The world’s No.1-ranked athlete in golf, Scottie Scheffler, is catching up with Tiger Woods when it comes to one of the most incredible records set by the sport’s GOAT.
Scheffler won some of the sport’s most prestigious competitions in 2024, taking home a total of nine trophies, including The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass, and the Olympics at Le Golf National in Paris. His dominance is underlined by key statistical data points including first out of all players on the PGA Tour when it comes to strokes gained, approach play — he leads when it comes to shots from 100-125 yards, and 150-175 yards, and putting average.
Woods, in his best years, also made it a habit to claim the sport’s top honors for his own while crushing metrics like driving and margin of victory.
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Sheffler, though, is catching up to Woods in one key area.
When the Official World Golf Rankings were updated on Monday, Scheffler had held the No.1 spot atop the leaderboard for the 82nd consecutive week. Previously, he was tied fourth for the longest run at No.1 of all time but he’s now leaped past Britain’s former great Nick Faldo. The only golfers who have been No.1 for longer are now Tiger Woods, who achieved the feat twice — once having held top spot for 264 weeks, and once holding the ranking for 281 weeks.
The other golfer was Greg Norman, who Scheffler could leapfrog in months.
This is because, at 82 consecutive weeks, Scheffler needs to hold the No.1 spot for another 14 weeks to tie Norman. If he holds it for 15 weeks, he pulls ahead of Norman and is officially only second to a peak-form Woods.
Even with a calamitous start to 2025, and utter dominance from the current world No.2, Xander Schauffele, it’s unlikely that Scheffler would fall from No.1 because of the sheer amount of ranking points that separate him already from Schauffele. As far as catching Woods, Scheffler would need to retain the No.1 spot for another 3.5 years, at the very least, which would require repeat years like the one he just enjoyed in 2024.
One of the few areas Scheffler could improve in the months and years ahead is his putting, and he recently unveiled a new claw-style grip for shorter putts. Woods himself, impressed by Scheffler, believes 2025 could be one of Scheffler’s best.
“I mean, you see that around the short game and his trajectory control into the greens. If he has consistent weeks or consistent times on the greens, he’s gonna finish the top 10 every week and then he’s gonna pick off a lot.”
The 2025 PGA Tour begins at The Sentry on December 30 and, though there are weekly events going forward from that date, there are marquee competitions to win on February 3 at the Waste Management Open in Phoenix, Arizona, together with the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 3, and THE PLAYERS Championship on March 10 — three tournaments Scheffler has won before.
