It's Scottie's world, and the rest have to live in it
Mutual appreciation for Tiger & broadcast jewel, Verne; Stray Shots misses tour villains
It’s about time Scottie Scheffler started expanding his wardrobe. He already has two Phoenix Thunderbirds blue blazers, two Arnold Palmer red cardigans and a pair of Masters green jackets. (We guess he has a couple of those PLYRS caps in his closet as well?) On Monday he added an RBC Heritage red plaid coat to his collection. That’s 10 wins now in 51 starts since 2022 — but in only six different events as he’s won in Scottsdale, Bay Hill, Sawgrass and Augusta twice each. He missed his chances to double up at the now defunct WGC Match Play (Bill Horschel ruined that opportunity in 2021). Would you bet against Scheffler retaking the tartan at Harbour Town next year? The Daily Drive would not.
Scottie Scheffler wins the RBC Heritage before paternity leave. (Keyur Khamar/Getty Images)
Scheffler’s rivals need a new gameplan
The golf world gets a respite from Scottie Scheffler.
After cleaning up another victory Monday morning at the RBC Heritage, the reigning Masters champion who has won four of his last five starts will take some much-deserved time off to stay home with his wife, Meredith, as they await the birth of their first child. When the baby arrives will have an impact on when Scheffler returns to the PGA Tour.
In the meantime, those trying to keep up with Scheffler have to come to terms with his ascending dominance. That process can go a couple of ways. One way is they can get annoyed with seeing him in contention so often and having to answer constant questions about him with the media. Another way is that they can embrace the challenge and figure out ways to get better to beat him.
Looking back, it is not anecdotal to suggest Tiger Woods’ dominance had an impact on his peers. Some marquee players had to talk about his feats so often that it became a bad idea to ask them about it. Others recognized what they were part of and realized that, perhaps, they needed to do something more to compete. The way players dealt with that challenge helped shape the way the ensuing months and years of their careers played out.
This is not to say that Scheffler is in Woods’ type of stratosphere — yet. The 27-year-old Texan had won four of his last five starts. He’s got 10 career PGA Tour victories in a little more than two years. He’s won the Masters twice. It’s an incredible run of excellence that is made even more impressive when you consider his total body of work. For example, no rounds over par in 2024.
Scheffler perfect par or better in 39 rounds of 2024 (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Tiger, of course, had multiple amazing PGA Tour winning streaks. He won seven consecutive PGA Tour starts in 2006-07, including the Open and PGA Championship and two WGCs. He won six straight in 1999-2000. He won five straight in 2007-08. In 2000-01 he won four consecutive majors, the “Tiger Slam.” He triumphed in seven of 11 major starts at one point. His list of superlatives goes on and on. And it got tiresome for those in constant pursuit.
Ernie Els, for one, dealt with several body blows from Woods. And yet, Els won the 1997 U.S. Open and the 2002 Open Championship along with a slew of other events during Tiger’s peak reign. Phil Mickelson, for all his frustrations en route to winning his first major title, won three majors and a Players (and should have won at least one U.S. Open) from 2004 to 2007 — one of Woods’ most successful periods. Mickelson has said often that Woods forced him to get better. Vijay Singh won nine times in 2004 and five more times in 2005 (the same year that Woods captured two majors) and on three occasions the Fijian wrested the OWGR No. 1 ranking away from Woods.
For those trying to haul down Scheffler now, it probably makes sense to recognize his greatness and then focus on getting better without letting him get in your head.
That’s easier said than done.
“I grew up watching the end of Tiger, got to see Rory (McIlroy), DJ (Dustin Johnson), Jordan (Spieth), like all these guys kind of dominate for a period of time,’’ said Sahith Theegala, a one-time PGA Tour winner who finished second to Scheffler at Harbour Town last week. “I was like, we could be in the midst of something really, really special and I just thought it was cool. … I just think it’s cool.
“It’s got to be annoying for some guys, but I love it. I still think I have a way to go to prove myself that I am, I would say, a top-15, top-10 player in the world. I haven’t gotten to that point quite yet. I’m not annoyed. I’m just kind of sitting back, and it’s honestly cool to see. It’s really cool to see. It gives us something to strive for.’’
Theegala is only 26 years old (just a year younger than Scheffler), but that’s a refreshing and mature outlook. Golf is often such a singular pursuit that players don’t look up long enough to appreciate what is happening around them. Perhaps Theegala can use what Scheffler is doing to his advantage.
“It’s cool to see where the separation is, and he’s pretty much better than everybody at everything,’’ he said. “He’s gotten the putter figured out, and he’s always been a great putter, so it was just a matter of time. You don’t want to compare because it’s not even possible to do what he’s doing really. But it’s just cool that you have benchmarks and you can put in the work, and there’s a ton of room for improvement for all of us, which is great to see.’’
If any of these guys want to try to learn from history, it might be prudent to avoid the mistakes made by those trying to pursue Woods a couple of decades ago. You are seeing it and hearing with Scheffler now — he’s letting others make the mistakes.
“He just does it over and over and over again. That’s amazing. I feel like he almost makes it seem very realistic that we should do that. He just seems like he’s playing on the driving range every day.” — Max Homa on Scheffler
It happened at the Masters, where his closest pursuers who were all tied with him on the eighth hole Sunday — Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Ludvig Åberg — all made double bogeys from the turn to Amen Corner. Did they make mistakes because they felt they needed to make something happen? That’s probably a tactic that only plays into Scheffler’s hands. It did for Woods, who made his share of mistakes, too, but managed them better than anyone else in developing a reputation as golf’s greatest closer.
“The gap seems to be quite large,’’ Homa admitted about Scheffler and the rest. “I think we’ve seen people do this over the years as far as excellence for time, over a little bit of time.
“His seems to be sustained a bit longer than I can remember from a lot of people. The Rorys of the world, the Tigers, the Jordans, these guys have done this for a while. But the way Scottie … I played with him in the Masters and the U.S. Open. I think it was last year on Thursday and Friday, and he hit it unbelievable. I just kept thinking to myself, man, must be nice, that’s just incredible. And then he’s done it for a year. Those are like great weeks that you like harken back to. He does this every week.
“It’s definitely unique what he’s doing. Is it more daunting or challenging? More challenging, I would say. I think it’s inspiring. It makes you look at your game even more closely to figure out what you would do to get on his level.
“I think because of the Tiger era when he was just running through golf tournament after golf tournament and just annihilating everybody, it was probably more daunting because we had never seen anything like that. Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person. I wish I could hate him.
“But it’s not utterly shocking what he does. He just does it over and over and over again. That’s amazing. I feel like he almost makes it seem very realistic that we should do that. He just seems like he’s playing on the driving range every day.’’
That is the challenge that looms ahead for the tour’s best. Scheffler is off this week and his status to play his hometown Dallas event next week — the CJ Cup Byron Nelson — would appear to be in jeopardy due to the impending birth. A week later, it’s the Wells Fargo Championship, a signature event, followed by the PGA Championship at Valhalla. Scheffler will likely return at one of those, and it’s tough to envision his dialed in game not coming back with him.
No. 16 tower was Verne Lundquist’s perch for most of 40 Masters (Augusta National)
Tiger tips cap to Verne Lundquist
During the final round of the Masters, Tiger Woods made a point to seek out retiring CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist, who was sitting beneath a tree at the par-3 16th hole — Verne’s long-time assigned spot to call the action — as Woods played the hole early Sunday.
Lundquist will forever be linked with Woods thanks to his iconic call of the chip-in during the final round of the 2005 Masters (among many other highlights) in which he said “In your LIFE … have you ever seen anything like that?!’’ as Tiger’s parabolic pitch from behind the green rolled toward the cup and hung on the lip before falling. That birdie was pivotal to Woods eventually winning his fourth green jacket in a playoff against Chris DiMarco.
During a pre-tournament news conference, Woods praised Lundquist working his 40th and final Masters.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that call a couple times,” he said with a smile. “I mean, he has just an amazing ability to bring in the audience and describe a situation and just be able to narrate it in a way that is poetic but it’s also … he describes it with emotionality. He just draws the audience in.
“That’s what I grew up watching. I grew up listening to Verne. And he made a nice call there at 16. … I will have that memory with Verne for the rest of my life.”
That’s why Woods sought the 83-year-old Lundquist out to say their goodbyes during that poignant moment in the final round.
Lundquist — who was for years a big part of the CBS golf coverage as well as football and basketball — joined the Stream Room podcast last week with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson.
“Even though he was 5-over (par), he walked off the green at 16 as he approached, I just said, ‘Tiger, thank you,’” Lundquist said. “He reached over and shook my hand and we chatted. In all candor, I can’t remember what we said, except I thanked him for the kind words that he had said, and he said, ‘We’re gonna be tied at the hip forever’ because of that shot and because of what I said.’’
Lundquist said that after Woods teed off on the 17th hole: “I was still standing under the tree. And he walked down the 17th fairway and gave me a thumbs up. I will treasure that forever. People say, ‘Do you think he’ll ever come back?’ Hell yes, he’ll come back. He’s not gonna let people remember that he was 60th in a field of 60 (who made the cut).”
Woods struggled over the weekend, shooting his highest score ever at Augusta National — an 82 during the third round — and his worst 72-hole score as a pro. Afterward, the 15-time major champion vowed to get ready for the next three major championships, including next month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, where he won the third leg of his Tiger Slam.
Stray Shots: Whither the villains?
By Peter Kaufman
1. For a while over the weekend it looked like the Masters redux — Scottie Scheffler on cruise control chased by Collin Morikawa and Ludwig Åberg.
Those two chasers fell away in the final round, and once Scheffler’s hand was firmly on the tournament’s throat — a 63 on moving day will do that for you, despite a couple of very makeable missed putts at that — it was another snore-fest if it was a competitive dynamic you sought. On the other hand, if what you want is unbridled excellence, this was another Scheffler clinic.
He cruised home Sunday/Monday shooting 3-under 68, comfortably ahead (by five shots with three holes left when play was suspended Sunday night) of Sahith Theegala in the end while Morikawa and Åberg limped off with 72s. Poor Åberg, following up his Masters second-place finish with just a top-10 at Hilton Head. He is, nonetheless, special. And following up his boffo Masters performance with ninth place at the Heritage, it’s probably fair to observe that the golf butterfly has certainly perched on Morikawa’s shoulder. He has found something and it would be fun to see how long the butterfly stays perched.
The butterfly, however, has seemingly taken up permanent residence on Scheffler’s shoulder. He now has 10 wins and two majors at just 27. He is the first player:
• to win four times in five starts since Tiger in 2007-2008;
• to win the Masters and RBC Heritage since Bernard Langer in 1985.
Scheffler was one missed 7-footer on the last at the Houston Open from being in a playoff there, and that’s his one non-win in the streak. Yikes. How much longer can we enjoy his excellence, one wonders? Will the impending birth of his first child impact him such that the train ride is altered in some fashion?
There were some encouraging signs of life amongst certain of the troops on Sunday — Wyndham Clark, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau each closed with 65s, while Brian Harman shot 64. It really feels like his MC at the Masters has galvanized Clark, and he clearly is going to be a force to be reckoned with for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy continues to look absolutely lost, finishing T33 with a final round 74.
2. Speaking of dominance, how about Nelly Korda, age 25? Five LPGA Tour wins in a row, with Sunday’s Chevron Championship also representing her second major victory. Have we ever seen such a roll of success from both the women’s and men’s tours at the same time? Korda thus ties the LPGA record for consecutive wins alongside a couple of impressive hall of famers named Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005).
Korda shot 68-69-69-69 to win by two. She’s queen of all she surveys as she aims for No. 6.
3. Welcome back Billy Horschel? He has been wandering in the golf wilderness with no wins in two years, and the magic left him very dramatically last year. But playing the opposite-field Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic, he shot a 9-under 63 Sunday and rallied to win. Horschel is one of the tour’s great personalities and competitors, and wouldn’t it be nice to see him back on form?
4. With apologies to Peter, Paul & Mary:
Where have all the golf villains gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the golf villains gone?
Long time ago.
Where, indeed? Heroes really need villains, and all of the PGA Tour’s play for the other team these days. It’s terrific to cheer FOR Scheffler’s excellence, but am I the only one misses rooting AGAINST some of the modern-day villains? They are all on LIV, and we all know who they are. Dang it, we miss them.
Ratings are down dramatically and the LIV-PGA negotiations are who knows where. The denizens of PGA Tour headquarters will, sooner than later, come to realize that the big-money boys who just pledged a few billion likely won’t sit quietly for profitability-as-usual.
And where are our villains? It’d be swell to see them more than four times a year.