SOME say brilliant, and rightly so, with Scottie Scheffler’s performances over the past two to three years drawing comparisons to the greats of the game.
Others contend his style can be described as boring, with Scheffler’s conservative game plan, where he avoids costly errors, finds fairways and hits a high percentage of greens, while doing so with a stoic, unflappable demeanor.
Despite what they say about him or however he is characterised, Scheffler keeps on delivering and is now a four-time major champion after his commanding victory in the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
Taking a lead into the final round Scheffler closed with a three-under par 68, his 17-under par total four clear of fellow American Harris English, with Chris Gotterup, winner of the Scottish Open the week prior, a further shot behind in outright third.
Scottie Scheffler was a four-shot winner of the Open Championship played at Royal Portrush.
Following the win the numbers certainly supported the argument that if his trajectory continues, Scheffler will soon be compared with the very best the game has seen.
At age 29, he became just the eighth player to have three legs of the Grand Slam on his resume before his 30th birthday, in the last 100 years he is just the third player, alongside Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, to win four or more major titles by three shots or more, while he is now only the second world number one to win the Open Championship since the rankings began in 1986.
Scheffler has also proven himself to be an almost flawless front runner, having now converted an outright 54-hole lead into a win on 10 consecutive occasions.
“He’s doing some Tiger-like stuff,” Xander Schauffele said.
“If Scottie’s feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott’s, we’d be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods,” added Shane Lowry. “I just think because it doesn’t look so perfect, we don’t talk about him like that.”
“In a historical context, you could argue that there’s only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie’s been on here for the last 24 to 36 months,” said Rory McIlroy. “Incredibly impressive.”
And from Tommy Fleetwood: “If he keeps going the way he is, we’re all going to look back and talk about him in the same breath as some of the all-time greats, and he’s played in our generation.”
However, in typical Scheffler fashion, he was quick to shut down any comparisons.
“I still think they’re a bit silly,” Scheffler reasoned. “Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf.”
An amateur standout, winning the NSW Amateur and Australian Medal in 1988, before going down in the final of the 1990 Australian Amateur Championship, Rob Willis turned professional in 1992, playing the Australasian and Asian Tours, with his highlight being his victory in the 1995 Dubai Creek Open and third placing at the European Tour's Dubai Dessert Classic. A former Editor of Golf Australia Magazine, Willis, who ventured away from golf for a period to be the media manager for the NRL's Cronulla Sharks, has been a contributor to PGA Australia's PGA Magazine for over a decade and for Inside Golf since its first edition back in 2005. 
