Woods comparisons continue after Scheffler wins again

Round Four Leaderboard – American Express

 

27: Scottie Scheffler (US)

-23: Andrew Putnam (US), Matt McCarty (US), Ryan Gerard (US), Jason Day (Aus)

22: Sam Stevens (US), Si-Woo Kim (Kor)

21: Sahith Theegala (US), Austin Smotherman (US), Haotong Li (Chn), Tom Hoge (US), Russell Henley (US)

 

**Notable Others:**

– **-19**: Rickie Fowler (US), Blades Brown (US)

– **-18**: Adam Scott (Aus)

16: Robert MacIntyre (Sco)

14: Jack Parry (Eng)

13: Seamus Power (Irl), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)

 

Complete Leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler, currently ranked number one in the world, has kicked off his season strongly by securing his milestone 20th PGA Tour victory, drawing further parallels to legends Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

 

He is the second-fastest player to achieve this milestone based on the number of days taken, third in terms of events played, and third youngest to reach this number.

 

While Woods and Nicklaus set the standard, Scheffler, who won the American Express in California by four strokes, continues to generate strong statistics in the current golfing era.

 

Scheffler earned the first-place prize of £1.236 million ($1.656 million) 1,442 days after his inaugural win at the WM Phoenix Open in 2022, compared to Woods’ 1,351 days.

 

This marked Scheffler’s 151st PGA Tour appearance, while Woods needed just 95 events and Nicklaus 127 to secure 20 wins.

 

Scheffler is the first golfer to reach this achievement since Rory McIlroy in 2021, earning a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour.

 

At 29 years old, he joins Woods and Nicklaus as the only players to have won 20 PGA Tour events and four major championships before turning 30.

 

Woods holds a shared record with 82 PGA Tour wins and 15 majors, while Nicklaus tops the major wins with 18 and has 73 PGA Tour victories from 1962 to 1986.

 

Additionally, Scheffler becomes the third player, following Woods and McIlroy, to surpass $100 million in earnings on the PGA Tour, achieving this in significantly fewer events. McIlroy has 29 PGA Tour victories and earnings of $107,981,766 from 273 events, while Woods has a career total of $120,999,166 from 378 events.

 

“It’s pretty wild,” said Scheffler, who concluded with a six-under 66 to move ahead of overnight leader Si-Woo Kim and secure his first tour victory of the season at 27 under.

 

“It’s been a fantastic start to my career with some nice wins. I try not to dwell on those thoughts too much as I just focused on preparing for the season ahead. I plan to go home, rest, and repeat.”

 

Scheffler achieved seven birdies to pull ahead of the competition, but a double bogey on the 17th after hitting the water prevented him from becoming the first golfer in 16 years to achieve 30 under in this tournament.

 

He finished ahead of fellow Americans Ryan Gerard (65), Matt McCarty (68), Andrew Putnam (68), and Australia’s Jason Day (64), who all ended at 23 under.

 

Blades Brown, 18, aspiring to be the second-youngest golfer to win a PGA Tour event, fell to joint-18th at 19 under. Both Brown and Scheffler were one shot behind Kim after Saturday’s play, with Kim recording a 72 to finish joint-sixth.