Smylie Kaufman has shared the one thing in particular Scottie Scheffler does which reminds him of Tiger Woods, after the world number one secured another win at the Travelers Championship.
Scottie Scheffler is doing absolutely everything he can to put himself in the same category as some of the greatest to have ever played the game, with his latest accolade being that he has become the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six times in a PGA Tour season before July.
It is remarkable to think Scheffler has now done something Tiger Woods never managed during his incredible career, with the 27-year-old surely the first player to come this close to asserting the same kind of dominance the 15-time major champion had.
Scheffler does not seem to be quite as captivating to watch as Woods was at his peak, but there is perhaps one or two similarities between the pair.
What Scottie Scheffler does which is reminiscent of Tiger Woods
Speaking on The Smylie Show after Scheffler’s win in Connecticut, Kaufman outlined the big thing he has noticed Scheffler do which was definitely in Woods’ locker.
“It’s hard to compare 2000 to 2024 because so much has changed with the schedule and the fields and it’s difficult too to compare the talent in 2000 to the talent in 2024, but I think you can compare wins. It’s hard to argue with guys winning at the end of the week,” he said.
“I think the one comparison I’d like to make that reminds me of Tiger is Scottie’s ability to make shots on a Sunday look like shots on a Thursday. And Tiger was so good at doing that too. In the high pressure leverage moments, he didn’t lose a step, he was still able to hit it pin high, he’s still knocking down flagsticks. He doesn’t mishit it.
“So when I think about the Travelers Championship, when I think about any event I’ve watched this year from Scottie, when have we seen him hit a shot where we’re like ‘that’s weird’? Tiger’s the same way, and that, to me, is the best comparison you can possibly make; and the best compliment you can ever give is that on a Sunday afternoon when it’s all on the line, your game is exactly the same as it looked on a Thursday.”
The one question the world number one still has to answer
Surely the only question which remains over Scheffler is whether he can sustain this level of form over a much longer period.
He had not won on the PGA Tour before 2022, while he has doubled the number of wins he had in the first six months of this year.
Golf has seen these potential superstars emerge before fading slightly. Rory McIlroy has the natural ability to reach double figures for major championship wins, but there are now serious doubts over whether he will get to five. Meanwhile, few would have believed that Jordan Spieth would not win a major after 2017.
Scheffler’s form is on another level, but it is still going to be extremely difficult to keep this going for anything like the same amount of time Woods spent on top.
What you can definitely say however, is that you cannot write Scheffler off right now.
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