Is Scottie Scheffler the next Tiger Woods? Scheffler, taking 1197 days, the same as Woods, to go from 1 to 4 majors, is one of the many records he has surpassed. The former’s 2025 Open made these comparisons even louder, and now, Daly is sharing his honest thoughts on the Scottie-Tiger comparison.

“He’s still young. I mean, there’s no telling,” Daly measured his response in a December 23 interview with Hard Rock Bet. “The way he’s been playing, there’s always that chance.”

Having turned pro in 1996, Woods’s career spans over 25 years. For decades, he couldn’t be toppled, marking his arrival right from his Masters win in ’97. By the time Woods was 29, he had won 9 major championships, and Scheffler, by the same age, four majors. How Scheffler is playing, Daly believes that he can definitely surpass Woods.

“He’s [Scottie] putting better and chipping better than everybody else, and he’s hitting it unbelievably,” noted Daly. “As long as he stays healthy and keeps doing what he’s doing, I don’t see why he can’t. He’s used to winning, like Tiger was.”

These three game elements, combined, result in a streak of wins. At The Open, Scheffler led the field in SG: Putting. From 14, he could make 11 putts, that too from a range of 5-10 feet.  The season-long “Strokes Gained: Around the Green” saw Scheffler at roughly +0.3 to +0.6 strokes per round. This ranks him somewhere between 10th and 25th on Tour, depending on the cutoff. And his ball-striking is SG: Total at roughly +2.7. Scottie Scheffler led 28 different PGA Tour statistical categories in 2025, three more than last year. He became the first player since Woods in 2000 to lead in scoring average for all four rounds.

Scheffler had six wins this year, despite a late start to his season because of a freak ravioli injury. Although it is one less than 2024, he is now one of only two players (the other is Woods) to record multiple seasons with six or more PGA Tour wins since 1983. Notably, this season, Scheffler won his fourth consecutive Player of the Year award, joining Woods as the only players to do so.

Some other peculiar records Scheffler has matched are:

• Scheffler is now the third-youngest player to win 15 PGA Tour events (he has 17) as well as four majors, joining a list that includes only Tiger Woods, who did it at age 24, and Jack Nicklaus at 25.
• Scheffler is also one of four players in history to win the Masters, Open Championship and PGA Championship before turning 30, joining Woods, Nicklaus and Gary Player.
• Scheffler is one of four players over the last 50 years, along with Woods, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, to win four or more majors in his first 25 major starts.

Not only Daly, but other golfers, like Xander Schauffele, have also compared the two.

“I don’t think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here’s Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance,” said Xander Schauffele. “You can’t even say he’s on a run. He’s just been killing it for over two years now. He’s a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us.”

Funnily enough, Scheffler doesn’t like the comparisons. He finds them “silly.” He holds Woods in high regard.

“I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational to me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf,” said Woods after winning the Claret Jug.

Surprisingly, the two also match when the results are bad. Despite being their era’s best players, both of them have struggled spectacularly in Ryder Cups.  The patterns are too similar to be coincidental, yet some people don’t believe that Scheffler can ever manage to push Woods from his throne.

What happens in the future remains to be seen, but it is not wrong to point out the unfairness of the competition. If one has to have a fairer comparison, there’s another apt player, Scheffler, who should be put up against him

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Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler—who’s John Daly’s choice?

“I’d have to go with Scottie,” was John Daly’s direct response. “You have to go with Scottie.”

Rory McIlroy, this year’s BBC Sports Personality, as well as the achiever of his career Grand Slam, was not Daly’s choice. His prime anecdote comes from the overall wins. While Scottie Scheffler accumulated six, McIlroy halted at just three. A 2-to-1 advantage.

Those wins had two majors for Scheffler, one at Quail Hollow and the other at Royal Portrush. Whereas McIlroy’s came at Augusta, which, if you ask, would surpass the feeling of epiphany if compared to his American counterpart. As he wore the Green Jacket, his 11-year drought came to an end.

But a look at the regular events paints a far clearer picture. While Scheffler made all of his 20 cuts this year, the Northern Irishman just played in 16. He had already stated the reason earlier this year—the overflowing schedule of the Tour.

Still, he lacked, as Scottie Scheffler displayed ten times better results with 17 consecutive top-10 finishes. McIlroy, for his part, had only 8. Most shocking of all was his missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open and a T47 at the PGA Championship. Throughout the year, his results were mostly in the middle of the pack.

If he performed anywhere better, it was at the Ryder Cup. He propelled his team to an away victory (15-13) while fighting through intense hostilities. Named the European Team’s talisman, McIlroy had a total of 21.5 points. Scheffler, on the other hand, had a mere 4.5. At the same time, his seventh Race to Dubai title leaves him just one shy of Colin Montgomerie’s record. Regardless, he couldn’t surpass Scheffler and ended his season as the world’s second-best.

Scheffler’s year, by contrast, was a single uninterrupted statement.