Scheffler has banked a staggering $24m (£18.7m) in prize money this year and is as short a price favourite with the bookmakers to land his third major this week as Woods was in his pomp.
He has also opened up a lead at the top of the world rankings similar to that enjoyed by Woods for some of his 683 weeks as the world’s best player. Scheffler has been top of the pile for 91 weeks.
Scheffler is keen to play down the similarities – he is 13 majors and 71 PGA Tour wins behind Woods – but he is in his prime and on an upward trajectory.
It is no surprise that one of the key elements to his dominance has been his improvement with the putter. He led most of the key metrics from tee to green last year but struggled on the greens and won only twice.
Scheffler recruited the services of renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon last autumn and has seen a marked improvement.
Given Woods’ assertion that this week will be a “war of attrition” on particularly tricky greens, that progression will be tested to the full.
A hot putter has led to five wins in eight events and means that, since winning his first PGA Tour title in February 2022, Scheffler is averaging one victory every five tournaments.
That compares favourably with 15-time major champion Woods, who won 82 PGA Tour titles at an astonishing rate of one every 4.5 starts.
However, Scheffler will need to continue his current level of dominance for more than another decade if he is to get anywhere close to Woods’ standard.
His overall career average is a win every 11.3 tournaments, a number that is more comparable to McIlroy’s 9.7 average, with 26 wins in 251 starts.
While the golfing world continues to make the comparisons with Woods, Scheffler comes across as rather nonplussed by all the fuss.
DeChambeau said to him at the start of the week: “Dude, you’re playing unbelievable. What are you doing, man?
“He was like, ‘I’m just playing good golf. I don’t know. It’s one of those things.'”
Asked what it was like to be the best golfer on the planet, Scheffler said: “I try to be the best husband and father I can be, and when I’m out here I try to be the best golfer I can be.
“I try not to overthink things. I try to live one moment at a time and soak it all up because you never know how long it’s going to last.”
Scheffler is, of course, just the latest to be compared to Woods. Players like McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka have all had spells where they too looked like they could dominate in the manner Woods did. It will be fascinating to see if Scheffler can kick on where others have stalled.
