Scottie Scheffler has held the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking for 45 weeks after winning the title on May 21, 2023, for the fourth time in his career. And based on his recent play, there are no indications that he will give it up anytime soon.
Scheffler has a long way to go before surpassing Tiger Woods’ all-time record of 683 weeks at the top of the OWGR. Throughout his four reigns, Scheffler has held the No. 1 ranking for 80 weeks in total. However, if the 27-year-old wins the Texas Children’s Houston Open, which got underway on March 28, he’ll be able to join Woods in the select group of athletes who have won three straight starts.
Tiger has joined the club five times and has had absurd victory streaks of seven, six, five, and three (twice).
Woods is also one of only four players to have won three straight starts since the turn of the century. The other three, Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, and Rory McIlroy, last achieved the feat in 2017. Each of these players has occupied the top spot in the world rankings, just like Scheffler.
With victories at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill under his belt, Scheffler now has a chance to join an even more exclusive group if he can win in Houston, a city he holds many special memories of.
Play on the 2024 PGA Tour has been dominated by Scottie Scheffler.
Even though it’s never simple to compete in a golf event, Scheffler occasionally gives the impression that it is.
Following a season in which he won two titles, the world’s top player has maintained his incredible form in 2024, finishing in the top 10 six times in just seven starts.
Two weeks later, he tied for 17th at The American Express, which was his poorest finish of the year. He had started the season at The Sentry, where he tied for sixth. Two weeks later, he tied for sixth at Pebble Beach and then, for the third year in a row, came very close to winning the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, finishing in a tie for third.
Scheffler eventually made it to the winner’s circle with a five-shot triumph at Bay Hill and then claimed a thrilling one-shot victory at TPC Sawgrass to become the first-ever back-to-back champion in Players Championship history, following a tie for tenth place in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
Scheffler leads all PGA Tour players in strokes gained (2.821), strokes gained off the tee (0.966), strokes gained approach (1.268), greens in regulation percentage (77.78%), putting average (1.668), scoring average (67.41), and birdie average (5.48). These stats tell the story of why Scheffler has been in the hunt almost every week.
Scheffler Has a Proven Track Record in Houston Drama
Scheffler has participated in the Houston Open four times prior to the 2024 edition, the last three times at Memorial Park, the tournament’s current home.
Even though he placed 32nd in 2020, he made a strong comeback the following year and tied for second, which at the time matched the highest result of his inexperienced career. His course record-tying 62 in the second round—a score that Tony Finau matched the following year—was the high point of the week. Scheffler tied for seventh the week Finau triumphed in 2022 despite playing well.
Before the 2024 tournament, Scheffler had completed twelve rounds at Memorial Park, with an average score of 68.75. He is familiar with this golf course, as evidenced by his outstanding 5-under 65-stroke opening round performance, which left him just one shot behind the lead going into the second round on March 29.
Is it possible for Scottie Scheffler to win three out of three starts? We will quickly learn the truth.
