Scottie Scheffler’s achievements have put him in rarified air.
The world’s No. 1 golfer has drawn comparisons to Tiger Woods, becoming the first player to win five PGA Tour events in consecutive seasons since Woods and going the same number of days (1,197) between his first and fourth major championship as he did.
Scheffler, a four-time major champion, will need to do a lot more to match Woods, who has won 15 majors and was No. 1 in the world for 683 weeks.
He scoffed at any comparisons himself.
“I think it’s very silly to be compared to Tiger Woods,” Scheffler said before last month’s Tour Championship. “I think Tiger is a guy that stands alone in the game of golf, and I think he always will. Tiger inspired a whole generation of golfers.”
Fair. Scheffler is Scheffler: a 29-year-old, 6-3 superstar who has captivated the sport over the past few years. For the U.S. heading into the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, that is more than enough.
Like any golf fan, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley has been enamored with Scheffler. But it goes beyond the on-course prowess.
“The more I’m around Scottie, the more I’m impressed with who he is,” Bradley said recently, ahead of the Procore Championship in Napa, California, which he ended up winning. “We all know what a generational talent, player Scottie is. But when you see Scottie around our guys, around the rookies, the willingness of him to do literally whatever it takes for us to win the Ryder Cup. And when your best player is doing that, the rest of your team is going to fall in line of his lead.”
At Bethpage, Scheffler will be playing in his third Ryder Cup. He said he was “probably the last guy on the team” in the 2021 Ryder Cup, a 19-9 win for the U.S., when he did not have a PGA Tour win on his resume yet.
Safe to say, a lot has changed in four years.
Scheffler has 19 PGA Tour wins since Feb. 13, 2022. Of his six wins this season he captured the PGA Championship and the British Open and the Masters in 2024 and 2022, moving within only a U.S. Open title of the career Grand Slam. He also won an Olympic gold medal in August 2024.
Scheffler is 2-2-3 in two Ryder Cups, a record he will hope to build on as the Americans try to bounce back from a disheartening 16 1/2-11 1/2 defeat in Rome two years ago.
Bradley believes that the Ryder Cup is an event suited for Scheffler’s DNA.
“When you’re the best player on their team, when you’re Rory [McIlroy] or you’re Tiger or Phil [Mickelson] or whoever, you carry a big burden for your team,” Bradley said. “I think that happens with Michael Jordan, Tom Brady. These guys are built for it. Like I think that they, in a sick way, they look forward to it. They want that pressure. And not everyone wants that. People can say they do, but not everyone wants it.
“And Scottie, I think he would hope that it comes down to him in singles. I bet you he dreams about it. That kind of separates Scottie from the rest of the guys.”
After his win in Napa, Scheffler had this to say: “I always focus as much as I can on my preparation going into tournaments, that’s what gives me confidence, and I feel like I’m as prepared as possible for the Ryder Cup, and I think we’re all excited for the tournament to get started,. We’ve got three days in New York to compete and have fun. We’re all looking forward to it.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.
