The one round from Scottie Scheffler that was statistically better than the best performance of Tiger Woods’ career

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Scottie Scheffler has certainly established himself as the most dominant player the game has seen since Tiger Woods was at the peak of his powers.

There is no question that Scottie Scheffler is well on his way to establishing himself as one of the greatest of all time. The 29-year-old has already won four major titles. Meanwhile, he is a US Open victory away from completing the Career Grand Slam.

Scheffler’s rounds do not tend to contain fireworks. Instead, the world number one breaks his rivals down with his relentless brilliance. And he simply does not make mistakes.

Interestingly, the best round of Scheffler’s career to date statistically actually came before he had even won on the PGA Tour.

And, according to Data Golf, it was a better performance than the best round Tiger Woods ever produced.

The greatest round of Scottie Scheffler’s career statistically

Scheffler was playing in his rookie season on the PGA Tour back in 2020. He had actually missed the cut on five occasions heading into the final stages of the campaign.

However, he went on to secure his first top 10 in a major at the PGA Championship. How times have changed.

And he followed that by shooting 59 in the second round of The Northern Trust.

According to Data Golf, Scheffler gained 11.20 shots on the field with his performance. Incredibly, he would still end the week 13 shots back of Dustin Johnson in a tie for fourth. Johnson posted a 60 on the same day.

The numbers suggest that it is the 10th best round since 1983.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, is in 17th with a 61 he shot in 2013.

The claim Tiger Woods made after shooting 61 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational

Woods won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational for an eighth time in 2013. He finished eight shots clear of both Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson.

Woods made a lightning start to his second round at Firestone. He was four under par through four holes, with an eagle coming on the second.

And when he reached nine under after 13 holes, it appeared inevitable that Woods was going to post his first 59 in a PGA Tour event.

However, he went on to make par on the last five holes and had to settle for tying the course record. Statistically, he gained 10.92 shots on the field that day.

And that underwhelming finish may explain why he was reluctant to put it among the top 10 rounds he had ever produced in his career.

“It’s up there; how about that? Certainly it’s up there, but I don’t know about top 10,” he said.

“I remember I had four of them at Pebble Beach that one year in 2000. Three of them were pretty good at Augusta in ’97, so we’re at seven right there. 

“No, I had a lot of control today from tee to green and obviously the way I putted. I felt I was in total control of my game. Obviously things like that don’t happen every day, and it’s fun when it all comes together and I was able to take advantage of it, especially on a golf course like this. This is not exactly an easy golf course. As you can see, six under is in second, so the guys aren’t tearing this apart. And the fact that I was able to shoot what I shot today, I’m very proud of that. 

“Would it have been nice to shoot 59? Yeah, it would have been nice. I certainly had the opportunity. I had five holes to go, but as I was saying earlier, I was only nine under par. As I said, it’s different when you have to get to 13 and things of that nature to shoot 59. But I just had two more out of five holes. And if you look at it, I had two good chances at 15 and 17 to do it. But the par putt at 18 was even bigger.”

Incredibly, Woods’ best round from the 2000 US Open – his opening 65 – actually sits 182nd on the list.