Scottie Scheffler vs. Everybody: The Open Champion is making his case among the greats

New York Times

22-07-2025

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's competitive body.
'He's the best who ever played,' Mark Calcavecchia said that Sunday, 'and he's 24.'
'He is the best player in the world by a long, long way and we have got to raise our standards to join his,' Colin Montgomerie said. 'We have got to go up to his and we are all trying. We are all failing, but we are all trying.'
'He's got to leave a few for his friends, doesn't he?' Jean Van de Velde said. 'He can't have them all.'
'If you put Old Tom Morris with Tiger Woods,' Ernie Els said, '(Woods) would probably beat him by 80 shots right now. The guy is unbelievable, man. I'm running out of words. Give me a break.'
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Oh, how eerily similar those sentiments sound in the aftermath of Scottie Scheffler's four-shot domination — that was at one point as large as eight shots — 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's the type of supreme conqueror any given sport might find once every few decades.
'Scottie Scheffler is — it's inevitable,' Rory McIlroy said.
'Four shots behind, kind of like playing for second,' Haotong Li said.
'When you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us,' defending champ Xander Schauffele conceded.
'If Scottie's feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott's, we'd be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods,' Shane Lowry said.
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're now at four, steady, undeniable years of golf so much better than any peer. Scheffler is not only the best of his era. He's among the greatest to ever play the sport.
With his fourth major championship, Scheffler earned the third leg of the career Grand Slam. But he's 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).
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's 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.
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Scheffler's career in totality can't be properly judged until it's all over. His current run may be far greater than any peak in Phil Mickelson's career, but we can't 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' 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.
Look at the timeline comparing McIlroy's and Scheffler's pace to winning four majors. McIlroy was four years younger, but the pace is identical in terms of major starts. It's a reminder that what feels inevitable rarely is. It took another 39 major starts for McIlroy to win his fifth.
Amazing graphic here. Wow. pic.twitter.com/HxujDKnPCO
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) July 20, 2025
With that said, there's zero indication that Scheffler's 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 'slow start' as he 'only' finished top 25 each week instead of winning. That's in the past. He's won four of his last eight tournaments — including two majors — and hasn't been worse than eighth since March.
In reality, none of the great peaks of Scheffler's contemporaries come close to the comprehensive significance of what Scheffler is doing. He is no longer competing with the greats of this era. He's competing with the greatest of all time.
It can be unfortunate when we reduce golf greatness down to major championships. It's the most important test of that greatness, absolutely, but it does not paint the entire picture.
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McIlroy's 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.
Scheffler is gaining 3.10 strokes on the field. Next best is McIlroy at 2.10, followed by Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. That's 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.
McIlroy finished top five 37 times in those four years. Scheffler has finished there 48 times (and it's just July).
Those who hyperfixate on majors will then throw Koepka's (incredible) career in. But that's 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.
Mickelson's 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.
No, the actual comparisons for Scheffler's four-year transcendence are the names you're never supposed to compare anyone to.
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.
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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.
What will be interesting to follow, though, is Watson's 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't even know if these will be his best four years.
That's the thing about Scheffler. He's 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's 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.
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's gaining 3.82 strokes per round. That's the best run of his career. That's just inches from 2000 Tiger territory (4.01).
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.
No, this isn't 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.
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.
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.
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: David Cannon, David Madison, Alex Pantling / Getty Images)