Scottie Scheffler speaks during a news conference after winning the final round of the PGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Sundday, Aug 30, 2026, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mike Stewart/AP Photo/Mike Stewart
It still feels like the Rangers could sneak into the playoffs (deserved or not), the Wings are certain to lock up at least the eighth postseason spot in the WNBA this fall and there’s even more realistic optimism about the Cowboys than usual. But let’s not ignore the fact that the group that sets the professional tone for Dallas in 2025 and, frankly, year after year, is Team Scheffler.
It includes the significant roles played by caddie Ted Scott and longtime Royal Oaks head pro Randy Smith. But mostly if you want to talk about winning in professional sports and the city of Dallas, you talk about Scottie Scheffler, who pocketed another $10 million check over the weekend in Atlanta in winning his second Tour Championship.
Scheffler trailed Norway’s Viktor Hovland by three strokes entering Sunday. And yet it felt like Hovland never stood a chance with Scheffler shooting another 66 after a 65-67-66 start to win by three strokes.
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The accolades began to sound redundant with Scheffler a few years ago, but here’s what needs to be understood about the former Highland Park and University of Texas golfer at the age 30 plateau. Yes, he surpassed Tiger Woods as golf’s all-time money winner Sunday, but, as Scheffler was quick to note, the money has exploded largely because of what Woods did for the game a quarter of a century ago. Scheffler as the all-time money winner has little more meaning than Dak Prescott making more money per season than all the quarterbacks that came before him.
In the process, Scheffler is set to win his fifth consecutive Tour Player of the Year award. It comes down to a players’ vote and Scheffler’s only knock this season was a failure to add to his collection of major championships. He finished in the top five in three of the four majors, part of his 13 top-five finishes in 20 events. He won two of the three FedEx events to cap the season, and this time around there was no strokes advantage for him entering the final tournament. The Tour did away with that feature, which helped his 2024 championship win, two years ago.
If he does capture that fifth player of the year award, he slides ahead of Ben Hogan and ties with Jack Nicklaus for third on the all-time list. Woods won it 11 times and Tom Watson captured it six. It’s an award that does not get discussed nearly as often as simply the list of major championships, but it’s a great barometer in determining who were, in fact, the best golfers over extended periods of time. If you’re going to count majors and ignore everything else, you’re going to rank Brooks Koepka ahead of Scheffler which, at this point, feels more than a little preposterous.
I really think the discussion of greatest Texas golfer ever will come down to Scheffler and Hogan in a couple more years’ time if it isn’t there already. Byron Nelson and Lee Trevino are slightly ahead of Scheffler in majors and total wins, but Scottie’s going to need to suffer some real lapses in his game not to surpass both sooner or later.
Scheffler already is moving past Hogan in the player of the year totals and Hogan won one of his (1950) mostly on a sympathy vote when he returned from the famous near-fatal car crash in 1949 in Van Horn, Texas, to win the U.S. Open the following year. Sam Snead won 11 tournaments and had a much better 1950 season by any measuring stick other than Hogan’s comeback tale.
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But Hogan has that 9-4 edge in majors and, in fairness, it should be mentioned that players of his era did not grow up viewing today’s four majors as signature events of equal stature. The only time Hogan crossed the Atlantic to play in the Open Championship (1953) he won. Had someone advised him that in the next century, the golf world was going to be counting those tournaments at Troon or Royal Birkdale in the same category with wins at Augusta, Hogan might have hopped on that ocean liner years earlier.
To his credit, Scheffler doesn’t spend a considerable amount of time pondering his status compared to Hogan or Rory McIlroy or Woods, for that matter, other than to say that he’s nowhere close to chasing Tiger at this point. But the reverence other players show him is the greatest indicator of his likelihood of at least pursuing some of Woods’ records in the next decade. I wouldn’t expect him to reach 15 majors, but it won’t be a great surprise if he reaches double figures, and only three players in history (Nicklaus, Woods and Walter Hagen) have managed that.
You never know exactly how these things are going to play out. Woods won his 14th major at Torrey Pines in the summer of 2008. He was 32. None of us would have imagined that his time in victory lane was almost over. At the same time, Hogan was 34 before he won his first of nine majors.
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Scheffler’s steadiness and his Tiger-like ability to focus suggest he has miles to go before his resume is anywhere near complete. For that, Dallas can be grateful.