Tag: Scottie Scheffler

PGA Tour 2025: Scheffler’s Charge Heats Up

Scottie Scheffler: In Pursuit of History

After Scottie Scheffler’s historic 2024 campaign coming on the heels of a 2023 season where he posted 17 Top-10’s in 23 starts, including 2 wins, a runner-up at The PGA and 2 more major Top-10’s, the inevitable Jack and Tiger comparisons began to sprout.

The notion that Scottie could mount a serious challenge to the career numbers accumulated by the two greatest players in history, however, still seemed nothing more than fantasy.

With his powerful start to the 2025 season, including a Top-5 at The Masters in April, a PGA Championship victory in May, and his win at The Memorial two weeks ago, the odds that Scheffler will etch his name among the 5 greatest players of All-Time when his career comes to a close have increased dramatically—and matching or even surpassing Tiger and Jack have become a real possibility.

The Beginning

Scottie came out on the PGA Tour in the Fall of 2019 at 23 years old after a year on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he recorded 10 Top-10’s in 20 starts with 2 wins. He was fast out of the gate, recording 4 Top-10s and 2 Top-20’s in his first 9 events without missing a cut, and it looked like he was getting ready to roll with a 3rd place finish at the American Express Championship in late January of 2020—and then the pandemic hit and blew everything up.

As COVID began to sweep across the country, Scottie missed the cut in 2 of the next 5 events he played without recording a Top-10—until the Tour closed completely with cancellation of The Players Championship.

When the season resumed amid a shut-down world devoid of live fans, Scottie missed the cut in 3 of the first 4 events, and just as he started to get going again with Top-5 finishes at the PGA and Tour Championships, he was forced to withdraw from the rescheduled U.S. Open in September after a positive COVID test.

Tiger was 21 when he started his pursuit of Jack with a two-year head start on Scottie. He had already won 2 major championships along with 13 Tour wins by the time he was 23, so Scheffler had a lot of ground to make up if he hoped to catch him–even before the Pandemic put him that much deeper in the hole.

Scottie Starts To Roll

Scheffler began to find his footing again in 2021 with Top-10’s in 3 of the 4 Majors, and then started rolling in ’22 with his first career win at the WM Phoenix Open in February, followed by a T10 at the Genesis, wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Dell Match Play Championship in March, and his first major championship victory at The Masters in April.

In 2023 Scottie throttled up further with 17 Top-10 finishes in 23 starts, including a T2 at The PGA Championship, 3rd at The U.S. Open, a T-10 at The Masters—and 2 more wins including back-to-back in Phoenix and a dominating victory at The Players Championship.

Back To Back Wins at the Players

While it would seem almost impossible to surpass 2023, the season Scheffler put together in 2024 stands among the greatest in history, with 16 Top-10’s in 19 starts without missing a cut and 7 wins including a second Masters championship, back-to-back wins at The Players, a T8 at the PGA and a T7 at The Open Championship.

The Chase Begins

Thus far in 2025 Scottie has recorded 9 Top-10’s in 12 starts without missing a cut, including a 4th at The Masters and his third major championship at the PGA.

While it may seem that Scottie is a long way behind Jack’s 18 major titles and Tiger’s 15, keep in mind that Scheffler is only 28 years old and only now entering his prime.

Including this week’s U.S. Open, Scottie will have 46 more major championships by the time he reaches 40 years old, and if he maintains his current pace will add 7 more majors for a total of 10—putting him solidly among the top 5 greatest of all time.

Keep in mind though that the projection of 10 major wins through 40 does not take into account that Scottie has elevated his performance each year, and if his current trajectory continues, 10 may well be a pretty conservative number (and both Jack and Tiger added an additional major after 40 years old as well).  

Should Scottie win this weekend at Oakmont, his winning percentage at the majors will move up from 14.3% to 18.2%–pretty darn close to Jack and Tiger. 

The U.S. Open is always one of the best weeks of the year for golf, and watching Scheffler set his sights on history is guaranteed to make for compelling theater.

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All Time Top 100: PGA Championship 2025

Quail Hollow Club, NC

There will be eighteen players among the All-time Top 100 golfers teeing it up for the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow this weekend in Norh Carolina. Jack and Tiger (1 and 2 on the list) set the career standard with 18 and 15 major championship wins respectively, marks that would seem impossible to reach.

Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm have put up numbers that come as close to Jack and Tiger as just about anyone ever has. In the end, however, it comes down to performance at the major championships—and the clock is ticking.

Rory (#14), is 35 years old and just recorded his 5th major championship victory at The Masters in April. Jon Rahm (#50), is 30 years old with 2 major championships under his belt, while Scottie Scheffler (#55), also has 2 major wins–but at 28 he’s the youngest of this powerhouse group with the best chance to make a run at Jack and Tiger.

While Tiger won 14 of his 15 major championships by the age of 32 (the exception being his famous 2019 Masters victory at the age of 43), Jack won 6 majors after he turned 35.

Considering that all 3 of these players are extremely fit, there is every reason to believe that each will continue to perform at a high level well into their 40’s.

Rory still has time

Rory

Having secured the career grand slam at Augusta National in April, ending a 10-year major championship drought, has the dam now been broken for Rory and will major championships begin to fall like rain? His talent is such that it has often seemed the only way for McIlroy to lose is when he beats himself (you need a super computer to calculate the number of putts that Rory has missed inside of 10 feet in the major championships alone).

If Rory were to play at close to his maximum level through age 46 (when Jack won his last major championship), there is no question he can win more than a few additional majors—but will those putts now begin to drop with more regularity? Regardless, McIlroy will end his career among the Top-10 greatest ever to play the game–and that’s pretty much guaranteed.

Scheffler: Moving up fast

Scottie

Scheffler’s 2024 season stacks up with Jack’s great ’72 season, and even stands up close to Tiger’s unbelievable year in 2000 when he won 3 majors. So far in 2025, Scottie hasn’t missed a cut through 9 events with 6 Top-10’s, including a win and a Top-5 at The Masters.

Scotties 2024 season was among the greats

Although Scottie is only is only 28, he will need to keep his foot firmly on the gas week-in and week-out as Jack and Tiger did, but particularly so at the majors—starting this weekend at The PGA (Tiger already had 8 majors wins by the time he was 28, and Jack had 7).

Needs to kick it up at the majors

Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm put up Tiger-like numbers when he played on the PGA Tour, and he dominates the LIV circuit, but his performance at the majors has not been particularly stellar since his departure.

In his final year on the PGA Tour (2023), Jon had a win at The Masters, a T2 at The Open Championship and a T10 at the U.S. Open. Since joining LIV, Rahm has recorded just 1 top-10 (T7 at the Open Championship last year).

Until there is a resolution between the PGA Tour and LIV, Jon’s only opportunities to climb the All-Time Top 100 list will come at the major championships—so he needs be have his A-game on display this weekend.

Reigning U.S. Open and PGA Champions

Bryson and Xander

In the last 5 major championships, Bryson DeChambeau (#89) has recorded a win (’24 U.S. Open), a runner-up (’24 PGA), a T-5 (’25 Masters) and a T-6 (’24 Masters). Bryson is also at the top of the 2025 LIV standings, and he’s coming off a win in South Korea–so he’s ready to roll.

Expect Bryson to be among the leaders come Sunday at Quail Hollow.

Although Xander (#66) has had a slow recovery from the rib cage injury he suffered early in the year, he continued his consecutive cut streak through 7 events (now at 59) and recorded a Top-10 at The Masters.

After breaking out with 2 major wins in 2024 and coming off a final round 66 at The Truist Championship last week, look for Xander to be in contention this weekend.

All-Time Top 100 at the 2025 PGA Championship

Phil Mikelson                #9
Rory McIlroy                 #14
Dustin Johnson           #29
Sergio Garcia               #32
Adam Scott                   #36
Justin Rose                  #40
Jon Rahm                      #50
Scottie Scheffler          #55
Jordan Spieth              #59
Brooks Koepka           #59
Jason Day                     #59
Justin Thomas             #65
Xander Schauffele      #66
Hideki Matuyama       #74
Collin Morikawa          #81
Ricky Fowler                #89
Bryson DeChambaeu   #89
Cameron Smith           #100

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All-Time Top 100: Active Player Update

Tiger: 15 Major Championships

There are twenty-six active players among the all-time Top 100 golfers, with Tiger leading the list as he continues his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus for #1.

Tiger will be 49 years old when the 2025 season gets under way, and it appears that injuries suffered in the 2021 auto accident combined with ongoing back issues will ultimately keep him from overtaking Nicklaus.

Don’t try telling that to Tiger though–he just underwent another surgery to alleviate persistent back spasms that slowed him in 2024 with every intention of playing more tour events in ’25 and getting competitive again in the majors.

Clock’s winding down for Tiger

Tiger holds a pretty good lead over Jack in tour wins, and he is very close to Nicklaus in cut and top 10 percentage, but Jack’s 3 additional major wins along with his tremendous number of major top 10’s make it seemingly impossible for Tiger to run him down at this point.  

Even should Tiger coax another major championship from his battered body, he would still come up just a bit shy—unless he could also add another tour win and a major top 10 or two.

It’s a long shot, but then again betting against Tiger Woods has never been a wise thing to do.

Scottie Scheffler: Date With History

Scottie

With 7 wins including a Masters Championship, no missed cuts and 16 top-10’s in 19 starts, Scheffler’s 2024 season was among the greatest of all-time.

And Scottie’s ’23 season was pretty fantastic as well, with 2 wins and 17 top-10’s (including 3 major top-10’s).

Scheffler ended the 2022 season at #112 among the greatest players of all-time, jumping to #97 in 2023 and he now stands at #60—while Scottie won’t turn 30 years old until 2026. If he continues at this pace, Jack and Tiger will start to see him in the rearview coming on fast in the not-too distant future.

Xander Jumps With Pair of Major Wins

Xander

Xander Schauffele is no slouch either, with 2 major championship victories in 2024 and 26 top-10’s in the last 2 seasons (including 4 major top 10’s in addition to the wins).

Schauffele ended the ’22 season at #94, moved to #85 in 2023 and jumped all the way to #68 with his 2 majors and a boat load of additional T-10’s.

At 30 years old, Xander has plenty of time to build his record—and all-time top 10 is by no means out of reach.

Rory Still Has Time

Rory

Everyone talks about the fact that McIlroy has not won a major in almost ten years, but he is still just 35 years old, looks as fit as he did when he was twenty (perhaps even more so), and still drives it better than anybody.

After the 2022 season Rory stood at #21 and moved past Cary Middlecoff and Lee Trevino to #19 in 2023. While 2024 was a disappointment, particularly the painful loss at the U.S. Open, Rory still made 18 of 19 cuts and recorded 7 top-10’s, including a pair of Tour wins—propelling him past Lloyd Mangrum into a tie with Peter Thompson at #17.

Jack won his last major at 46 and Phil captured The PGA Championship at 51, so Rory still has plenty of opportunities in front of him. While it’s unlikely that Rory can get close to Sam Snead, Tiger and Jack, he definitely has a shot at the top 5—and there are a ton of golf fans pulling for him.

LIV

Participating in LIV events does not elevate standing among the greats of the game, so DJ (#29), Sergio (#32), Jon Rahm (#49), Brooks Koepka (#57) and Bryson DeChambeau (#91) are relying on major championship performance alone to move up in the rankings.

Jon Rahm: Inside the Top 50

While the clock is winding down on DJ and Sergio, now north of 40, Koepka, Rahm and DeChambeau have plenty of time–but they need to play lights out whenever they tee it up in a major.

Jon Rahm is currently the only player in the all-time top 50 who is under 30 years old, and his PGA Tour cut and top-10 percentages are the highest of any modern-day player other than Jack and Tiger.

Brooks Koepka: 5 major championships

Koepka always focused on the majors anyway, even when he played on the PGA Tour, but it’s tough to be at the top of your game when it counts without regular big-time competition. Still, it’s a pretty good bet that Brooks will bag at least one more major and move into the all-time top-50.

Hopefully there will be a resolution between LIV and the PGA Tour in the near future, because it would sure be great to see Koepka, Rahm and DeChambeau tee it up against Scheffler, Schauffele and McIlroy more than just 4 times a year.

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All-time Top 100 Players

T7 at U.S. Open moves Scheffler to No. 49

Through U.S. Open (June 15, 2025)

Active Players

Top 100

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2025 PGA Tour Power Ranking

(Min 10 Events)

 Through The U.S. Open (June 15, 2025)

J.J. Spaun: Gutsy Performance Lands U.S. Open Title  
2025 U.S. Open: Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont PA

All-time Top 100 Players

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PGA Tour 2024: Historic Rivalry Heating Up

FedEx Playoffs Begin This Week

While Scottie Scheffler is having one of the greatest seasons in PGA Tour history, he’ll have to keep his foot firmly on the gas to keep Xander Schauffele in the rear view. With his second major victory of 2024 at the Open Championship, Xander positioned himself to pull neck and neck with Scottie for Player of the Year if he can close with a couple of wins and add a FedEx Cup to his mantelpiece.

Scheffler and Schauffele: Making History

Scheffler has recorded 5 tour wins, a major championship and 2 major Top-10’s, while Schauffele has won 2 major championships with 2 major Top-10’s. Neither has missed a cut, and Scottie has recorded Top-10’s in 14 of 16 starts (87.5%) while Xander has 12 Top-10’s in 18 starts (66.6%).

History in the Making

Only a few times in history have two players performed at the level of brilliant consistency displayed by Scheffler and Schauffele in the 2024 season—and of course we have to look at Jack and Tiger to provide perspective

Jack and Tiger Set The Standard

In addition to their major championships, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods set a standard for consistent excellence that would seem impossible to replicate—yet Scottie Scheffler is on the cusp of doing just that.

The Rivalries

Jack and Tiger were challenged and pushed by a number of All-Time Top 100 players who would also earn their place in the Hall of Fame, creating intense rivalries that elevated their games to even greater heights.

Early in his career Jack clashed with Arnie and Player, followed later by legendary battles with Weiskopf and Watson.

Tiger and Phil went at it hammer and tongs for a decade and more, Vijay recorded 92 Top-10’s between 2001 and 2006, while Ernie Els had one of his greatest seasons in 2004—all when Tiger was at the pinnacle of his power.

When Scottie and Xander tee it up this week at TPC Southwind in Memphis for the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, we will have the opportunity to see two players destined to be among the greats of the game at peak performance with the richest prize in golf history on the line.

Of course, there are other elite players who have no intention of allowing Scottie and Xander to steal the show, including Rory as he looks to redeem his 2024 season with a fourth FedEx Cup.

Through the annals of golf history, however, it is extremely rare to have two players performing at such a high level in the same year—so the next three weeks is a sure bet to deliver some pretty fantastic golf.

Time to head for Memphis.

TPC Southwind, Memphis TN

FedEx Cup

This week the Tour is in Memphis for the FedEx St. Jude Classic, then on to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado and culminating with The Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

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2024 PGA Championship: Showdown at Valhalla

Scottie Scheffler: Amazing 2024 Season
 

Seem’s like we were just watching Scottie Scheffler slip the green jacket over his shoulders, and suddenly the PGA Championship is upon us. The eve of a major championship is always alive with anticipation and excitement, but the ‘24 PGA has the protentional for all-time greatness.

This may be the most highly talented field ever assembled for a golf championship, when you consider Tiger’s 15 majors, Phil with 6, Brooks Koepka at 5, Rory at 4, and Jordan Spieth with 3—a total of 33 major championships between them.

For perspective, the 1963 PGA Championship included Ben Hogan with 9 majors, Sam Snead and Arnie with 7 each, while Gary Player had won 3 majors at that point and Jack 2 (the ’63 PGA was Jack’s third major)—28 total majors.

In addition, the 2024 PGA includes future Hall of Famers Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler–each with 2 major championships.

Tiger and Phil (21 Majors Between Them)

And although the odds are pretty long that Tiger or Phil will be among the leaders on Sunday, it won’t be for lack of will—and watching them battle once again to turn back the hands of time will make for memorable viewing (and hopefully they will both be teeing it up on the weekend).

The big show without doubt, however, will be Scottie Scheffler–and if anybody can take him down.

Scottie’s Run

With victories at The Masters and The Players, and 9 Top-10’s without missing a cut in his first 10 starts, Scheffler is off to the hottest start on the PGA Tour since 1960 (including Tiger in 2000 and Jack in 1963).

On top of that, Scottie’s momentum has reached a crescendo coming into the PGA, with 4 wins and a runner-up in his last 5 starts. Keep in mind as well that this wave has been gathering strength for quite a while, with 26 Top-10’s in his last 33 starts going back to last year (and with no missed cuts)—so anybody who steps up to take him on better be ready to absorb some heavy blows.

Brooks Koepka: Looking for Sixth Major

The Top Contenders

  • Koepka: Defending champion Brooks Koepka is coming off a Top-10 and a win in his last two LIV events, and looks like he is primed and ready in pursuit of his sixth major. Koepka lives for major championships, so don’t expect him to take a dive.
  • McIlroy: It’s been ten years since Rory won his last major championship, but it was The PGA and it was at Valhalla. And although Rory was the invisible man in his first 8 starts of 2024, he’s posted a win in each of his last 2 (including a heavyweight performance at Quail Hollow last week). If McIlroy is making a few putts, even Scheffler will need his best to hold him off.
Rory: Back to Back at Valhalla?
  • Rahm: Jon Rahm put up the highest career cut and Top-10 percentages on the PGA Tour outside of Tiger and Jack, and has finished in the top ten of every LIV event he’s played. At 29 years old, Rahm is just now coming into his prime—look for him to rebound from the lackluster Masters performance and put some heat on Scheffler as he goes for major number 3.

  • Schauffele: Xander is having a heck of a 2024 season with 8 Top-10’s in 12 starts, and he hasn’t missed a cut in two years—but somehow that first major championship has eluded him. Always a great ball striker, Schauffele has made vast improvement from the tee (currently 6th in Total Driving) and stands at No. 2 behind Scheffler in scoring average. It’s just a matter of time before he breaks through at a major, and remember that Phil didn’t win his first until he was 33.
Ludvig Aberg: PGA Tour Phenom

Notables

Twenty-four-year-old Ludwig Aberg is going to be a major force on the PGA Tour for another decade and more, currently standing at No. 3 on the Tour Power Rankings with 5 Top-10’s in 10 starts, including a runner-up at The Masters. He bombs it from the tee and sticks his irons like Miller, but the putter has been holding him back—if the short stick heats up look for Ludwig toward the top of the leaderboard late on Sunday.

Joaquin Niemann is the young star on the LIV circuit, and he’ll be flying under the radar with Koepka and Rahm grabbing most of the attention—but he has 2 wins and leads the LIV Power Rankings by a pretty wide margin. Niemann has major championship ability and a golf swing that’s easy on the eyes—watch for him this weekend.

Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville KY

Valhalla Golf Club

A Jack Nicklaus masterpiece, Valhalla will present a stiff test for the PGA Championship with a USGA Course Rating of 77.5 and a Slope of 154. 2024 will be the fourth time that Valhalla has hosted the PGA (1996, 2000, 2014). 

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PGA Tour 2024: Scheffler’s Historic Run

Scottie Scheffler: Masters Champion

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: The Greatest Year

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.

Jack Nicklaus

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.

Arnie

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

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: 9 wins at 41

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.

Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville KY

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.

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Masters 2024: Clash of the Titans

Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta GA

Every year The Masters kicks off a new golf season, and the 2024 edition is shaping up to be one
for the ages. It seems like forever since Jon Rahm lifted the 2023 championship trophy, while his
departure from the PGA Tour to join LIV at the end of the season brought on a seismic shift in
the landscape of professional golf.

Jon Rahm: Reigning Masters Champion

In addition to his Masters victory, Rahm recorded 9 Top-10’s in 2023 including 3
more Tour wins, a T2 at the Open Championship and a T10 at the U.S. Open. Since joining LIV,
Jon has played 5 events with 3 Top-5’s and 2 Top-10’s—so he’s primed and ready to defend his
Masters title this weekend.

Scottie Scheffler, the 2022 Masters Champion, will be standing in his way, however—and when
you look at the way Scheffler finished the 2023 season along with the incredible year he’s had
thus far in 24’, Mr. Rahm will need every bit of his A game if he hopes to repeat at Augusta.

Scottie Scheffler: Current World Number 1

In his last 11 starts of 2023, Scottie recorded 9 Top 10’s including a T2 at The PGA and 3rd at the
U.S. Open (for the year he made 23 of 23 cuts with 17 Top-10’s and 2 wins). Scottie’s 2024
season has been even more remarkable, with 7 Top-10’s in eight starts and 2 more wins
including The Players Championship.

Let’s get ready to rumble!

Supporting Cast

Rory McIlroy has had a dismal season, but showed signs of life last week when he closed with a
66 to record his first Top 10 of the year. If Rory is on his game and making a few putts, even
Scheffler and Rahm will have their hands full trying to hold him off—and he wants nothing more
than to add a Green Jacket to his major championship profile page.

Rory McIlroy: Four Time Major Winner

After such a tough loss at The Players, Xander Schauffele has to be laser focused on landing that
first major championship. Xander has 6 Top 10’s in 8 starts without missing a cut (42 in a row
going all the way back to 2022)—so he is definitely due.

Xander Shauffele

Hideki Matsuyama had a forgettable 2023 season where he was making cuts (22 of 26), but
recorded only 2 Top 10’s. That was last year—in only 9 starts so far this year Hideki has 3 Top
10’s including a win at The Genesis in LA and T6 at The Players. Keep in mind that Matsuyama
already owns a Green Jacket (2021 Champ) and he’s coming off a strong showing (T7) at the
Valero last week—look for him among the leaders heading into Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama

Another player to keep an eye on is Wyndam Clark (reigning U.S. Open Champ). Wyndam
recorded a win at Pebble Beach in the AT&T back in February, and had back-to-back runner-up
finishes in March (Palmer Invitational and The Players). Clark crushes it, so if he’s dialed in this
week listen for some pretty loud noise around the leaderboard come the weekend.

Wyndam Clark

Young Guns

Ludvig Aberg

This year’s Masters field will include perhaps the most talented group of young players ever
assembled at Augusta National. Nick Dunlap (20), Akshay Bhatia (22), Ludvig Aberg (24), and.
Sahith Theegala (26).

Akshay Bhatia

At only 20 years old, Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win a Tour event since Phil when
he held off a strong field including Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele at the American Express in January. At 22, Akshay Bhatia has already won twice on Tour, including a gutsy win
at the Valero last week—and with his power you can look for a ton of wedges at Augusta.
Ludvig Aberg, by way of Sweden and Texas Tech, picked up his first Tour win at the RSM last
Fall, and with his power and ball striking the wins will pile up fast when the putter comes
around.

Sahith Theegala

A 3-time All-American at Pepperdine, Sahith Theegala has already recorded 17 Top-10’s
including a win and a T-9 at the ’23 Masters—he’ll break out at a major more sooner than later,
and Augusta suits his eye.
Check out the current top 75 players on GolfDay’s 2024 Power Rankings.

The LIV Contingent

Brooks Koepka: 5 Major Championships

LIV will be sending 13 players to the Masters this year, and Jon Rahm is not the only one with a
solid chance to don the Green Jacket on Sunday. Joaquin Niemann leads the LIV Power Rankings after winning 2 of the 5 events played thus far in 2024—and that is with Jon Rahm
barking at his heels.
Of the top 5 finishers at the 2023 Masters, 4 are currently playing on LIV—so it’s a pretty good
bet that a few will be lurking among the leaders on Sunday. Remember that before he won the
PGA last year, Brooks Koepka was lapping the field at Augusta through 3 rounds until Rahm
chased him down.
Don’t forget about DJ either—he recorded a LIV win earlier this year. And as long as Cameron
Smith has a putter in his hands, he’s extremely dangerous—particularly on the immaculate
greens at Augusta National.
Probably not likely that Phil has another rabbit hidden under his hat like the one he pulled last
year to finish runner up, but you never know.
In any event, there’s no doubt the LIV group will make their presence felt.

Betting Odds

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Scottie Scheffler is the man to beat at (+400 to win)—but a
few names of interest are included below (as of Wednesday evening).

  • Rory McIlroy +1000.
  • Jon Rahm +1100
  • Xander Schauffele at +1400
  • Brooks Koepka +1800
  • Hideki Matsuyama +2000
  • Jordan Spieth+2200
  • Joaquin Neimann +2800
  • Ludvig Oberg+3300
  • Wyndham Clark +4000
  • Patrick Cantlay+4000
  • Cameron Smith +5000
  • Sahith Theegala +5000
  • Max Homa +7500
  • Akshay Bhatia +11000.
  • Tiger Woods +15000
  • Phil Mickelson +27000

History

Augusta National has provided some of the greatest moments in golf history—from Jack’s
magical victory at 46 years old in ’86, to Tiger’s win in ’01 that completed the “Tiger Slam.”
And of course, who can forget Greg Norman’s monumental collapse at the ’96 Masters, or when
Fred Couples’ tee shot on 12 miraculously defied gravity, clinging to the slope above Rae’s
Creek as he went on to win.
And then there was Phil’s leap, following his birdie on 18 to win his first major, and the amazing
approach on 13 from the pine straw when he took home his third green jacket in 2010.

Augusta National getting the golf juices flowing? Find a great course with the GolfDay Search Engine.

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PGA Tour 2024: Scheffler & Company, Inc.

Scottie Scheffler: Current Number 1 Player in The World

With Jon Rahm off to LIV and Rory’s game on sabbatical, Scottie Scheffler has become
Chairman of the Board at PGA Tour Enterprises (the new “for profit” entity engineered by PGA
Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to counter the Saudi-backed start-up league.)

To say Scottie is off to a hot start in 2024 is a massive understatement. Scheffler has made the
cut in all 7 of the events he’s entered with 6 Top-10’s and 2 wins—including back-to-back at
Bay Hill and The Players. The only tournament where Scottie finished outside the Top 10 was at
the American Express back in January (T17).

Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele is having one hell of a year with 6 Top-10’s in 8 starts and no missed cuts, but he is a distant 2nd in the 2024 PGA Power Rankings through last week at The Valspar. Wyndam Clark stands at third, following up his outstanding 2023 season (U.S. Open Champ) with 3 Top-10’s, including a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. As you scan down the list of early season leaders, a number of new names jump out including Ludwig Aberg (No. 5), Jake Knapp (No.6) and Sahith Theegala (No. 7). Who are these new guys, and what can we expect from them in 2024?

Ludvig Aberg

Other than the greatest female golfer in history (Annika Sorenstam), Sweden has not generally been known for world class golf—although Stenson’s unforgettable duel with Phil at the 2016 Open Championship certainly shined some light in that direction.

Ludvig Aberg (pronounced oh-berg) won a host of junior events in Sweden, including the Annika Sorenstam Trophy, before heading to Texas Tech where he piled up accolades including the Ben Hogan Award (’21 and ‘22), Fred Haskins Award (’23) and the Jack Nicklaus Award (’23).

Since turning pro last year at the RBC Canadian Open, Ludvig has made the cut in 17 of 18 events with 7 Top 10’s and a win at the RSM Classic last November. At 24 years old, Aberg is a big guy (6’3”) and a fantastic driver of the ball who can also putt (1st in Total Driving and 7th in Putting last year)—a powerhouse combination. In his first appearance at The Players two weeks ago he fired 3 rounds of 67 for a T10 (8th), so it should be no surprise when you see his name on the leaderboard at The Masters in April.

Jake Knapp

Jake Knapp made some noise as an amateur 10 years ago in southern California, qualifying for the U.S. Open after just turning 21 in 2015—and then disappeared for the next eight years. Actually, he was honing his game on the Canadian Tour where he broke through for a pair of wins in 2019.

In 2023 Jake played the Korn Ferry Tour, and his game began to really kick in making the cut in 20 of 22 events with 10 Top 10’s in route to gaining his PGA Tour Card for the 2024 season—and he’s made the most it.

Knapp has missed the cut just once in 8 events with 3 Top-10’s including a win at the Mexico Open and a T3 at Torre Pines in The Farmers. He also followed up his win in Mexico the very next week with a T4 at PGA National in the Cognizant Classic—so he wasted no time basking in success.

The word is that Knapp was a bouncer during his time on the Canadian Tour, but since bouncers are generally pretty bulky and somewhat fierce looking, you have to wonder where Jake was working.  In any event, you really have to pull for this young man—he’s certainly paid his dues.

Sahith Theegala

Sahith Theegala just turned 26 years old in December, but he’s already recorded 17 Top-10’s on the PGA Tour including a win at the Fortinet Championship and a T9 at The Masters last year.

Theegala’s fast start on the PGA Tour comes on the heels of an outstanding college golf career at Pepperdine, where he was a 3-tme All-American while winning the Ben Hogan, Fred Haskins, and Jack Nicklaus awards in 2020   

Thus far in 2024 Sahith has finished among the top 10 in 4 of his 8 starts, including a T9 at The Players two weeks ago. Currently Sahith stands at No. 10 in scoring and 7th in putting. Winning major championships is as much about grit and determination as it is pure talent, and Theegala is very long on both—look for Sahith to make some noise on the weekend at Augusta.

Texas Children’s Houston Open

Scottie Scheffler and Wyndam Clark are teeing it up this weekend at Memorial Park in Houston for the Texas Children’s Houston Open, so two of the top three in the Power Rankings will be battling it out. Tony Finau, the defending champion, is looking to make it back-to-back in Houston for his 7th career win on the PGA Tour. Peter Malnati, looking to maintain momentum after his emotional win at the Valspar last week, is also in the field.

Tony Finau: Looks To Go Back To Back In Houston

36 Hole Leaders

  • 1. Tony Finau (-9)
  • 2. Alejandro Tosti (-7)
  • 3. Thomas Detry (-6)
  • 4 Scottie Scheffler and five others (-5)

Where To Watch

Saturday

1:00-3:30pm Golf Channel/Peacock

3:30-6:00pm NBC/Peacock

Sunday

1:00-2:30pm Golf Channel/Peacock

2:30-6:00pm NBC/Peacock

Memorial Park: Tom Doak Renovation

Memorial Park was originally designed by John Bredemus (1936) and most recently updated by none other than Tom Doak—a master of classic course restoration. One of the best Muni’s you will find anywhere, Memorial Park is among the rare group of modern-day courses that can provide a challenge to the greatest players in the world, and still be a ton of of fun for the weekend golfer.

Next Events

Next week the Tour heads to TPC San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open (April 4-7), and then to Augusta for The Masters (April 11-14).

TPC San Antonio

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