Claude Harmon has shared whether he believes that it is fair to compare Scottie Scheffler with Tiger Woods as the world number one continues to enjoy a historic season.
There is little doubt who the best player in the world is right now, with Scottie Scheffler winning six times in the first-half of the year, including at The Masters. Scheffler became the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six times in a season before July.
Scheffler has more points than Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy combined in the FedEx Cup standings, so he is enjoying a spell of dominance that golf fans have perhaps not seen since Tiger Woods was at the top of the game.
Woods is arguably the greatest to have ever played the game, winning 15 majors in his career. He would have surely eclipsed Jack Nicklaus’ record total were it not for injury.
Claude Harmon discusses comparisons between Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods
So it is a huge statement that Scheffler is now being compared with Woods by many. And speaking on Son of a Butch with Claude Harmon, Harmon suggested that the 28-year-old definitely has the potential to become an all-time great.
“I think the comparisons to Tiger, I think they’re valid, but I think the one thing that when you are going to make a comparison to Tiger Woods with any player is majors and can they do it for as long as Tiger did,” he said.
“I think Scottie has the game and the mentality, his superpower is him, it’s not his game. He is the superpower, the way that he thinks, the way that he approaches golf, the way that he approaches his life, the way that he approaches his life off the golf course, I think that’s his superpower. I think his game, yeah, he hits great golf shots, he drives it great, he can struggle, maybe has struggled with the putter, but you can’t win six times and a major and be struggling with the putter, so the work that he’s done with Phil Kenyon I think has been fantastic.
“He’s got a great team of people around him, his coach Randy Smith, putting Phil Kenyon, caddie Ted Scott, agent in Blake Smith, the team around Scottie, he’s got a great wife, young family, he tends to not be on social media, you don’t see him on vacations doing crazy stuff that you see a lot of athletes do today, he’s a little bit of a throwback. He lets his clubs do the talking, he’s smart, he’s curious, he’s a great interview, I think he’s very genuine. The Scottie Scheffler you see on the golf course is the Scottie Scheffler that’s off the golf course.
“And like I said, he is the superpower, his approach to the game is the superpower. We’ve got another major coming up in a couple of weeks, The Open Championship, yes Scottie hits the golf ball high, he hits high bombs, but he’s the full package, and he’s the best player in the game right now.”
World number one has a long way to go
It definitely feels that Scheffler’s big challenge is sustaining this level of success over a long period, as there are so many outstanding players around right now.
Scheffler famously made his Ryder Cup debut in 2021 while still awaiting his first victory on the PGA Tour, so it is safe to say that everything has happened so quickly for the world number one.
Woods was on another level to anyone else for well over a decade, so the scale of the challenge facing Scheffler is monumental – and plenty will doubt whether he will be able to do anything like what Woods did in his prime.
What you cannot question that he is off to a phenomenal start in his career, and if he remains hungry, there is no reason why he cannot be the player who defines this golden era for the game.
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