Latest news with #Tiger-like
USA Today
2 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Scottie Scheffler getting Tiger-like odds at U.S. Open; just don't try to Venmo him
Scottie Scheffler getting Tiger-like odds at U.S. Open; just don't try to Venmo him PITTSBURGH – Nine years ago, Scottie Scheffler made his major championship debut at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. He missed the cut but left more confident than ever that he would be back. 'It definitely made me excited to get out here for real because it was a pretty fun week,' he said. Scheffler, 28, arrived at Oakmont for this week's playing of the 125th U.S. Open as a three-time major winner and world No. 1. He's won three times in his last four starts dating to the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and counts wins at the PGA Championship and a successful title defense at the Memorial during that stretch. Is he the man to beat? It sure looks that way. Scheffler is a prohibitive favorite to win at +275 (via BetMGM), which are the shortest odds entering the U.S. Open since Tiger Woods was +175 in 2009. And rightfully so. Scheffler has been on a Tiger-like run since earning his first victory at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. With 16 Tour titles to his credit, Scheffler has delivered bettors a better return on investment than the Dow Jones, Nasdaq or S&P 500. If you bet $100 on him for each tournament he's played, you would have wagers of $7,900 and banked $13,105 in winnings for a tidy profit of $5,205, or 65.9 percent. No wonder that several gamblers looked up Scheffler's Venmo account and sent him a thank you. 'Maybe a couple bucks here or there,' he said. But it turns out that didn't happen nearly as much as the requests when he failed to deliver for his bettors. 'I think everybody hears from fans whether they have a financial benefit or anything in their outcome. That's why I had to get rid of my Venmo because I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn't win. It wasn't a good feeling,' he said. But it sure will feel good to notch another win and claim his national open for the first time.
Toronto Sun
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
After win at Memorial, it's time to start comparing Scottie Scheffler to prime Tiger Woods
Margins of victory are what immediately jumps out as Tiger-like in recent months Get the latest from Jon McCarthy straight to your inbox Scottie Scheffler plays a shot from the 16th tee during the final round of the Memorial Tournament. Getty Images Scottie Scheffler has become inevitable. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account It's not if he's going to make a run in a tournament, it's when he's going to make a run. The World No. 1 and undisputed king of golf at the moment did it again on Sunday by winning the Memorial Tournament in front of Jack Nicklaus for the second year in a row. 1. The Tiger conversation Scheffler became the only back-to-back winner in tournament history other than … you guessed it, Tiger Woods, who went back-to-back-to-back from 1999-2001. It's over, the time has come. Scottie has now entered the territory where we can start comparing some of his accomplishments to prime Tiger Woods without apologizing for it, or adding in a list of caveats. That in itself is perhaps his most amazing accomplishment. The margins of victory are what immediately jumps out as Tiger-like in recent months. He won on Sunday by four; he won the PGA Championship by five and he won the Byron Nelson by eight. And all that was in May. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Stats guru Justin Ray posted on Sunday that the list of players with 3+ wins in the same season by four or more shots in the past 30 years is: Tiger 2000, 5 times; Tiger 2003, 3; Scottie 2024, 3; Scottie 2025 3 (so far). 2. Golden Bear comparison Speaking of Jack Nicklaus, it's always great to hear the Golden Bear weigh in on anything. As if what Scheffler is doing isn't scary enough, Nicklaus had this to say about the world No. 1 on Saturday's broadcast: 'He reminds me a lot of the way I tried to play.' The comparisons I see between the two are partly in their attitudes. There is/was a matter-of-factness to the way they both go about the game: Head down, consistent, every week showing up at the first tee with the same attitude and plan. Jon McCarthy has something for every golfer, with a notably Canadian slant. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That might not sound like a lot, but it harkens back to the opening line from this newsletter. Jack Nicklaus was inevitable. Scottie Scheffler has become inevitable. And that scares the hell out of the competition. When you ask other players who played with and against absolute legends in any sport what it was that they were most impressed with, it's amazing how many times you'll hear them say something along the lines of, 'He was the same guy every day.' That sounds kind of silly, but for professional athletes who know how easy it is to let things slip away for a shot, or a shift, or a day, or a year, it's that utter sameness, physically, mentally, emotionally, Every. Single. Day. that seems otherworldly. Jack also talked about a shared ability to play their best when it mattered most. Which is something Scottie also mentioned earlier in the week as being the thing he feels is the entire point of sports and competition. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. So, yes, so far we've compared him to Jack and Tiger. RELEASE THE TROLLS!!! 3. Reaching the peak Padraig Harrington once told me his theory on greatness, and it's stuck with me ever since. His theory is that almost every player gets 18 months of greatness, but almost nobody gets any more than that. His idea is that every professional golfer has a prime of about that length. 'Pretty much if you watch everybody's career they get about 18 months where they truly peak,' he said at the time. 'Whether they're 100th in the world and they become 50th, or 50th becomes 20th, or 20th becomes 10, or 10 becomes one, everybody gets those 18 months where they become a little bit more comfortable with who they are in their game and things happen. It's hard to peak all your life, it wouldn't be a peak.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. And that's it. For almost everyone. 'Some of them think they're different but they're not,' he said. 'You know, basically history just keeps repeating itself when it comes to golf. We get sucked in at times to thinking that it won't, but it looks like it just continually does. I've seen it before.' He was speaking about Brooks Koepka at the time in 2019 and he would be proven right. He mentioned Rory McIlroy beginning in 2011. And Jordan Spieth in 2015. And we can add countless others to his list. The list of players who have shattered Harrington's rule can probably fit on one hand. Over to you, Scottie. 4. Taylor in good spot before Canadian Open Speaking of peaking, Nick Taylor has his game in a good place heading into the RBC Canadian Open. The 2023 champion finished solo fourth at The Memorial after an up-and-down weekend. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. What I love about Taylor is that he is an absolute gamer. As my American colleagues like to say, he has that dawg in him. Taylor had several opportunities to fold over the weekend during some bad stretches, but refused to do so. If Taylor is playing at a course and in conditions where he can get his ball into the fairway and far enough out there to let his iron play shine, he can get himself into contention on Sunday. And there is no Canadian you'd rather have in contention late afternoon in the final round. FUN FACT: He's the only player to win Canadian Junior, Canadian Amateur, and Canadian Open titles. Let's hope he can get in the mix again this coming Sunday. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. I can't wait to get onsite this week at TPC Toronto for the RBC Canadian Open. With such a vast venue and a site that has grown and been developed for this moment, it's going to be great to see the vision Golf Canada and RBC have for the future of the tournament. It won't be without some growing pains and we'll see how troublesome it is to get people in and out of a rural town such as Caledon. But it's a beautiful part of Ontario, it's 30-40 minutes from Pearson airport and you get the sense that whatever is missing, will be built there by the next time the golf world arrives. With TPC Toronto being the new de facto home of the tournament for years to come (whenever it's not making its stops at the GTA's top classic private clubs) this week's event is not an experiment, it's the new reality.
USA Today
14-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Is Scottie Scheffler developing a Tiger-like intimidation factor?
Is Scottie Scheffler developing a Tiger-like intimidation factor? CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After Scottie Scheffler rolled the field at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks ago, ESPN's Scott Van Pelt asked two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, winner of 17 PGA Tour titles, if he ever had shot 31 under. 'No. Thanks for asking, though,' Strange said. Scheffler's eye-popping total matched the low 72-hole score in a Tour event, matching a mark previously set by Justin Thomas and Ludvig Aberg before him. 'Thirty-one is pretty low,' Van Pelt said. 'Just trying to frame it appropriately.' 'Gosh. I don't think I ever shot 20-under. He's got me by 11,' Strange said. 'That's how good he is sometimes.' Scottie Scheffler's 2024 was like a Tiger Woods year Scheffler was an absolute beast in 2024, winning seven official events, including the Masters, the FedEx Cup and also an Olympic Gold medal. Not even two major championships for Xander Schauffele were enough to keep Scheffler from winning the PGA Tour Player of the Year title for a third consecutive year. It was Tigeresque. But until Scheffler laid down the hammer at the CJ Cup, he was winless this season after recovering from missing time due to hand surgery after an accident making ravioli on Christmas. Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee wondered if Scheffler is on the verge of becoming one of the rare players who can lap a field and his mere presence on a leaderboard can make golfers wilt under pressure. No one in the last 30 years could impose his will on the field the way Tiger Woods did. Chamblee wanted to figure out the cost of being paired with Tiger. In 2008 or 2009, he spent multiple days calculating the score of every player who had played with him on the weekend. Here's more on the story.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'I feel pretty bad about where I'm at': Scottie Scheffler assesses his game
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Scottie Scheffler set the bar extremely high after a seven-win season that resulted in a third straight Player of the Year award. Three tournaments into his 2025 season, how does the world No. 1 player feel about his game? 'I think I feel pretty bad about where I'm at,' said Scheffler, who shot a final-round 66 at Torrey Pines Golf Course and finished tied for third in the 2025 Genesis Invitational. Scheffler missed at least two starts after injuring his right hand and requiring surgery during the Christmas holiday, and his game hasn't been sharp yet — at least by his standards. This week, he had two rounds — the second and third — where he lost strokes off the tee and, even more un-Scottie-like, two rounds where he lost strokes on approach shots, in the second and fourth rounds. That only happened twice in 2024. Scheffler shot a 4-over 76 Saturday, his highest round on tour since the final round of the 2022 Players Championship. That spans 212 official rounds, but Saturday's 76 was his second over-par round this season out of 12 total rounds, but he said while discussing his third round with his chiropractor on the table afterward, he wasn't too concerned about it. 'Marnus asked me about my day. I said, 'To be honest with you, I feel in a better spot today than I did yesterday.' I think going into today's round I just tried to have a better attitude. Felt like at times yesterday in the round I tried to press a little bit as I was falling behind,' Scheffler said. 'I definitely, I think, paid the price for it on the back nine, but overall did a good job today of giving myself a chance. Just wasn't able to hit all the shots there at the end.' On Sunday, he whittled 10 shots from his score and played like a world No. 1, manufacturing pars and birdies however he could. That included a chip-in birdie at No. 5 and holing a bunker shot at No. 15. He went out in 5-under 31, climbing within a shot of the lead. It felt Tiger-like until he dropped shots at Nos. 11 and 16 when he could ill afford them. HOLE GOT IN THE WAY! Scottie Scheffler vaults to T2 after this hole-out 👀 📺 CBS — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2025 'On the back nine I felt I could have given myself some more chances,' Scheffler said. 'Put up a good fight. I didn't have what was my best stuff this week and still found a way to give myself a chance in the tournament. A few less mistakes over the weekend and it could be a different story.' At this time last year, Scheffler hadn't notched a win yet, so there's no reason to panic. He has looked frustrated at times, but in each of his last two starts, he's shown that he's more than capable of getting in the mix without his best stuff—and he doesn't look very far off at all. He said he expects to defend his titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship and hinted at adding another start, possibly at the Texas Children's Houston Open, where he finished second last year in the lead-up to his Masters title defense. 'I'm trying to give myself a little bit of grace and some patience, kind of getting back into the swing of things,' Scheffler said. 'I did some things in the last few weeks that I'm happy with and definitely some things that I need to improve on.' This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler made a Sunday charge at the Genesis that fell short
