Scottie Scheffler defended from his biggest criticism with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods points made

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Scottie Scheffler is set to play one more event this year, as he eyes up winning the Hero World Challenge this week for the third consecutive time.

Scheffler played 20 PGA Tour events in 2025, winning six times, including two major championship victories.

Aside from the Ryder Cup, the 29-year-old from Dallas, Texas, has only been in action once since the Tour Championship in August – at the Procore Championship in Napa Valley three months ago.

Scheffler has been the best player on the PGA Tour over the past few years, by a very long way.

Now comparisons are being made between the world’s number one golfer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

He has 19 victories on Tour to his name since February 2022, including a haul of four major wins.

Rory McIlroy’s Masters win forced Scheffler to work even harder on his game, and the world number one went on to cement his dominance during the second half of the season.

Now he’ll be hoping to finish the season off in style with a win at the Hero World Challenge this week.

However, there may well be something he should be looking to improve, moving forward, if he is to fully realize his superstar potential.

Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods claims counteract Scottie Scheffler criticism

One of the main criticisms of Scheffler is the fact that he doesn’t actually play that much around the world.

While world number two Rory McIlroy heads to places like Australia, India and Dubai, Scheffler remains home in Dallas, Texas, working on his game.

So, does Scheffler have an obligation to fans to play more worldwide events due to his position in the game right now?

When speaking on The Golf Channel, Gary Williams was asked whether Scheffler should play more regularly around the world due to his current standing in the game.

“Yeah, it’s a flattering ask,“ Williams explained.

“There are very few players that I think get to a place where we’re saying, ‘Well, they should play more’, because they have an audience now.

“They have an attraction that very few have, because the truth is there’s only a handful that actually do sell tickets. You’re selling the experience, not the individual.

“I think his number one responsibility is for him to believe that whatever schedule he has allows him to keep his window of dominance and greatness open as long as he can.

And if it’s what the current construct of his schedule is, I have no criticism of it, similarly to the way that Tiger executed his schedule before him.

Jack, he was very particular about the way he went about things, and for anybody bristling going, ‘Why are you putting him in that category’? Are you not paying attention? He’s doing similar things.

“So, no, I don’t think he has an obligation. His obligation is for him to show up, and for us to continue to do what we do on Monday mornings.“

Williams makes a great point here. If Scheffler is to catch the records of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, he needs to play a schedule for the next decade or so that provides him with the best opportunity of doing just that.

Scottie Scheffler explained why he doesn’t play an international schedule

Scheffler explained back in July during the Scottish Open why he prefers to play the majority of his golf in his home country.

He said: “I haven’t really played too much golf internationally,” he told reporters here at The Renaissance Club.

“I always come over here and try to play this tournament and The Open Championship. I haven’t played in Asia or Australia yet as a professional.

“With the way our schedule is on the [PGA Tour], the thing that’s most important to me is my time at home. It would be wonderful to be able to play an international schedule, but right now we play most of our tournaments in the States and I come over here for these few weeks.

“The off-season for us is typically where guys will go play in Asia and Australia or start the year in Dubai.

“For me, it’s important to get time at home because that’s my priority and playing tournaments that I can.”

So, who are we to tell Scheffler to play more events internationally while spending less time at home with his family?

Scheffler has to do what works for him; literally nothing else matters.