Here’s what Scottie Scheffler says about those Tiger Woods comparisons

Scottie Scheffler removed nearly every ounce of drama from the final round of golf’s oldest championship. Scheffler led the 153rd Open Championship by four after 54 holes and cruised on Sunday at Royal Portrush, shooting 68 and winning by that same margin in a deciding day that never was in question.

The World No. 1, who just turned 29 a month ago, now has four major titles and three of the four legs of the career Grand Slam.

Inevitably, here come the comparisons.

“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.”

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 (age 25). He’s 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. And he’s 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.

We could do this all day.

But the thing is, after Scheffler doubled up on majors this year (he also won the PGA at Quail Hollow) there are now just 21 names who have more major titles than him.

Now the debate starts to simmer, especially since few players — notably Woods — have dominated the way in which Scheffler has the last couple of years.

Scheffler, however, says those Tiger comparisons are “silly.”

“Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth,” Scheffler said Sunday, the claret jug by his side. “I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for 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.”

Scheffler made headlines earlier this week — before the scores even counted — when he said, in short, he’s worked his whole life for these victories but golf isn’t the most important thing in his life. (“I love being able to play this game for a living,” he said then. “It’s one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not.”)

Perhaps that’s where Scheffler and Woods are different.

“I’m not motivated by winning championships,” Scheffer said Sunday, elaborating on his answer about getting closer to Tiger. “I don’t look at the beginning of the year and just say, hey, I want to win X amount of tournaments, I want to win whatever it is. I don’t do that. I have dreams and aspirations that I think about, but at the end of the day, when I wake up to practice, I feel like what motivates me is just getting out and getting to live out my dream. I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I’m called to do it to the best of my ability.

“When I wake up in the morning, I try and put max effort in each day I get to go out and practice. When I’m working out, when I’m doing the cold tub, doing recovery, I feel like I’m just called to do it to the best of my ability. Outside of that, I don’t place much emphasis on winning tournaments. I don’t place much emphasis on things that I can accomplish. It’s just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing.”

While Scheffler won the tournament Sunday, you could argue McIlroy won the week, tying for 7th and giving his home crowd the show it had hoped for six years ago when the Open first returned to Portrush and he missed the cut.

McIlroy finished 10 under, but it was still seven shy of Scheffler, who McIlroy praised after his round on Sunday.

“He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to,” McIlroy said. “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. Incredibly impressive.”

Just don’t tell Scheffler that.