Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler at last year's Hero World Challenge.
Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler, during the third round of last week’s Tour Championship, bogeyed the 2nd hole — then birdied the 3rd.
A day later, he bogeyed the 5th hole — then birdied the 6th.
And nine holes later, he double-bogeyed the 15th hole — then birdied the 16.
Plus scores — immediately followed by minus scores. Frowns — immediately turned upside down. Of course, Scheffler would do so, as he’s the world No. 1 and winner of five tournaments this year, including a pair of major championships.
But he’s also “bouncing back” this year at a rate only one other player has bettered in the past 38 years on the PGA Tour — Tiger Woods in 2000, which is widely considered one of the best campaigns ever in professional golf.
What’s “bounce back?” As defined by the Tour’s website, it’s when a player follows an over-par score on a hole with an under-par score on the next hole. Put another way, it’s fire extinguishing. Or not letting things snowball. It’s what any golfer would want.
And it’s what Scheffler has said he prides himself in. Interestingly, he said at the Tour Championship that it was something he noticed Woods did while playing with him during the final round of the 2020 Masters. There, Woods carded a 10 on the par-3 12th hole — then played his last six holes at five-under par.
“And it was like, what’s this guy still playing for?” Scheffler said. “He’s won the Masters four or five times. Best finish he’s going to have is like 20th place at this point.
“I just admired the intensity that he brought to each round, and that’s something that I try to emulate. If I’m going to take time to come out here each week — like it’s not an easy thing to play a golf tournament. If I’m going to take a week off, I might as well just stay home. I’m not going to come out here to take a week off. If I’m playing in a tournament, I’m going to give it my all. That’s really all it boils down to.”
Five years after that Masters round — and as first pointed out by golf stats guru Justin Ray — Scheffler is “bouncing back” 36.50 percent of the time this year. How good is that? Should he not play any more events this year, it would stand as the second-best percentage since 1987, which is as far back as the Tour’s online record keeping goes. First is Woods at 36.51 percent in 2000, which is just fractionally better. Notably, Scheffler’s margin over the second-best number this year (30.19, by Harry Hall) ranks as the widest margin in the 38-year period.
There’s also this:
The stats run through the end of the year, so things could change. And Scheffler has said he plans to play the Procore Championship next month as prep for the Ryder Cup.
Below is a look at the Tour’s “bounce back” leaders since 1987.
PGA Tour bounce back leaders since 1987*
*1987 is the first year bounce back leaders are listed on the Tour’s website.
2025 Scottie Scheffler 36.50 percent Harry Hall 30.19 Tour average 21.03
2024 Mac Meissner 33.94 percent Scottie Scheffler 31.75 Tour average 21.60
2022-23 Max Homa 33.16 percent Scottie Scheffler 30.32 Tour average 20.88
2021-22 Cameron Percy 31.86 percent Cam Davis 31.82 Tour average 20.46
2020-21 Adam Scott 32.02 percent Shane Lowry 31.28 Tour average 20.08
2019-20 Will Gordon 31.33 percent Gary Woodland 30.46 Tour average 20.88
2018-19 Patrick Cantlay 31.58 percent Bud Cauley 28.72 Tour average 20.58
2017-18 Dustin Johnson 29.38 percent Branden Grace 27.68 Tour average 19.94
2016-17 Brooks Koepka 28.10 percent Justin Rose 27.91 Tour average 19.49
2015-16 Brooks Koepka 28.77 percent Jason Day 26.99 Tour average 19.13
2014-15 Jason Day 34.44 percent Bubba Watson 28.24 Tour average 20.05
2013-14 Luke Donald 27.39 percent S.Y. Noh 25.42 Tour average 18.89
2013 Dustin Johnson 27.91 percent Vaughn Taylor 26.71 Tour average 18.65
2012 Robert Garrigus 26.64 percent John Merrick 26.22 Tour average 18.99
2011 Aron Price 27.71 percent Webb Simpson 27.40 Tour average 19.21
2010 Charley Hoffman 27.78 percent Aaron Baddeley 27.72 Tour average 19.60
2009 Chris Riley 28.43 percent Jonathan Byrd 27.62 Tour average 18.97
2008 Phil Mickelson 26.21 percent Greg Kraft 23.98 Tour average 17.85
2007 Tag Ridings 27.45 percent Bob Heintz 25.40 Tour average 18.23
2006 Vaughn Taylor 25.93 percent Brett Wetterich 25.71 Tour average 18.88
2005 Dan Forsman 30.30 percent Sergio Garcia 28.00 Tour average 18.86
2004 John Daly 32.62 percent Tom Lehman 27.95 Tour average 19.21
2003 John Huston 29.53 percent Robert Gamez 27.30 Tour average 18.77
2002 Jay Haas 27.46 percent Retief Goosen 27.34 Tour average 19.24
2001 Rory Sabbatini 29.61 percent Paul Azinger 27.47 Tour average 19.52
2000 Tiger Woods 36.51 percent Greg Chalmers 31.44 Tour average 18.56
1999 Davis Love III 25.26 percent Paul Goydos 25.19 Tour average 17.42
1998 David Duval 26.87 percent Lee Janzen 25.85 Tour average 17.62
1997 Bill Glasson 27.88 percent Paul Stankowski 25.77 Tour average 17.59
1996 Fuzzy Zoeller 28.06 percent Brad Faxon 27.03 Tour average 18.13
1995 Vijay Singh 26.64 percent Jeff Sluman 25.10 Tour average 17.59
1994 Bruce Lietzke 31.78 percent Phil Mickelson 30.00 Tour average 17.82
1993 Payne Stewart 25.84 percent Steve Lowery 24.84 Tour average 16.97
1992 John Huston 26.86 percent Ted Schulz 26.64 Tour average 18.00
1991 Fred Couples 27.09 percent Mark Lye 25.38 Tour average 17.97
1990 Greg Norman 24.79 percent Bob Tway 24.72 Tour average 17.07
1989 Fuzzy Zoeller 27.53 percent Paul Azinger 25.73 Tour average 16.85
1988 Paul Azinger 27.55 percent Jim Gallagher Jr. 27.33 Tour average 17.69
1987 Bernhard Langer 26.02 percent Lanny Wadkins 25.58 Tour average 16.85
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
