New Tiger on the prowl

Scheffler has won four of the 16 majors

As Scottie Scheffler steamrolled his way to the Claret Jug, there was another name which kept being mentioned in the discourse surrounding his impending Open victory.

Tiger Woods. Remember him?

Scheffler’s peers regularly referred to Woods when they came off the Royal Portrush course on Sunday. So too did the television and radio commentators analysing the action.

The comparisons between the current world number one and 15-time major champion Woods - the pre-eminent superstar who elevated golf to a new stratosphere in the late 1990s and early 2000s - continued in the aftermath of Scheffler’s fourth major title.

An eye-catching statistic further fuelled the frenzy. Exactly 1,197 days had passed between each player’s first major win to their fourth.

Scheffler’s response to the parallels being drawn? “I still think they’re a bit silly,” he said.

“I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf.”

One thing is undebatable. Scheffler is conquering the men’s game like nobody since Woods in his pomp.

The first sign of Scheffler’s special qualities came at the 2021 Ryder Cup.

Questions had been raised about the young American being picked as a Whistling Straits wildcard, but the manner in which he bossed European talisman Jon Rahm in the Sunday singles - putting the hosts on the path to a rare routine win - was a sign of things to come.

In the four seasons since, Scheffler has won four of the 16 majors - the 2022 and 2024 Masters, plus this year’s US PGA Championship and Open - and earned a further eight top-10 finishes.

Throw in 13 PGA Tour victories, along with the Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, and it is clear why he is the undisputed world number one.

“Scottie is the bar that we’re all trying to get to,” said world number two Rory McIlroy.

“You could argue there’s only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run like the one that Scottie’s been for the past 24 to 36 months.”

By securing victory at Portrush, Scheffler became only the second player to win The Open while world number one. The first was Woods, who did it three times in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

Scheffler’s machine-like ability, which is apparent even when he does not seem to be playing at his peak, is similar to his fellow American.

It is little wonder several of his peers have described Scheffler this week as being “Tiger-like”.

“I don’t think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon and here’s Scottie taking that throne,” said 2024 Open champion Xander Schauffele.

“He’s a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us.”

Scheffler has a long way to go to match the longevity of his compatriot, whose major triumphs stretched from 1997 to 2019.

But the comparisons continue to persist because of the way Scheffler imperiously tears through fields like Woods, whose masterpiece 2000 season is regarded as one of the best ever, did in his pomp.

 (BBC Sport)