Scottie Scheffler breaks Tiger Woods’ 6-month OWGR record
NEW YORK – Is world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on pace to have a better season than Tiger Woods’ epic 2000 campaign? Yes, if you are basing it on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
The 28-year-old has now earned 583 world ranking points in the first six months of 2024, demolishing Woods’ record of 532 set in the first six months of 2000.
The self-proclaimed OWGR guru “Nosferatu” on X was the first to point out that Scheffler’s total OWGR point haul surpassed Woods’ after the former won the Travelers Championship on June 23.
Scheffler has amassed six victories so far this season, all of them coming at prestigious tournaments – The Players Championship, the Masters (his second title) and four of the PGA Tour’s signature events.
Conversely, when Woods won nine PGA Tour events in 2000, he had pocketed five of them by the end of June – the Mercedes Championship, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Bay Hill Invitational, the Memorial and the US Open.
Scheffler also did himself a favour by winning against extremely talented players, as the OWGR system rates tournament fields as part of its ranking algorithm.
There is a “flip side”, however, as CBS Sports noted that “golfers in 2024 are simply longer and better than they were in 2000 when Tiger was destroying worlds, and there were no signature events when Woods played that required or incentivised participation from all of the best players”.
The comparison could be argued for weeks and months but the fact is, in the current ranking period, Scheffler has amassed 810.78375 points over 46 events. That is nearly double what world No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland has earned over the same period – 428.34583 over 46 events.
That said, the American – who has had an eventful year so far with the birth of his son and a trip to jail for a traffic misunderstanding before the second round of the PGA Championship – still has a long way to go to take down some of Woods’ other records.
He has held the No. 1 world ranking for 93 straight weeks since rising to the top spot in March 2022, but Woods locked down No. 1 for a record 281 weeks from 2005-2010 – breaking his own record of 264 straight weeks from 1999-2004.
The OWGR has, however, drawn criticism from LIV Golf players in recent years because LIV events have not met the criteria to receive world ranking points.
This means that the best from the Saudi-backed circuit, including the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, are not included in any comparisons of any sort. REUTERS