Is Scottie Scheffler following the same trajectory as Tiger Woods? This has been an ongoing debate in the community throughout 2024. Mr Inevitable was in sublime form last season, winning seven official PGA Tour titles. He was so consistent that many started comparing him to Woods’s dominance a couple of decades ago.

But the latest reports seem to suggest something. They say that Scottie Scheffler still has a long way to go before he can compete with the GOAT. In fact, he might need to surpass someone who is still actively competing in the professional circuit and winning regularly. Who is this man? Let’s find out.

The Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy debate

Scottie Scheffler made his 2025 debut this weekend at the ongoing AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. At the end of the penultimate round, Scheffler managed to secure 10-under par 206. He finished at T10 on the leaderboard on Saturday. However, one of his biggest on-course rivals has played 5 strokes fewer than him to fight for the top spot. The golfer in question is Rory McIlroy. The Irishman managed to bag a 7-under par 65 to rise up the rankings on the penultimate day. He has been in sublime form this week as many have acknowledged his incredible accuracy on the course.

If McIlroy does manage to lift the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title this weekend, he would be 1 trophy further away from Scheffler. He already has twice as many titles as the world no. 1. And considering the time it took the drama slayer to bag his first 13 titles, he might need 7 more years to reach 26. Even if we only consider the period when Scottie Scheffler started winning trophies in his career, he would still need 3 more years to match McIlroy’s current record of 26.

This shows that McIlroy is much closer to competing with Tiger Woods than Scheffler. Journalist Kyle Porter also recently pointed out this fact about Rory McIlroy in one of his posts. He wrote, “The fact that, even after Scottie’s last two years, Rory wins more often than him over a much wider window is pretty remarkable.“ The reporter suggests that Scottie Scheffler’s win rate is still on par with Rory McIlroy’s.

The thread of tweets also included a few other statistics and graphs that compared Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Phil Mickelson‘s winning trajectory. The graph seemed to suggest that McIlroy is the most consistent player out of the 3, putting him in pole position to compete with Tiger Woods’s career record.

This is not the first time Scottie Scheffler’s ridiculous achievements in 2024 have been ridiculed by statistics when compared to Tiger Woods. Let’s take a look at some other instances where comparisons between the two showed how Mr Inevitable lives in the shadows of the GOAT.

Are Tiger Woods’ records untouchable?

A few weeks ago, Scottie Scheffler had broken another record. No, we’re not talking about title wins in 2024. The drama slayer had surpassed Sir Nick Faldo on the list of the longest time a player has stayed on the world no. 1 position. Scheffler was lining up to overtake the 3rd man on the list, Greg Norman. But that is the furthest he could imagine to go at the moment. Because to beat Norman, Scheffler will need to remain at the top of the OWGR table for 14 more weeks.

However, the 13x PGAT winner will need to stay at the top of the rankings for a few years before he can beat the two records of Tiger Woods. If Scheffler remains the highest-ranked player in the world till October 9, 2028, then he will overcome Woods’s 281-week record. The 2024 Masters Tournament winner probably won’t have this target on his checklist at the moment. Maybe if he is still the world no. 1 till the end of 2027, then he could actively start thinking about breaking the GOAT’s surreal record. Overcoming Rory McIlroy’s career win feat during this period can be a realistic objective for Scheffler at the moment.

Do you think Scottie Scheffler will be able to surpass Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’s achievements in the next few years? Let us know in the comments section.