Who Can Overtake Scottie For #1?

[RickyBobby_PR]

56 minutes ago, NotQuite70s said:

Ben Hogan was apparently so-so at putting.  If you are good enough tee to green (and have Scottie's short game skills) that can get it done.  Since he brought on a putting coach, maybe even that aspect of his game will improve and he can further distance himself from the pack.

Scottie proved that you can win when you don’t putt great but he also proved that it can be a weakness and cost you wins.

when you dominate the important strokes gained categories you can win when not so great at the lesser ones like strokes gained putting.

It was as much the switch to the mallet as it was the putting coach that turned his strokes gained putting stats around. He’s gained around 2.3 strokes since the switch 

[IanCC]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Yes 

Easily and without question or doubt. 

[IanCC]

4 hours ago, Just_the_Chip said:

PGA Tour/OWGR or actual real life World Rankings?

 

I would say Schauffele or Rahm in the short term.

As good as Xander is, and he’s obviously very, very good, do you think he has that extra gear? Feels to me like Xander could put his best stuff out there and be at his maximum to get alongside Scottie and Scottie would just see that and casually move up a gear or two. 
Someone on here could probably tell us but it seemed over the weekend that the odd time Scottie made bogey he’d just have a bounce back birdie like he was just cruising and he’d just correct the odd slip up. It’s obviously not but he’s making the game look easy right now to the point he’s not remotely catchable unless fatherhood brings him back to the field. I don’t see the effect of that being sufficient to make it close for a while though. 
Rahm has made himself irrelevant by the way. 

[jaskanski]

Scottie is indeed a class act and a formidable competitor any time he tees it up - you can pretty much guarantee he's going to be the favourite going into to any tournament (as did Tiger back in the day when he was 100% fit).

For me that is the biggest issue - 100% fitness. Mentally, that isn't in question (at present) - physically though, that swing is going to take it's toll on his body eventually - and that's what the biggest obstacle to multiple wins/majors/holding on to #1 status will be IMO.

Out of the rest of the field for ranking versus events played, Auberg takes some beating and will possibly surpass expectations in due course with current form - possible future #1?

Edited April 17 by jaskanski

[tdroma98]

17 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

but who is number 2? Ans who do you think has the best chance to surpass him for #1?

Great questions @GolfSpy_APH!  
IMO #2 is a toss-up between Rory, Xander, Aberg & Wyndham Clark. 
If Aberg continues his consistent play, he could become a solid #2. breaking out of the pack.

Rory seems to be struggling right now with his swing change. Something appears to be off.  
Xander quietly appears in Top 5, but just can't win. 
Aberg has been really good & could be on the verge of being a Superstar & surpassing Scheffler as #1.  

Scottie is quite impressive this season. His iron play is fantastic! The LPGA players are having to deal with their Scottie in Nelly Korda! 

[RickyBobby_PR]

16 hours ago, jaskanski said:

For me that is the biggest issue - 100% fitness. Mentally, that isn't in question (at present) - physically though, that swing is going to take it's toll on his body eventually - and that's what the biggest obstacle to multiple wins/majors/holding on to #1 status will be IMO.

What evidence or medical training, coaching or other experience of any kind do you have to indicate anything he is doing in his swing will cause an injury?

 

 

[mardukes]

No one.  Start thinking of a catchy name for all 4 major titles AND the player's.

Cinco de Scottie?

[mardukes]

On 4/17/2024 at 7:29 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

The only thing that matters is owgr because it’s as you mentioned how players get into events. The LIV golfers are playing exhibition golf. They are playing resort courses and have no challenge. They are playing against the same group of players week in and week out. Outside of the talk of the merger and whether liv golf should be allowed into majors or other events these golfers are now irrelevant at the pro level.

DP world Tour and PGA tour are where it’s at. Are the guys like rahm, DeChambeau top level golfers sure, but they chose to play exhibition golf to get paid.

You can’t be compared as a top golfer if you aren’t playing on the main stage.

lots of guys who were good on the dp world tour came to the PGA tour and were mediocre with some having a little success. You can’t compare guys playing 54 hole events in a shotgun start on report courses with guys grinding week in and week out trying to keep their card, trying to qualify for a major, trying to make the FedEx cup playoffs. 
 

if the liv golfers were relevant they would have people flocking to watch them, sponsors looking to throw money a them and tv deals.

Before you mention that tv ratings are done I suggest looking at how well espn+ did this weekend. People have more options to watch golf so tv ratings are not a good metric and never have been especially in sports because of the options to watch like bars, sports bars and restaurants, multi pole people in a home watching on a single tv. Even for tv shows the metric isn’t accurate 

All very good points, but to the question of OWGR unseating, the LIV guys are NOT around to challenge Scottie.  Then again, that's also true for the pursuers.  The McIlroy/Cantlay/Aberg/... set don't have to go up against the Rahm/Cam Smith/DeChambeau/... crew.  I wonder if this also leads to greater separation between the Signature Tour and the DP USA.  The more the Sig guys stay away from DP USA venues, the less valuable the ranking of those fields (for OWGR points.)

[mardukes]

On 4/17/2024 at 8:18 AM, Oudefart said:

Scottie is days away from having first child. That’s who will “overthrow” him, look what happened to Spieth & Fowler most recently. I mean it in only the best of ways, but being a father/family changes the dynamic, it has to.

From all outward signs, he will excel at that too, but I think it leaves the door open for someone younger like Aberg to be able to devote his time to pursuing the goal of #1.

Doesn’t take anything away from Scheffler’s talent.

Children definitely hit us all during our 20's and 30's in terms of eroding the golf posse.  However, I will take exception.  I love Ricky but he was never a candidate for #1.  I blame Spieth's loss of the killer instinct on a guy in my golf league who hit him with a ball in a pro/am.  Either that or the whole clique those guys formed into in their mid 20's.

OWGR is recent but it seems only the golfing pantheon make the transition from early 20's glory to career greatness.  Is that a tautology?

[RickyBobby_PR]

55 minutes ago, mardukes said:

All very good points, but to the question of OWGR unseating, the LIV guys are NOT around to challenge Scottie.

Scotty has been number 1 ranked player for somewhere close to 50 weeks so he was dealing with Rahm and some of the weaker field guys like Niemann. Scottie’s game is far and above everyone’s. His strokes gained rankings in tee to green and approach show that. Strokes gains approach is the #1 strokes gained stat.

Of the guys on liv the only ones with a chance to challenge Scottie if they were around would be Rahm, Bryson if healthy and Koepka if he cared about anything but the majors. Nobody else on that tour is top 10 level.

1 hour ago, mardukes said:

The McIlroy/Cantlay/Aberg/... set don't have to go up against the Rahm/Cam Smith/DeChambeau/... crew

All 3 of these have perform well while the other 3 were around. Mcilroy despite his struggles has been top 5. 

1 hour ago, mardukes said:

.  I wonder if this also leads to greater separation between the Signature Tour and the DP USA.  The more the Sig guys stay away from DP USA venues, the less valuable the ranking of those fields (for OWGR points.)

Assume what you are saying here is that about the top level pga tour members not playing in some of the smaller events and only focusing on the bigger events that the smaller events won’t get as many owgr points. Thats always been the case. Top 50 golfers and especially top 25 typically don’t play the smaller events which is why the tour put in the policy that if someone don’t add an event to their schedule they have to play 25 times a year. The top players set their schedule so they have enough rest and don’t play more than a few weeks in a row and have some on course time around the majors. Its why some will skip the pga tour the week before the open and play overseas the week before.

[mardukes]

Used to be -- and I believe Spieth got fined for failure -- that tour players HAD TO play x number of "lesser" events.  Now the only motivation is to make "next 10" which is not a motivation for the "crowned" 50.  I'm not going to do the math, but the difference seems likely to be enhanced.

Agreed, Scottie has legitimately established his #1 position vs the "full field".  I'm just underscoring the point that he doesn't have to from here out; unlikely to give up #1 in the foreseeable future.  IMHO he would be up to the task should he have to face them.  I think he's the most evident killer out there.

Edited April 18 by mardukes

[jaskanski]

5 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

What evidence or medical training, coaching or other experience of any kind do you have to indicate anything he is doing in his swing will cause an injury?

 

 

Other than the well documented list of fellow professionals and swing coaches that have gone on record to state that Schefflers swing is 'unique' and probably shouldn't be tried by anyone else or it  wold probably result in injury?

None, but I have eyes, ears and an opinion just like anyone else.

If he proves me wrong - great.

When you get your accredited teaching credentials and your doctors degree, let me know - my years of golf are really taking their toll...

Edited April 18 by jaskanski

[RickyBobby_PR]

34 minutes ago, mardukes said:

Used to be -- and I believe Spieth got fined for failure -- that tour players HAD TO play x number of "lesser" events.  Now the only motivation is to make "next 10" which is not a motivation for the "crowned" 50.  I'm not going to do the math, but the difference seems likely to be enhanced.

Agreed, Scottie has legitimately established his #1 position vs the "full field".  I'm just underscoring the point that he doesn't have to from here out; unlikely to give up #1 in the foreseeable future.  IMHO he would be up to the task should he have to face them.  I think he's the most evident killer out there.

Still required to add an event. 2b of the players handbook. 
 

even if he did the lead he has on the rest of the golfers in the top 5 would take most than the 2024 season to catch him.

he makes the cut in 84% of the events he plays. He finishes inside the top 10 roughy 50% of the cuts he makes. That consistency it hard to make up points on by guys who aren’t making the same amount of cuts and having the same amount of top 10s.

Rahm is slightly better in those stats. Rahm has 2 more wins on tour than Scottie and Scottie has 2 less years on tour.

Smith has only made 71% of cuts and only finishes top 10 28% of the made cuts.

the numbers don’t lie and data>feelings 

[Fore67]

Hard to bet against Scottie at the moment, though birth of first child pending, that in itself is enough to provide the ice! 

Spieth and Rory are the most significant players to have been cooled by children. Depends how much you commit to being a dad. Tiger didn't slow down much while having kids, but I won't go in to what I think about Tiger and his early parenting skills.

Look for Aberg to insert himself into the conversation. OWGR is only getting started for Ludvig. I still think Rory can close the gap, but that's just my wishful thinking. So much has to happen for Rory to get him back to his glory days. It's been a long time since a major victory. Let a couple slip away, the Cam Smith Open, the Wyndham Clark US Open ...

Just my thoughts, FORE!

Mike

[silver & black]

Scotty will fall at some point.... like all the rest do/have. He's having an incredible run right now but, it won't last. Ask Tiger, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, etc....

I like Scotty for many reasons.... I just don't drink the koolaid when it comes to golf. 

 

 

[Shapotomous]

It doesnt take much to fall back to the pack.  A simple slip on some steps (DJ), wrong step in a hole or slippery cart path (BK) can tweak a knee or back and throw the swing timing off.  A new baby and family life can take time away from your schedule pretty quick.  Or like in Duvalls case maybe dominating the game loses meaning and mentally he checks out enough to become a mere mortal on the course.

I dont see anyone making a run at this point and if he does fall back it will be a flavor of the week at the top.

[RickyBobby_PR]

6 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

Or like in Duvalls case maybe dominating the game loses meaning and mentally he checks out enough to become a mere mortal on the course.

You do know it was vertigo that derailed Duval and not him checking out. Also didn’t help that he started chasing distance because of a tiger. 
 

 

[Au_funk93]

Scottie looks like the rabbit out there! In terms of being overtaken as #1? I dont think anyone is knocking him off the pedestal soon. He will likely have a few more wins this year on tour and clean up the top spot in points earned. BUT golf is a fickle mistress, and just because he is number one doesnt mean he is unbeatable. I think it will be really exciting to see who else can join him in the winners circle this year for tour events and majors. 

 

Aberg looks great right now--ice in his veins at Augusta.

But I will always be crossing my fingers for Homa and Fleetwood to pick up some wins!

But even those wins wont be enough to unseat Scottie...just prove there are a lot of great golfers in the world and 72 holes is a lot of golf!

[ShimmyCocoBop]

Who Can Overtake Scottie For #1?

No one.  He has a swing built for Jack Nicklaus-type ball striking with a Tiger Woods-type short game and even Ted Scott says his putting is way better than he gets credit for.  Scottie's ability to stick with his game plan game plan for each round of golf is an additional strength.  

W. Clark and L. Aberg are the best of the rest.  Homa, Schauffle and Morikawa don't putt well enough.  Cantlay and McIlroy are left-overs. Dark horse could be Sahith Theegala - he doesn't seem afraid to go low..

Like in all sports, too much money tends to cool off the competitive spirit.  The later day GOATS  (Nicklaus & Woods), figured out how to stay motivated despite the money.

Scottie will have to deal with part that too.