New Open champion Scottie Scheffler says Tiger Woods comparisons are 'silly'

The 29-year-old American landed the fourth major victory of his career and second this season after coasting to a four-shot success on the County Antrim coast in Northern Ireland in the world’s oldest major.

Incredibly, the gap between Woods winning his first major to the fourth one and Scheffler achieving the same feat was exactly the same, both being 1,197 days apart.

Unlike Woods, Scheffler’s career got off to a relatively slow start as he was unable to land a victory on the PGA Tour in his first 70 appearances, but, since making the breakthrough, he’s almost become unstoppable. This for instance, was his 14 title triumph in just 38 starts.

“He's an incredible player,” observed Rory McIlroy, who became just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam earlier this year and will have Scheffler for company if he wins the US Open as this success came on the back of a brace of Masters title triumphs in 2022 and 2024, as well as a win in the PGA Championship in May.

“Honestly, he's been dominant for the last couple years. He is the bar that we're all trying to get to. In a historical context, you could argue that there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie's been on here for the last 24 to 36 months. Incredibly impressive.”

After being succeeded by his compatriot as the Champion Golfer of the Year, Xander Schauffele also spoke about Scheffler in glowing terms. “I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here's Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance,” he said.

“You can't even say he's on a run. He's just been killing it for over two years now. He's a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us.”

Scheffler, who celebrated on the 18th green with his wife Meredith and their one-year-old son Bennett, was asked about the Woods’ comparisons getting louder and louder in his post-event press conference.

“I still think they're a bit silly,” he said as the Claret Jug sat beside him, having led by eight shots in the final round at one point before running up a double-bogey 6 at the eighth but quickly slamming the door shut again.

“Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.

“At the end of the day, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude towards moments like these. I literally worked my entire life to become good at this game and play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life to compete out here. To be able to win The Open Championship here at Portrush is a feeling that's really hard to describe.”

Reiterating what he’d spoken about in his pre-event press conference, Scheffler insisted that winning golf events isn’t the main priority in his life. “Am I grateful for it? Do I enjoy it? Oh, my gosh, yes, this is a cool feeling,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, it doesn't fulfill the deepest desires of my heart. I would say my greatest priorities are my faith and my family. Those come first for me. Golf is third in that order.”