The buzz surrounding Scottie Scheffler’s fantastic season keeps getting louder every time he tees it up—but where does the ultra-hot start to his ’24 season stack up against some of the greatest seasons of all-time?
Through his first 10 starts, Scottie has recorded 4 wins, including The Players and The Masters, with 9 Top-10 finishes. After taking a look through the record books, Scheffler’s opening run in the ’24 season ranks at the very top since 1960—with only Tiger (of course) putting up a comparable record through the first 10 starts of the year in his monumental 2000 season.
Tiger 2000
With 9 victories including 3 Major championship wins and a T5 at The Masters, the 2000 season was undoubtedly the greatest of Tiger’s amazing career. His first 10 starts that year couldn’t match what he did in the second half of the season (winning all three majors), but it was fantastic just the same with 9 Top-10’s including 4 wins and 4 runner-up finishes.
Although Tiger recorded the same number of wins with 3 more runner-up finishes and a slightly better average finish, he was 2nd in The Players and 5th at The Masters (Scheffler won both), so you have to give Scottie the nod by an eyelash.
Jack 1963
Although Nicklaus never had a “monster” year like Tiger in 2000, he had a ton of great ones to choose from—so we picked 1963 out of the hat. Jack finished the year with 5 wins, including The Masters and The PGA Championship along with 17 Top-10’s.
In his first 10 starts of ’63, Jack recorded 9 Top-10’s with 3 wins including The Masters, but Scheffler also won at Augusta and notched one more win—and it happened to be The Players, so once again it’s Scottie by a whisker.
Arnie 1961
Arnie had a tremendous year in ’61, making the cut in 25 of his 26 starts with 21 Top-10’s and 7 wins, including the Open Championship. He also recorded a runner-up at The Masters and a T5 at the PGA—while constantly having to look over his shoulder at Jack.
It’s tough to have a great year without getting off to fast start, and Arnie did just that in ’61 with 9 Top-10 finishes in his first 10 starts including 3 wins. Unfortunately, Palmer missed the cut in the first tournament of the year at the LA Open, and then came heartbreak at the Masters when he made double on 18 to lose by a shot to Gary Player—so Arnie comes up just shy of Scottie’s run as well.
Johnny Miller
Perhaps the greatest iron player of all-time, Miller had his best year in 1972. Johnny made the cut in 20 of 22 starts with 13 Top-10’s and recorded 8 wins that year, and started the season sizzling hot with 3 consecutive wins (Crosby Pro-Am/Pebble Beach, The Phoenix Open and The Tucson Open).
Through his first 10 events, Johnny recorded 6 Top-10’s with 4 wins—a fantastic start to the season. As great as Johnny was at the start of ’72, it pales in comparison to what Scottie has done in 2024—and provides some perspective on just how good Scheffler has been this year.
Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh played his first year on the PGA Tour at 30 years old, and had his greatest season in 2004 at the age of 41. In 29 starts, Vijay recorded 18 Top-10’s with 9 wins including The PGA Championship at Sahalee, while missing the cut just once.
In the first 10 starts of ’04 Vijay was terrific, making the cut in 9 of 10 events with 5 Top-10’s including a win, a runner-up and a T6 at The Masters—but still not close to the numbers Scheffler has put up.
The Road Ahead
No doubt Scottie takes it one round at a time, one tournament at a time, and that’s good–because if he looks hard at what it will take to match Tiger for the rest of the year, it may bring on a panic attack.
Scheffler will need to win 4 more times, including 2 additional majors, without missing a cut —while recording 8 more Top-10’s and throw in a T5 at the fourth major to boot.
With the way Scheffler is hitting the ball right now, and the confidence he exudes with every shot, it certainly brings back images of Tiger at the height of his powers—but can Scottie keep it up?
We’ll have to watch and see.
Upcoming Events
This week the Tour is in New Orleans for the Zurich Classic (April 25-28), and then heads to Dallas for the CJ CUP Byron Nelson (May 2-5) at TPC Craig Ranch.
Next up is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, NC (May 9-12) along with the inaugural playing of the Myrtle Beach Classic at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club (May 9-12) , followed by the second major of the year—The PGA Championship (May 16-19) at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, KY.
Looking to plan a golf trip? Click the GolfDay Search Engine to get started!