Smylie Kaufman has picked out which of Scottie Scheffler’s seven wins so far this season he would deem to be the most impressive following his victory at the Olympic Games over the weekend.
Scottie Scheffler came from four shots back with one round to go to win the Olympic gold medal on Sunday. The world number one tied the course record with a 62 around Le Golf National to finish one shot clear of Tommy Fleetwood.
The win surely ends any debate over who the player of the year has been – despite Xander Schauffele‘s two major victories in 2024. Scheffler has now won seven times with the FedEx Cup play-offs still to come in the coming weeks.
Of course, the standouts are likely to be The Masters and the Olympics. But it is remarkable to think that the 28-year-old has also won at Bay Hill, The Players, the RBC Heritage, The Memorial and the Travelers Championship.
Smylie Kaufman names Scottie Scheffler’s most impressive win this year
And speaking on The Smylie Show, Kaufman explained why he would put one of those events ahead of The Masters and the Olympics.
“Travelers Championship, now we’re starting to get into, okay, he’s won on every test,” he said. “You’ve got Bay Hill, which is a firm golf course where you’ve got to be so dialled in, he was so good that day; the Players in a coming from behind fashion; Masters, everything on the line but he’s got chasers on a really tough golf course; Hilton Head was crazy, Memorial was hard, but Travelers, this was the one I think was almost the most impressive to show what kind of range he has now.
“This golf course, everyone was shooting the lights out of it, he shot 65 or 64 every single day and on Sunday, he shoots a 65 and honestly, he made the putts that we felt like he wasn’t going to be able to keep up and make on a Sunday, so that was impressive from him.”
What is overlooked about Travelers win
What is perhaps now forgotten about Scheffler’s victory at the Travelers Championship was it came the week after his worst result of the season – at the US Open at Pinehurst. Scheffler was not a factor over the weekend having barely made the cut in North Carolina.
Some asked questions of Scheffler at that event, perhaps wondering if everything that had come before had taken too much out of him. But he responded in a brilliant manner the following week – particularly as he needed a play-off to beat Tom Kim.
Scheffler has finished outside the top 10 on just two occasions this season. To put that into context, no-one has won more than twice on the PGA Tour this year. It is an unbelievable record which puts Scheffler amongst the greatest to have played the game.
And you could make a strong case for any of his seven wins being the most impressive. Perhaps it is naive to think that he is done at seven.
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