, but he was always a strange, wonderful golf anomaly. He was not a dominant week-to-week golfer like the other names mentioned. During that three-year run of greatness, he won just two other PGA Tour events. Not that DataGolf is some end-all, be-all, but it does paint an extremely helpful picture of overall play. Koepka never actually ranked higher than No. 4 at any point in his career.<\/p>\n

Mickelson\u2019s longevity is his superpower, but he never had a single season rank in the DG top 30. His career peak was averaging 2.41 strokes gained on the field in 2000. Scheffler has been above that for three years straight.<\/p>\n

No, the actual comparisons for Scheffler\u2019s four-year transcendence are the names you\u2019re never supposed to compare anyone to.<\/p>\n

Tom Watson won five majors from 1980 to 1983, easily the best run of anyone between Nicklaus and Woods. Watson finished in the top 10 an absurd 11 times in those 16 starts. Since the start of 2022, Scheffler has four wins with 12 top 10s. If we avoid going too deep into the quality of competition argument, those are remarkably similar runs. Watson finished with eight majors across nine years.<\/p>\n

Lee Trevino won four majors in four years from 1971 to 1974 (despite skipping two Masters), but he only had seven top-10 finishes and plenty where he missed the cut or was outside the top 30.<\/p>\n

What will be interesting to follow, though, is Watson\u2019s best four-year run came smack dab in the middle of an overall nine-year prime. He won majors before and after that run. This Scheffler four-year run is just the beginning. We don\u2019t even know if these will be his best four years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about Scheffler. He\u2019s continued to get better, and better and better. His 2023 season was the greatest strokes gained approach season since Woods. The next two years have been far better. For much of his rise, he was a below-average putter. He\u2019s now top 10 in the world on the greens. His 2024 season was rightfully called one of the four or five best seasons in golf history, winning nine times worldwide.<\/p>\n

Well, Scheffler may only have four wins so far this year, but he has two majors. In the past eight starts as he recovered from his hand surgery, he\u2019s gaining 3.82 strokes per round. That\u2019s the best run of his career. That\u2019s just inches from 2000 Tiger territory (4.01).<\/p>\n

So, yes, at this moment in time, Scheffler feels inevitable in a way that truly only compares to Woods and Nicklaus at their best. Arnold Palmer never had a run this good. Neither did Gary Player.<\/p>\n

No, this isn\u2019t saying Scheffler is in the Woods or Nicklaus conversation. Not yet. Even if we only went on their best four-year runs, Nicklaus from 1972 to 1975 won four majors with 15 top 10s. From 1962 to 1965, he won five majors with 11 top 10s.<\/p>\n

Woods from 2005 to 2008 had six majors and 12 top 10s. Preposterous. And we all know he won four straight majors in 2000 and 2001 with seven total majors from 1999 to 2002.<\/p>\n

But the point of this is all to say: Scheffler is no longer just comparing himself to his peers. His greatness has only the absolute pantheon left to chase.<\/p>\n

(Illustration: Will Tullos \/ The Athletic; Photos: David Cannon, David Madison, Alex Pantling \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n