Alan Shipnuck: Scottie Scheffler ‘playing at a level that maybe only 2 or 3 golfers have ever reached’

Few golf fans would argue that Scottie Scheffler has been the most dominant golfer in the sport over the last several years.

However, there was still a sense of surprise among many when NBC flashed a graphic during Sunday’s final round of the Open Championship, showing that Scheffler, who was about to win the tournament, had the same number of days between their first and fourth majors (1,197 days).

A crazy Scottie Scheffler-Tiger Woods factoid on the NBC broadcast of The Open Championship.

“I mean, you can’t make that up!” ⛳️🎙️ #TheOpen #TheOpenChampionship pic.twitter.com/4XSJwI7zn8

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 20, 2025

The comparisons between Woods and Scheffler have been around for some time, but the starkness of that statistic, coupled with just how close their overall career victories are at this point in their careers, makes it seem like it’s not such a stretch anymore.

Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley recently made the comparison between the two, saying, “I have not seen a competitor anywhere close to Tiger Woods as good as this guy. That’s how high the bar is. And I think as time goes on, he might even prove to be a better one. He might even prove to have more longevity than Tiger Woods at the top. Because, at this moment in time, it’s hard to see him getting derailed because he’s so stable off the course as much as he’s stable on the golf course.”

You can also count noted golf journalist Alan Shipnuck among those who think not only has Scheffler matched Woods, but he finds himself in rarified air among the greatest golfers of all time.

“He’s playing at a level that maybe only two or three golfers have ever reached.”@AlanShipnuck says it’s time to put Scottie Scheffler into the conversation with Tiger. pic.twitter.com/ia8weKwVBn

— Jim Rome (@jimrome) July 23, 2025

“The 16-month run that Scottie’s on right now, he has won 12 tournaments, including three major championships, plus the gold medal,” Shipnuck told Jim Rome on Wednesday. “In Tiger’s greatest run, which began in January of 2000, he won 13 tournaments and four majors. I mean, they are very close right now.

“Now, Scottie has not had the signature blowout, the 15-shot win that Tiger had at the US Open, things like that. But he has won all of his majors by at least three strokes. They have not been in doubt ever. He’s playing at a level that maybe only two or three golfers have ever reached. You’re talking about Tiger at the turn of the century. You’re talking about Ben Hogan, 1953. Jack [Nicklaus] in ’75. I mean, it is a very, very, very short list of guys who’ve ever played the game the way Scottie is right now.”

Scheffler, for his part, tried to pour cold water on the Woods comparisons, telling reporters, “I still think they’re a bit silly” after winning the 2025 British Open.

“Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there.”