‘Tiger Woods impressed as sensational Scottie Scheffler continues to make points’
Clearly, golf magic continues to flow through the veins of the game’s supreme representative. He proved that by defending his title at 25 under.
“He didn’t really do anything wrong,” tournament host Tiger Woods commented.
The consistency of his performance begs comparisons with the 15-time major champion. Historically, Woods has been far ahead, but the current world No. 1 is achieving Tiger-like feats.
Scheffler is at 293 under in 21 starts this year. He won 9 of those matches, or 42.9% of them, tying Woods and Vijay Singh for the most wins in a season.
The tall Texan is the first male player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish the year No. 1 in the world.
Woods gained more ranking points when he completed the Tiger Major in 2000 and all four majors in 2005 and 2006.
He has surpassed the 700-point mark each time, and Scheffler is now the only player to reach that mark in one year.
For context, he has a score of 727 in 2024, while Xander Schauffele, who has won the British Open and PGA Championship, has a score of 444 and is ranked No. 3 in the world and winner of the Dubai Tournament. Rory McIlroy scored 347 points.
Watching the final round in the Bahamas, Woods described Scheffler’s unconventional footwork as “a twist he got into,” but could not hide his admiration for the quality and control of the champion’s strokes.
“If you stand behind him and watch the ball flight, it’s going to be pretty tight either way,” Woods added.
“Yes, he made a lot of birdies, but he didn’t make any mistakes. No doubles, no loose bogeys anywhere.”
These are qualities of golf discipline that Woods acquired in his prime.
Then there was Scheffler’s work on the greens, which was considered his Achilles’ heel until early in the season when he successfully switched to a mallet putter under the tutelage of British coach Phil Kenyon.
Now, Scheffler has taken it a step further with a “claw” grip for shorter putts, and the early signs are encouraging. “What is that?” joked the ultra-Orthodox Woods when he first saw the new approach last week.
“You know he can do it either way,” the former world number one added. “He had a wonderful feeling.
“You can see it in his short game and green trajectory control. If he’s consistent on the greens, he’s going to be in the top 10 every week and have a lot of wins.”
Scheffler defeated Tom Kim by six strokes to earn just over 30 world ranking points, further solidifying his position at the top of the world rankings.
Yes, it seems fitting that such a dominant performance should receive due recognition in the rankings – but this is an invitational tournament and the number of entries is strictly limited.
With the LIV Tour, which has 54 players in the field, not recognized by the official World Golf Rankings, that doesn’t do much for the credibility of the official rankings.
Whether or not LIV should get points is a separate debate, but the fact that heroes do get points seems inconsistent. After finishing runner-up in the Bahamas, Kim’s world rankings rose six places to No. 21.
Third-place finisher Justin Thomas climbed from 25th to 22nd. Those are helpful promotions for these players, but they’re not earned by beating golfers fighting for their futures, such as was the case at the International Series in Saudi Arabia.
Joaquin Niemann defeated the entire field in last weekend’s Asian Tour season final to gain more than 21 world ranking points, more than Scheffler gained by defeating just 19 opponents The points are less than 9 points.
Yes, the Saudi players are of a lower caliber (although Niemann had to beat former Open champion Cameron Smith in a play-off), but the intensity of competition in the Middle East is less evident in Woods’ game.
So add the ongoing erosion of the validity of the world rankings to the long list of issues that need to be addressed in the men’s game. Since the arrival of the LIV Golf League in 2022, it remains dangerously divided.
Its commissioner, Greg Norman, has confirmed that he will leave his post in the near future, a rare degree of certainty during a period of continued uncertainty. Maybe the departure of the rude Australians provides a path to peace, who knows?
But at a time when things inevitably are in short supply, there is a banker. Whenever the big names come together next year, Scheffler will still be the one to beat.
