Scottie Scheffler’s run of dominance not seen since Tiger Woods, and these seven statistics prove it

Scottie Scheffler is on perhaps the most dominant run for any male professional golfer since Tiger Woods was at the height of his powers. At RBC Heritage 2024, which he won by three shots over Sahith Theegala, Scheffler became the first golfer since Woods in 2007-08 to win four tournaments in five starts.

Not only did Scheffler notch those four victories, but he also endured some of the toughest tests on the PGA Tour calendar. What about the tournament he didn’t win? Scheffler even finished T2 at the Houston Open.

There are so many ways to present greatness, especially when it is so obvious and dominant. Scheffler himself said early last week in Hilton Head, South Carolina – shortly after his Masters victory – that sport (specifically golf) is about trying to find something special.

“What’s great about our sport is the competition,” he said. “That’s what I love most is coming here and competing. So if some of the narrative could come back to that, I think it would be really good. You look at something like March Madness and they’re not competing for any money or anything like that. .

“You can look at the women’s game. Women in college now stay in school for four years. There are good rivalries; you have teams that play each other year after year, and it’s really intriguing to watch. And it’s not about anything other than wanting to witness something great and enjoy the competition.”

It’s nothing more than wanting to witness something great.

This describes Scheffler and his game very well.

The statistics are simply staggering. At one point at the RBC Heritage, Scheffler went 50 holes without making anything worse than a 4. That’s pretty good, and it’s just the beginning when it comes to analyzing how amazing Scheffler has been playing over the past few months.

Scheffler’s run of four wins in five starts dates back to early March, but his overall run of 11 world wins in the last 51 events is almost as impressive.

Here are seven numbers that serve as proof of how immense Scheffler’s play has been as of late.

76 below: If a golfer played Scheffler’s last five statistics – Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, Houston Open, Masters, RBC Heritage – made the cut on all five and played them at an average pace, he would be 1 under at the end of those 20 rounds. In that stretch, Scheffler is 76 strokes under par. Of course, that’s just another way of looking at strokes gained, but sometimes it resonates more when put in this perspective rather than pointing out that he’s gained nearly 4.0 strokes per round in five consecutive tournaments.

US$16.3 million: The record for money earned in a single PGA Tour season was set by Scheffler last year when he collected $21 million on the course (not including the FedEx Cup bonus). Second on the list is Jon Rahm, who earned $16.5 million last year. Third highest? That would be Scheffler… for the last 43 days. He has earned $16.3 million since the beginning of March, when the Arnold Palmer Invitational began. That’s more than $45,000 per hole of golf he’s played in the last five events.

US$1.78 million: This year, Rory McIlroy made $1.71 million in PGA Tour earnings. Scheffler’s caddy, Ted Scott, won approximately $1.78 million. (This applies the standard 5% take home for making a cut, 7% for finishing in the top 10, and 10% when a golfer wins a tournament.) This would rank Scott in the top 50 on the golf money list. This year’s PGA Tour.

39 and 67.5: Scheffler opened the season with — count ’em — 39 consecutive rounds at par or better. His average score is currently 67.50. The PGA Tour record for scoring average in a season is 67.79 by Tiger. Remarkably, Woods reached this exact number in 2000 and 2007.

119: Scheffler needed just 119 PGA Tour events to reach 10 official victories, according to Data Golf. Of the golfers who have achieved 10 victories in the last 25 years, Scheffler’s number is in Jordan Spieth’s range. Both are behind Woods and McIlroy in terms of the number of events needed to reach 10 wins.

Maybe even more interesting? Scheffler is having an all-time floodgate as all 10 of his PGA Tour wins have come in his last 51 starts. That’s… tiger-like.

18.7 and 3,215: Scheffler more than doubled the next closest competitor this year in official money earned ($18.7 million) and FedEx Cup points accumulated (3,215). Wyndham Clark is next with $9.1 million and 1,555, respectively. That’s not your average PGA Tour player, that’s the next best player on the PGA Tour so far in 2024. Furthermore, the difference in Official World Golf Rankings points between Scheffler and the second player in the world, McIlroy, is more than the difference between McIlroy and… you.

two: Only twice in eight events measured over all 72 holes Scheffler no finish first from tee to green. In these tests, he finished second and third. Here’s the scary part: Scheffler was the worst putter among the nine best golfers on the RBC Heritage leaderboard and still won by three strokes. This is what it means when you hear someone say, “If he just makes an average shot, he will win.” Scottie is a little above average right now and is winning everything despite the expectation that he will, you know, win everything.

“I have pretty high expectations for myself, and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best,” Scheffler said Monday after winning for the fourth time in five starts. “I’ve talked a lot about the kind of preparation and what it takes to show up with the first tee ready to play, and I feel like I’m putting in the work and playing good golf, and it’s nice to see some winning results. Sometimes last year , I felt like I was playing good golf and I wasn’t winning, and now it feels good to be sitting here winning some tournaments.