The comparisons between Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods, much as some people hate to admit it or cringe at the exercise, are inescapable. From his dominance atop the Official World Golf Ranking (123 straight weeks and counting) to various performance markers, Scheffler in a short time has assembled a record that is often reminiscent of a certain World Golf Hall of Famer.
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Last Sunday at the Procore Championship in Napa, Calif., Scheffler won his sixth PGA Tour event of the year, giving him victories of at least that many for consecutive seasons. The only other player since 1983 to win six or more titles in multiple seasons … yep, here it comes … is Woods.
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With the 45th Ryder Cup approaching at Bethpage Black, Scheffler appears poised to lead the U.S. team in its bid to reclaim Samuel Ryder’s trophy from Europe. That is what is expected of the No. 1 player in the world. That was always what was expected of Woods, who played in eight Ryder Cups and was ranked No. 1 during four of them—though he was recognized as the de facto best player in all but his final appearance in 2018 in Paris.
One of the most astonishing occurrences during Woods’ reign in golf was his inability to infuse his greatness into the American teams for which he played. A winner of a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles and 15 majors, Woods was a member of just one winning squad, in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., and only thanks to a historic final-day singles rally.
These are footsteps Scheffler undoubtedly would prefer not to follow.
Anointed by captain Keegan Bradley as the “natural-born leader” of the U.S. team—and assumed as such anyway by his station as today’s most dominant golfer—Scheffler will be put upon to set the tone for a squad that faces some of the same challenges that confronted players of the previous era who shared a uniform with Woods. Tiger’s underwhelming 13-21-3 record is as much a reflection of the shortcomings of his teammates as it is his own shaky efforts.
Is this U.S. team, and maybe a few others in the future in the short term, destined to suffer the same struggles? Will the American players, in essence, not only fail to sufficiently support their lead figure, but falter because of him? Whether Bradley has some concerns about this only he can say, but it can’t be dismissed out of hand.
It was no secret that Woods seldom received sufficient support in pairs matches, and his 9-19-1 record reflects that. Woods had 14 partners in foursomes and fourball matches, and among the seven players who teamed with him at least twice, he had a winning record with just one, Davis Love III, with whom he went 2-1-0. He and Jim Furyk had the next best record together at 2-2-0.
Scheffler isn’t likely to encounter the same problems, and middling early returns can be (mostly) dismissed. His 2-2-3 record in two Ryder Cup appearances includes a 1-2-2 mark in the four-ball games. In his debut in 2021, he was ostensibly the last player chosen by captain Steve Stricker and used sparingly. He and Bryson DeChambeau combined to go 1-0-1 in fourball. Two years ago in Italy, the entire U.S. squad was out of sorts. Scheffler’s 0-2-2 mark featured a humiliating 9-and-7 second-day foursomes loss with Brooks Koepka at the hands of Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland. The record defeat left the Texan in tears.
Scottie Scheffler is consoled by his wife, Meredith Scheffler, after losing his match to Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg, 9 and 7, during the Saturday morning foursomes at the 2023 Ryder Cup.
Jamie Squire
Here’s where Woods and Scheffler diverge: aura and personality. Woods was a phenomenon unlike anyone in the game except for Arnold Palmer. Everyone held Tiger in awe. This included his fellow players. And Woods separated himself from his peers not only with his excellence but also a carefully cultivated aloofness. It was almost easier to play against him than to be his partner. His teammates struggled with two kinds of pressure: either trying to raise their respective games to his level, which they could seldom accomplish in tour events, or trying to avoid holding him back.
Meanwhile, the Europeans always set their sights on knocking off Woods and thereby landing a psychological blow against the Americans. They could play with freedom knowing they had nothing to lose. Europe’s path to obliterating the U.S. squad by nine points in 2004 at Oakland Hills outside of Detroit, an historic home setback, was paved by an opening 2-and-1 victory in fourball from Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington over Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Finding the right partner for Tiger Woods in team matches always proved tricky, even when the World No. 1 was paired with World No. 2 Phil Mickelson in 2004.
Al Messerschmidt
Whichever Europeans face off against Scheffler will feel similarly motivated and freed up.
While Scheffler is held in the same high esteem by his teammates as Woods was by fellow American stars, Scheffler’s relationship with his peers is decidedly more collegial. This is no knock on Tiger; he was just a different cat. Woods wanted to win the Ryder Cup, but you’d have never heard him talking about preparing for it the way Scheffler did after winning the Procore Championship, where 10 members of the U.S. team competed ahead of the trip to Bethpage.
“It was nice to get all the guys together,” Scheffler said after he rallied for a one-stroke victory over Ryder Cup teammate Ben Griffin. “We had some fun at the beginning of the week, played our practice rounds together. Once the tournament starts, it’s pretty much business as usual for us, but overall it was a great week. We could all hang out and stay sharp.”
“What’s interesting about Scottie,” Bradley said, “is just how dominant and fiercely competitive he is on the golf course, but you get him outside the ropes and he’s totally normal, one of the most humble people you’ll ever meet.
“He’s taking an active role of helping the younger guys and being there for them, having them ask questions, and he makes our job as captains a lot easier because we have the best player in the world that’s also super humble, down to earth, that’s looking to help our guys. That’s a big asset to have.”
If U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley wants to pull out a win at Bethpage, he’s going to have to get better production out of Scheffler than what the World No. 1 delivered in Rome two years ago.
Mike Mulholland
If there is any downside to Scheffler’s overwhelming success of late, it’s identical to that of having Woods in your team room—not a victim of his own success but perhaps too often making victims of his teammates. Their winning a lot comes at the expense of others. Just ask Griffin.
Scheffler, 29, has collected 13 of his 19 career tour titles in the last two seasons, including three majors. The next closest total among anyone on the 12-man American squad in that same span is … two—won by Griffin, both coming this year; Xander Schauffele, who stepped up to capture the PGA Championship and British Open a year ago but has not been the same since suffering a ribcage injury in December; and Bryson DeChambeau who in May added an LIV Golf title in Korea to his 2024 U.S. Open victory.
The rest of the team has five wins combined since the start of the 2024 season. (A caveat: all were registered this year.) The only Americans on the Ryder Cup team to have lifted a trophy since J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open victory at Oakmont in mid-June are Scheffler, Cameron Young at the Wyndham Championship and … Bradley, the captain, who captured the Travelers Championship.
If the U.S. is to wrest back the Cup and prevent Rory McIlroy from fulfilling his baldly provocative prediction in Rome that Europe would win in New York for its third road triumph this century, the Americans are going to have to come up clutch in ways they often haven’t the last two years. Of course, the Ryder Cup has a way of inspiring the participants who raise their games for their teammates and their country. And it does help being at home.
Scottie Scheffler carries an extra burden, one of expectation, just as Tiger Woods did starting with his debut in 1997. If he comes through on Long Island and the U.S. is victorious, Scheffler will get to hoist the Ryder Cup for a second time. That would be one more than Woods—and one less occasion for comparisons.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
