Despite his red-hot form, Sir Nick Faldo believes the Tiger Woods comparisons have come too soon for Scottie Scheffler.
Sir Nick Faldo believes that, despite his PGA Tour supremacy, it is still too early to compare Scottie Scheffler to Tiger Woods.
Scheffler, 27, is in top form right now, having won two events in 2024: the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
Since becoming professional in 2018, the Texan has won eight PGA Tour events, including one major, the Masters in 2022.
As a result of his excellent play and subsequent dominance on the PGA Tour, the inevitable Woods parallels have begun to emerge.
The comparisons are inevtiable, they’re exciting, but also premature according to Faldo.
Speaking with GolfMagic, he stated:
“Before Jack and Tiger, it was Hogan and Snead…”Mega-champions appear around every 25 years. So I suppose we may be prepared for someone fresh. Tiger Woods has incredible seasons, winning eight events in a single year. Is it possible to have a player who has been the world’s number one for a decade? Scottie is good, but I’m not sure if we have another Tiger Woods just yet. It’s a tough one. To have an entirely different attitude, temperament, or ability. To be a bulldozer and simply plough through everyone? “I don’t think we have the next Tiger yet.”
While Scheffler’s form has been impressive, one look at Woods’ list of accomplishments at the same age explains why Faldo believes there is still a long way to go before we can begin comparing the two players.
Tiger Woods’ achievements at 27
Tied PGA Tour record for the most consecutive victories in a single event with four consecutive victories (Arnold Palmer Invitational)
Broke the record for most consecutive cuts made (114)
First player to win PGA of America Player of the Year and Vardon Trophy in the same year for five consecutive years
Eight Major Championships
Tiger Slam, Held all four majors at the same time
39 PGA Tour victories
A quick skim over the statistics above tells you all you need to know about how much Scheffler needs to achieve before the two can legitimately be compared.
Scheffler is arguably in the prime of his career right now, and one stat from Woods’ career highlights just how big the gap is between the two when it comes to all out dominance on the PGA Tour.
In 2000, Woods won nine PGA Tour events, including three major championships.
Woods won more tournaments that year than Scheffler has in his entire career.
In all honesty, the list of reasons why Scheffler can’t yet be compared to Woods is as long as my arm, and while this isn’t an opinion piece, we have to agree with Sir Nick on this point.
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