Rocco Mediate, a reporter thinks, has been the biggest fan of prime Tiger Woods.
Is the scribe right, Rocco?
“Love him, 100 percent,” Mediate said.
There’s some bias there then, though that might make another thought from the long-time pro even more notable.
One of Woods’ most-revered records may fall, Mediate says — in a little over three years.
Talking Thursday ahead of his title defense at the PGA Tour Champions’ Furyk and Friends event, Mediate had been asked a question that’s become popular recently. Did he think that it was unfair Scottie Scheffler was being compared to Woods? Or did he think that Scheffler “may “one day live up something close to that?”
He answered this way:
“Win-wise, no, I don’t think so,” Mediate said. “World No. 1 ranking, I think he breaks it as the streak he’s on now because he has the game to do that.
“See, like Rory’s awesome. Xander’s, they’re all awesome. Scottie doesn’t miss that much. He doesn’t have any foul, foul balls. The other guys do. So the way he drives it, if he continues to play, if he doesn’t quit, he will surpass Tiger’s No. 1 ranking in this run, I’m telling you, unless he gets hurt. Hopefully that won’t happen. Hopefully he didn’t go skiing or hopefully he doesn’t cut himself on whatever. But if he continues to do exactly what he’s doing, is he going to win seven, eight times a year? I’d say probably not, but he could. There’s not many other guys you could say that about. Scottie’s too much like this, it’s so unbelievable to watch and I think he breaks Tiger’s No. 1 ranking.”
That could happen in 2028. Woods’ record No. 1-ranking streak lasted 281 weeks — and Scheffler’s streak currently sits at 123 weeks. As for the wins that Mediate noted, Woods has won a PGA Tour-record-tying 82 times, while Scheffler has won 19 times since turning pro in 2018.
After Mediate’s answer, a reporter told him that he is right in saying that Scheffler doesn’t make double bogeys and doesn’t shoot 76.
“No. And is that going to happen?” Mediate said. “Of course he’s going to have his bad times, of course he is, it’s just golf. But man, the way he does it now, this is what Tiger did, the same thing. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes with foul balls.
“So I think Scottie’s got a shot at it. Is he going to win 90 times? I don’t know, I would doubt it, but can’t say he won’t. Can’t say he won’t. What did he win seven, eight this year? Are you kidding me?”
Here, Mediate jabbed Phil Mickelson for a thought he had in March.
The six-time major winner had written on Twitter that he thought that Scheffler wouldn’t win this year before the Ryder Cup that finished last week.
“What did Phil say? He won’t win before the Ryder Cup,” Mediate said. “He won five times, two majors.
“Please. Stop it.”
