Scottie Scheffler didn’t need another pile of world ranking points to prove what’s already abundantly clear: he’s easily the best golfer in the world.
The 28-year-old American capped an extraordinary 2024 by emerging from a two-month hibernation and romping to a six-stroke victory at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last Sunday.
The outcome was never in doubt. It was another dominant performance from the reigning Masters, Players and Olympic champion, who was last seen competitively at the Presidents Cup in September.
However, there are a few caveats. This win came from a field of just 20 players and Scheffler was one of only three members of the world’s top 10 to feature.
Compared to the other eight tournament victories he achieved in 2024, this was the least notable. But its impact will still be felt.
It is clear that exceptional levels of golf magic continue to flow through the veins of the game’s greatest exponent. He emphatically proved this by finishing 25 under par to defend his title.
“He’s not really doing anything wrong,” tournament host Tiger Woods noted.
The consistency of his performance demands that we compare him to the 15-time Major champion. Historically, Woods is miles ahead, but the current world number one is achieving Tiger-like performances.
Scheffler was 293 under par for his 21 starts this year. He won nine of those tournaments (or 42.9% of them), tying Woods and Vijay Singh for the most productive seasons in terms of wins.
The tall Texan is the first male player to start and end the year as world number one since Woods in 2009.
Woods gained more ranking points in 2000, completing the Tiger slam of all four majors, as well as in 2005 and 2006.
Each time he exceeded the 700-point mark, Scheffler has now become the only other player to reach that mark in a calendar year.
For context, his 2024 total of 727 points compares with 444 for Xander Schauffele, who won The Open and US PGA Championship, and 347 for world number three and Race to Dubai champion Rory McIlroy.
Watching the final round in the Bahamas, Woods described Scheffler’s unconventional footwork as “the contortions he gets into” but could not hide his admiration for the champion’s quality and control of the ball.
“If you stand behind him and look at the ball flight, it’s very tight anyway,” Woods added.
“Yes, he makes a lot of birdies, but he doesn’t make any mistakes. No doubles, no loose bogeys here and there.”
These were the qualities of the golf discipline that Woods patented in his splendor.
Then there’s Scheffler’s work on the greens, which was his perceived Achilles heel until he successfully switched to a mallet-style putter early in the season under the tutelage of British coach Phil Kenyon.
And now a further refinement with Scheffler employing a ‘claw’ grip for shorter putts with encouraging early signals. “What is that thing?” the ultra-Orthodox Woods joked when he first saw the new method last week.
“You know he can do it both ways,” the former world number one added. “He has a great feeling.
“You can see it in his short game and ball control to the greens. If he has consistency on the greens, he will finish in the top ten every week and have a lot of wins.”
Scheffler collected just over 30 points in the world rankings for his six-stroke victory over Tom Kim, further cementing his place at the top of the world rankings.
Yes, it may seem appropriate that such a dominant performance receives due recognition in the rankings, but this was an invitational tournament with a very limited field.
It does little to diminish the credibility of the official rankings at a time when the breakaway LIV tour, with its 54-man fields, is not recognized by the Official World Golf Rankings.
Whether LIV should get points is a separate argument, but the fact that the Hero does seems inconsistent. By finishing second in the Bahamas, Kim climbed six places to 21st in the world.
Justin Thomas, who finished third, moved from 25 to 22. These are useful increases for these players, but they were not achieved by beating golfers who were scrapping for their future, as was the case at the International Series event in Saudi Arabia. Arabia.
Joaquin Niemann defeated an entire field at the Asian Tour season finale last weekend to gain a fraction more than 21 points on the world rankings, which was more than nine fewer than Scheffler achieved by beating just 19 fellow competitors.
Yes, the players in Saudi Arabia were of a lower caliber (although Niemann had to beat former Open champion Cameron Smith in a play-off), but there was a competitive intensity in the Middle East that was much less evident at the event from Woods.
So add this factor in the continued erosion of the validity of the world rankings to the list of so many things that need to be fixed in the men’s game. It still remains dangerously divided since the arrival of the LIV Golf League in 2022.
Commissioner Greg Norman has confirmed he will leave his post in the near future, a rare certainty in a period of continued turbulence. Perhaps the abrasive Aussie’s departure will offer a path to peace, who knows?
But in a time when inevitabilities are so scarce, there is one banker. When the biggest names come together next year, Scheffler will remain the man to beat.
