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Despite never playing a competitive round at Oakmont, Scottie Scheffler is undoubtedly the US Open favorite

Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on

Published in Golf

PITTSBURGH — Where do you want to start with Scottie Scheffler?

That he has won 15 times in his past 69 PGA Tour starts, a 21.7 winning percentage?

That he has won three of his past 14 major appearances and finished in the top 10 of eight of his past 10 majors?

That he has been the No. 1 ranked player in the world for more than two years, a streak eclipsed by only one other player, Tiger Woods?

Or that he became the first player since Woods to be named PGA Tour Player of the Year three years in a row after his seven-win season in 2024?

Scheffler will come to the U.S. Open at Oakmont as the overwhelming betting favorite, even though he has never played a competitive round there. Yes, Bryson DeChambeau will be trying to repeat as U.S. Open champion, and Rory McIlroy will be looking to win a second major this season after his victory at Augusta.

But none of that will matter.

Scheffler's consistency — not just in PGA Tour events, but in majors — is what separates him from the rest of the players in the world. He is Tiger-like in that regard: methodical, unflappable, driven.

"In terms of my game, I feel like it's in a pretty good spot," Scheffler said after his fourth-place finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.

Indeed it is.

After a slow start (for him) to the season, Scheffler won back-to-back starts, including the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, when his five-shot victory made him only the third player in history to win each of his first three majors by at least three shots.

In his previous nine starts heading to the Memorial, where he will take a one-shot lead into Sunday's final round, he finished 11th or better eight times, including six times inside the top 5.

But if he gets in the lead, forget it.

Scheffler locks on to the prize as though he's operating a missile system. He has converted his last seven 54-hole solo leads into victory, including the PGA.

 

"Scottie is the best player in the world, and he's an incredible frontrunner because of how good his ball-striking is," Tony Finau said after watching Scheffler win the PGA by five shots. "He can ball-strike his way into winning golf tournaments, even with an average putter. And so when he's on top of the leaderboard, he's extremely hard to catch."

The same might be true of his long-held lock on the No. 1 ranking in the world.

As of May 26, Scheffler has been ranked No. 1 for just over two years — a span of 105 consecutive weeks. Only Woods spent more consecutive weeks as world No. 1 — once for 281 weeks and another stretch that lasted 264 weeks.

Scheffler moved to No. 1 on May 23, 2023, and has remained there since.

When he ascended to No. 1 in the world for the first time in spring 2022, he said, earnestly: "I never got this far in my dreams."

Now the dream is reality.

Although Rory McIlroy has closed the gap, Scheffler's insane 2024 season, where he won seven times on the PGA Tour and accumulated nine Official World Golf Rankings victories, will keep him on top for a long time.

Curiously, McIlroy was the story of the first half of the year, winning three significant titles and becoming only the sixth player in history to complete the Grand Slam when he won at the Masters.

Since then, though, it has been all Scheffler. It started when he tied the PGA Tour scoring record by shooting 31-under at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and winning by eight shots. When he won the PGA Championship two weeks later, he became the second player since 1985 to win consecutive events by at least five shots.

Now he comes to Oakmont looking to win the third leg of the Grand Slam.

"He's incredible for golf," McIlroy said.

"He's great for the game. It's hard to not look at what Scottie has done the last couple years and not notice why has he been able to separate himself from the rest of his peers."


© 2025 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Visit www.post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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