This Scottie Scheffler stat will blow your mind
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Scottie Scheffler’s latest heater has even got Jack Nicklaus making bold comparisons!
Scottie Scheffler is having another ludicrously good year.
Indeed, in May alone he went W-W-T4-W which included becoming a three-time major champion.
The World No.1’s successful title defence at the Memorial on Sunday – yes, I know that was technically June – was his 16th PGA Tour win. His first, it’s worth adding for a fun bit of context, was a little more than three years ago.
Since that breakthrough at the 2022 Phoenix Open, Scheffler has won three majors, The Players twice, six Signature Events, a FedEx Cup Tour Championship, and the Match Play when World Golf Championships were a thing.
That’s 15. And the other three were that maiden win at Scottsdale and his first Arnold Palmer Invitational Invitational a month later – before both tournaments received elevated status – as well as this year’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
We can keep going if you like? Three of those – the Phoenix Open, Players, and Memorial – were successful title defences.
And, according to golf stats guru Justin Ray, only two players in the last 30 years have gone back to back on more occasions: Phil Mickelson, with five, and Tiger Woods, with 23. (No, that is not a typo.)
Scheffler and Woods, it is also noted, are the only two players to achieve that particular feat at Jack’s Place.
But while impressive, it’s not that stat from Scheffler’s season that really caught our eye.
That came from Normal Sport writer Kyle Porter, who posted this following the Texan’s victory at Muirfield Village:
In the 12 events Scheffler has played this year, he is 148 shots better off than the players who finished in the middle of the leaderboard.
It reminds us a bit of that incredible Woods stat that always does the rounds – about how, between 1997 and 2013, he was a combined 126-under-par at the majors, while next on that list was – you guessed it – Steve Flesch at 125-over-par.
And just in case you need any more inspiration to work on your mid-to-short game, Scheffler was No.1 in Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green, Approach AND Scrambling at the Memorial, and leads Strokes Gained Total, Tee-to-Green and Approach for the PGA Tour season.
Even tournament host Jack Nicklaus can’t believe what Scheffler is doing at the moment.
“He reminds me so much of the way I like to play,” the 18-time major champ said of Scheffler’s four-shot victory in his backyard.
“I don’t think I played nearly as well as he played. He’s playing better than I played and more consistent. He’s just been playing fantastic, and I love watching him.”
He added: “He has the ability to bring his level to whatever level it needs to be.
“That’s what good players do. And he’s not a good player, he’s a great player. Look at the record that he has had the last few years, it’s unbelievable.
“Great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events.
“Ben Griffin’s a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player. Those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch, but [Scheffler] knows that those guys are not in his league.”
At least those guys won’t have to worry about Scheffler at this week’s Canadian Open, as he takes a week off ahead of the US Open.
In this form, you wouldn’t bet against Scheffler heading to Royal Portrush next month looking to complete the Grand Slam…
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Jack Nicklaus said no other player is "in the same league" as Scottie Scheffler after the World No.1's latest PGA Tour victory at the Memorial.
