Ryan Lavner suggests the PGA Tour have already lost their biggest potential rival to Scottie Scheffler to LIV Golf

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Scottie Scheffler did not need to win the Hero World Challenge for his 2024 season to go down in the history books as one of the greatest years of all-time.

The world number one secured a ninth victory worldwide at the Hero World Challenge, with Scottie Scheffler winning by six after a brilliant final round of 63 at Albany.

Scheffler’s season will be remembered as one of the best ever. Not only did he win nine times, but he also did so by picking off a number of the biggest events, particularly on the PGA Tour calendar. He won four signature events, as well as the Tour Championship.

There was also a second Masters title, and Scheffler became the first player to win the Players Championship in back to back years.

The rival for Scottie Scheffler the PGA Tour lost to LIV Golf

Scheffler seemed to develop that aura where you were just waiting for him to surge to the top of the leaderboard at some stage every time he teed it up throughout the year. And with that, the rest of the field faces the challenge of trying to keep up with the 28-year-old.

Of course, Xander Schauffele won two majors in 2024. But speaking on Golf Today, Ryan Lavner suggested that the player with the most potential to rival Scheffler is now plying his trade on LIV Golf.

“The story we should look forward to is more Scottie Scheffler. It’s hard to imagine that he can do even better in 2025. Keep in mind, his 2024 was plagued by some pretty big distractions, whether it was the birth of his first child, obviously the arrest and the fallout there. Nine wins is going to be so hard to duplicate as an encore,” he said.

“But I think the lingering question for the golf world is who can step up and challenge Scottie Scheffler. We saw it at times that it could be Xander Schauffele, we’ve seen it in the past couple of years that it could be a player that gets hot like a Viktor Hovland, maybe potentially if you’re forecasting, it could be Ludvig Aberg if he continues to win a little bit more. We’re missing a foil, we’re missing a challenger, we’re missing a rival.

“I think Jon Rahm, of the players we’ve mentioned, most recently over the past couple of years had that potential to be a thorn in Scottie Scheffler’s side. He’s not there anymore. I’m looking for a player to step up and do it in 2025, because that could make an even bigger story which is Scottie’s dominance, even more compelling for the golf fan.”

How Scheffler and Jon Rahm fared when they faced off in 2024

While Rahm was not exactly the needle mover LIV Golf would have hoped for, it was certainly a big blow for the PGA Tour when the Spaniard decided to make the jump in 2023.

Like Scheffler, Rahm has won two major titles. Meanwhile, he was the dominant force on LIV Golf in 2024, as he did not finish outside the top 10 in a single LIV event – winning twice.

The two played in four of the same events in 2024, with Scheffler winning on two occasions. Rahm meanwhile, was not able to add to his major tally and did throw a four-shot lead away on Sunday at the Olympic Games.

But clearly, Rahm is going to be one of the names to look out for when the majors come back around.