Vijay Singh

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 2^nd in The Players and 5^th 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 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.

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**Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry: Defied the Laws of Nature**

Not surprisingly, when PGA Tour players hit forty years old the wins start to become fewer and far between, and top 10 finishes occur with far less frequency. And by forty-five, the Champions Tour starts to look pretty attractive if the competitive juices are still flowing.

When Phil won the PGA Championship in 2021 at 51 years old, it sent shock waves through the golf world. A half century had passed since Julius Boros, the oldest to win a major before Phil, won the PGA in 1968 at 48 years old. And while Mickelson maintained his skills at a high level throughout his 40’s, he was still not the same player he was in his 30’s. Phil recorded 21 wins in his 30’s with a 37% top 10 percentage, but won only 6 times in his 40’s with a top 10 percentage of 22% (still very high).

**Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer: 88 Wins on Champions Tour**

Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer lead the list for wins on the Champions Tour (Irwin with 45 and Langer with 43), but even they did not come close to carrying the success they had when they were in their 30’s into their 40’s. In his 30’s, Langer recorded 18 wins on the European Tour (now the DP World Tour) and also won the Masters, but won only 9 times in his 40’s. And while Hale Irwin won the U.S. Open at 45, he recorded only 2 other Tour wins in his 40’s as compared with 13 wins while in his 30’s.

Players who actually got better in their 40’s are extremely rare, but Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry did exactly that—and seemingly defied the laws of nature.

Vijay Singh

Vijay was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2006, and with 3 major championships and 31 additional tour wins, he is among the top twenty players in golf history. Over the course of his career, Vijay made the cut in 87% of the tournaments he entered and finished in the top 10 over 35% of the time—but what really sets him apart is the age at which he recorded so many of those wins.

While in his 30’s, Singh recorded 11 wins, including 2 major championships while finishing among the top 10 in over 34% of the tournaments he entered. In his 40’s, Vijay won 23 times, including another major championship and ten major Top-10’s.

Most amazing is that Vijay’s top 10 percentage was over 37% from 40-49 years old, higher than it was in his 30’s—and no other player in the history of the game has performed at that level through his 40’s.

Vijay was always recognized as one of the greatest drivers of all-time, and he maintained his length and accuracy far beyond the boundaries of what mere mortals generally achieve. If his putting stroke had approached the level of his game tee-to-green, Singh would surely be smiling down from the Mt. Rushmore of golf alongside Jack and Tiger.

Kenny Perry

Kenny Perry turned 27 years old in August of 1987, his first full season on the PGA Tour—so his golf career got started quite a bit later than most. In his first 3 years, Kenny finished in the top 10 only 7 times in 85 starts, and he didn’t record his first Tour win until he was 31 (The Memorial in 1991).

In his 30’s, Perry won 3 times on Tour and made the cut in just over 68% of the events he entered, finishing in the top 10 just over 13% of the time (solid, but not among the top echelon on Tour). While Kenny had a very good year in 1998 at age 36 with a runner-up at the PGA Championship and 8 Tour top-10’s, his next 3 years were pretty mediocre as he failed to record a win and finished in the top 10 a total of 7 times.

But as the 3^rd millennium arrived and Kenny turned 40, the flood gates suddenly opened and Perry rose like the phoenix, tacking on 11 additional tour wins and 4 major top 10’s.

From age 40-49, Kenny made the cut in over 84% of the tour events he entered and finished in the top 10 nearly 25% of the time—a massive increase from the numbers he recorded in his 30’s.

No player in Tour history ever elevated his game to such a degree after turning 40, and we rank Kenny Perry among the Top 100 players of all-time. Perry also won 10 times on the Champions Tour (including 4 Senior Major championships).