When it comes to determining who the best players in golf are, there is usually just one thing that stands above everything else and that is how many majors a player has won.
As it stands Jack Nicklaus stands alone at the top of the rankings with eighteen major titles, next on that list comes Tiger Woods. Regarded by many as the best player to have ever played the game, Woods was a generational talent and is a huge reason as to why the game has become the global force that it is.
With Wood’s peak days long behind him, many thought we would never see a player who would be able to dominate things like him ever again, however the rise of Scottie Scheffler is starting to put that argument to rest.
Having been the world number one for the past three years, Scheffler has been a class apart. 2024 has been his year, a winner of the Masters, Players Championship, Olympics and the overall FedEx Champion, Scheffler has won an astonishing eight titles in 2024 and has managed to move himself into a different stratosphere.
Although Scheffler is still to win his first major away from the comfy confines of Augusta, many believe that if he keeps up this level of form he could well be one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. So could he really surpass the achievements of Woods and Nicklaus? Here are some of the most compelling arguments.
A Winning Mentality
It seems hard to believe that it took several years for Scottie Scheffler to win his first PGA title. After several near misses, Scheffler started to confirm his promise at the 2021 Ryder Cup. Winning an epic encounter against Jon Rahm in the singles, Scheffler used that experience to win his first title at the Phoenix Open in 2022 and it’s fair to say that he hasn’t looked back since.
As well as winning the FedEx for the first ever time in his career, 2024 has also seen Scheffler become the first ever player to win back to back Players Championships.
What made Woods such a force in the game was that whenever he was in contention, the other players would feel his presence and without Scheffler carries the same threat.
Able to win in a variety of ways, he can front run with the best of them and he can also come back to win from a mile off the pace. That was seen to great effect at the Olympics.
Able to produce a stirring back nine, his charge could be felt all over the course. Just like with Woods, his name near the leaders was enough to force mistakes and with others feeling the pressure, by the time Scheffler completed his round, the gold medal was all but his.
After a year where Scheffler has dominated all before him, the worrying thing for the rest of the field is that he still has plenty to prove. Still to prove he can win in Europe and also at one of the majors away from Augusta, Scheffler will turn up in 2025 hungry for more success and hoping to top his brilliant 2024.
When he is on his game there are very few players that can compete with Scheffler and although topping eight victories in 2025 will be a tough ask, if there is one man capable of having one of the best seasons in golfing history it’s the Texan.
He Can Win in so Many Ways
What has stood out about Scheffler this season is just how versatile and rounded his game has become. Whereas for most players to win on Tour every element of their game needs to be firing, for Scheffler that isn’t necessarily the case.
At the conclusion of the PGA season, he topped the stats when it came to strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained from tee to green, strokes gained in approach, overall approach play, putting, scoring average, front nine scoring and back nine scoring.
Always in and around the lead, mentally Scheffler never seems to get rattled and the stats clearly shows that he is in total confidence and command of every element of his game.
Containing very few weaknesses, it must be tricky for the rest of the field to know that he is such a hard man to stop. The stats show just how classy an operator Scheffler is and if he can keep up this level of performance plenty more of the games biggest titles are bound to follow.
Does Golf’s Great Divide Weaken Scheffler’s Claim?
The only argument that some may direct at Scheffler and his current reign at the top of the world rankings is most likely to be the fact that he is dominating the PGA Tour in the absence of some of the best players in the world.
Whilst the likes of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Cantlay regularly stand in his way when it comes to the PGA Tour schedule, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith and Jon Rahm all compete on the LIV Tour and the chances for the two tours to collide is often limited to just four events a year.
The argument against Scheffler not being the best player in the world is weak but you could say that the strength of some of his regular season victories may not carry the same weight as Tiger Woods when he was in his pomp.
Scheffler has been able to beat the best when it comes to his 2024 Masters crown but during the other three majors of the year, he did come up a little short. Would he have gone on to win eight tournaments if some of the class of the LIV field had been in attendance? I think it’s fair to say it could have been unlikely.
With no sign of a deal in place between the two warring tours he will want to put down a marker and claim that he is truly the best player in the world. With the majors set to be the only time where the very best players from both LIV and the PGA Tour will compete against one another, look for Scheffler to add to his major haul.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
