Scottie Scheffler’s ‘underdog’ trait, which Tiger Woods shares in common

Love perfect again which is amazing, Tiger is an adjective that should be used sparingly.

But when examining Scottie Scheffler’s 2024, it’s hard not to draw Tiger Woods comparisons, and not just because Woods was looking favorably at the Hero World Challenge on Sunday when Scheffler joined Woods and Vijay Singh as the only players in the modern era to win nine. times – nine times, Mrs. Bueller! – in season.

It’s the perfection of Scheffler’s game that most evokes the top Woods, coupled with Scheffler’s superhuman ability to find ways to win even when he’s out of his mind. On Sunday evening, after his six-shot victory in the Bahamas, Scheffler was asked if he was happy with his final round of nine-under 63.

“Yes,” he began. “I mean, you know, I’m very grateful to be here with the trophy. My goal or whatever I was going to achieve today was to hopefully win the tournament and feel like I played good enough golf to win and I was able to do it.”

Good enoughLOL. This on a day when no other player fared better than the 67th player.

Scheffler needed to hit “only” 19 other players in Albany, but his stats showed that, if asked, he would probably hit 119. Or, for that matter, 1,119.

Scheffler led the field in no fewer than 11 statistical categories, including SG: Tee-to-Green (+3.23), SG: Approach (+1.69), 3 Putt Avoidance (0) and Hitting Average (67.8). Little of that dominance should have come as a surprise given that it was a continuation of what Scheffler had been doing all season. In 2024, he leads the Tour in SG: Tee to Green (+2.401), SG: Approach the Green (1.277), Scoring Average (68.645) and Birdie Average (4.88).

“A very good year,” is how Scheffler, in his usual self-effacing style, summed up his $63 million season on Sunday. It makes you wonder what would qualify as a a lot happy new year. To bounce back, Scheffler won his second green jacket, defended his players title, and won five more signature events, including the Tour Championship, which earned him FedEx Cup honors. He also won a gold medal in Paris and, oh yes, became a father.

Scheffler makes playing — and winning — look easy. He will tell you that none of these things are true. In fact, he said every Sunday. “I can say that golf rarely feels easy,” he said. “I see a lot of players here unless they have good rounds, it seems very easy and then you finish and talk to them about it and it’s not that easy.”

That’s especially true when expectations are high, as they have been for Scheffler all year. A win may produce a win, but it also creates an assumption in others that more wins are to come. Indeed, it’s one thing to be successful when you go under the radar and shoot a cool Sunday 64 to slip into a pocket and nab, say, your third job title. It’s another thing if you’re a prohibited betting favorite, you face the media after every round again expected to be on the hunt. This is a different kind of pressure that few players have to deal with.

Ask Justin Thomas, who said earlier last week about Scheffler: “I think it underestimates the way he plays.” [people] we are waiting [him] that’s fair play. I don’t think people understand how hard it is to win when you’re expected to win or when everyone expects you to play well, and you expect you to play well and still play well. I think expectations are something, very difficult to manage. It’s really a talent that equates to being able to control your distance with your wedges or driving a driver or hitting it far – whatever it is, being able to stay present, stay in the moment. “

Thomas said that among the Tour brothers there is no one better at doing this mental gymnastics than Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who won two majors this year.

“It’s very hard to explain, but it’s very hard to do sometimes,” continued Thomas, who himself knows something about winning in sets (in 2017 he won five times, including the big one). “It is very difficult sometimes when you are playing well because it is easy to think that, if I continue to play like this, I will win this tournament, win the next tournament and the next one. against the truth – I mean, Tiger always talked about it, every shot is the most important shot you’ve ever hit in your life, and after you hit that one, you do it again and the next thing you know you’re like oh, I won again. That is a difficult thing. To me, that was the most impressive thing from Scottie.”

There is no argument here.