Having converted nine straight 54-hole leads into trophies, Scheffler is the first to win consecutive Memorial titles since Woods won three in a row at the turn of the century.
And do not forget he won nine times last season, including the Masters and the Paris Olympics. The Texan’s start to 2025 was disrupted by a freak hand injury after he sustained a nasty cut while preparing a Christmas meal.
But, since returning to top form he has won the Byron Nelson by eight shots, commandingly claimed the Wanamaker Trophy in North Carolina and now this trophy defence at Jack’s place – Muirfield Village, which tests every aspect of a golfer’s game.
“He reminds me so much of the way I liked to play,” said Nicklaus, the winner of a record 18 major titles. “I don’t think I played nearly as well as he played.
“He’s playing better than I played, and more consistent. He’s just been playing fantastic, and I love watching him play. Any time he’s playing, I want to watch.”
According to Data Golf, which crunches the numbers across all tours, Scheffler gains strokes in every aspect of the game and particularly excels with unerring approach play.
While the official golf rankings do not recognise the breakaway LIV tour, Data Golf includes performances in that 54-hole format. Behind Scheffler and Masters winner Rory McIlroy, on Data Golf’s rankings sit LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
And that is the only caveat to Scheffler’s PGA Tour supremacy, because we can only see him pit his skills against those two leading performers at the majors.
That said, he left reigning US Open champion DeChambeau and Spaniard Rahm disappearing in his wing mirrors at last month’s US PGA.
Nicklaus made a telling analysis of the players who trailed in Scheffler’s wake last week. “Ben Griffin’s a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player,” the 85-year-old said.
“Those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch. But he [Scheffler] knows that those guys are not in his league. He has the ability to bring his level to whatever level it needs to be.”
