Two-time major championship winner and LIV Golfer Bubba Watson has made a stunning claim about Tiger Woods‘ peak compared to the recent rise of one golfer.
Back in 2000, Woods had arguably the best season on the PGA Tour that any individual player ever could muster.
He won the US Open at Pebble Beach, the Open Championship at St. Andrews, and the PGA Championship at Valhalla two win major titles three through five in his career.
Not only that, but he won six other events on that year’s tour calendar: the Mercedes Championships (now known as the Sentry), the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Bay Hill Invitational (now known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational), the Memorial, the WGC-NEC Invitational, and the Canadian Open.
But in spite of all those wins – including those three major titles – Watson believes that there’s another golfer who makes a claim for the best season in the history of golf.
‘I know Tiger did some stuff in 2000,’ Watson began. ‘But Scottie [Scheffler]’s year [in 2024] was the best we’ve ever seen with all the talent around the world now playing. That was it.’
Bubba Watson believes Scottie Scheffler had a better year in 2024 than Tiger Woods in 2000
Watson’s claim is bold. Let’s contextualize it, shall we?
For one, Scheffler didn’t win as many events as Woods – taking home seven total wins in 2024.
Scheffler began his 2024 with a win at the Arnold Palmer, then the Players Championship before donning his second green jacket at the Masters.
He followed that up with wins at the RBC Heritage, the Memorial, the Travelers Championship, and finally, the Tour Championship – claiming the FedEx Cup along with it.
Outside the tour, Scheffler also won a Gold medal at the Paris Olympic games, something Woods was never able to compete for.
Head-to-head, both Woods and Scheffler had 20 starts on the tour in their respective year’s of greatness. Both golfers made every cut for their events.
In addition to the six wins, Scheffler finished in the top-25 in 18 of his 20 events, finished top-10 17 times, and runner-up twice at the Houston Open and the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.
In majors, Scheffler won the Masters by four strokes over Ludwig Aberg, finished T-8 at the PGA Championship (also at Valhalla), a rough T-41 at the US Open at Pinehurst, and then T-7 at the Open at Royal Troon.
Now for Woods. In 20 starts, he finished top-25 all 20 times. He also finished within the top-10 17 times like Scheffler, but was runner-up four times.
Then, there’s his dominance in the majors. After finishing solo fifth at Augusta in 2000, Woods won at Pebble Beach by an astounding 15 strokes. He followed that up at the Old Course with an eight-stroke win. Then, at the PGA, he beat Bob May in a playoff to win his third major in one calendar year.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
