Scottie Scheffler: How latest PGA Tour victory and passing $100m milestone strengthened Tiger Woods comparisons

Scottie Scheffler further asserted himself as the dominant force in men's golf with a winning start to the PGA Tour season, bringing him to more career milestones not seen since Tiger Woods achieved them.

Scheffler opened his 2026 campaign with a convincing four-shot victory at The American Express, the first time in his career he has started a calendar year with a win, with the latest success extending his advantage at the top of the world rankings.

His early-season victory saw him become the first player since Woods to reach 20 PGA Tour titles before turning 30, all coming in a four-year period, with the span between Scheffler's first and most recent wins just 91 days more than Woods needed to reach the same milestone.

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Scheffler has taken the second-fewest starts in history to reach 20 wins (151 starts), only behind Woods, although they have all come in an 81-tournament stretch after a winless start to his PGA Tour career.

"His consistency at a very, very high level is quite remarkable because we all know how difficult this game is," Rob Lee said on the Sky Sports Golf podcast. "No one really masters it and it comes back and bites you, but he's been able to keep that very high standard of golf.

"Who is going to say how many times he's going to win this year?! It's so hard to win, but his skillset is just there every week, pretty much. He didn't look like he really broke a sweat [at The American Express], that's the remarkable thing.

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"He's starting to do things that only Tiger Woods did. Tiger's just the phenom and it's unfair to put Scottie up against him. But in this run that he's had, he is starting to look Tiger Woods-ish.

"He [Scheffler] is the dominant player by a long way and we should just marvel it. How long is it going to last? I don't know. I think it's going to last through 2026 and he's not 30 yet, which is quite extraordinary."

Scheffler has won 14 PGA Tour titles since the start of the 2024 season, nine more than any other player, with his latest success also seeing him becomes just the third player - after Woods and Rory McIlroy - to pass $100m (£73.1m) career earnings on the PGA Tour.

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The 29-year-old has reached that landmark in record time due to the increased prize money on offer, while his consistent success continues to see even more comparisons drawn between him and Woods.

"Tiger's raison d'etre was to go out there and dominate and win," Lee added. "His whole life was to be the best, dominate and have golf define him as a human being. It doesn't define Scottie as a human being.

"He [Scheffler] is doing it a completely different way. Scottie is saying, 'look at me as a human being. I am going to beat you up on the golf course, but to me, it's not the most important thing'. There's more than one way to do this.

"I think he is so ultra-competitive - if he hits a bit of a scruffy shot, he gets annoyed. He just wants to continue beating the brains out of the world's best golfers and I think he's getting a lot from that."

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What else is on the Sky Sports Golf podcast?

Rob Lee and Andrew Coltart joined Jamie Weir to look back at Scheffler's win at The American Express and an impressive victory for Patrick Reed at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

The trio reflect on an impressive performance from rising star Blades Brown and offer their predictions for the 2026 major season, plus England's John Parry joins in to discuss his PGA Tour hopes for the year ahead.

The latest Sky Sports Golf podcast is out now! Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker and watch on the Sky Sports Golf YouTube channel.