Scottie Scheffler talk of Pinehurst; PGA Tour, LIV Golf pros praise World No. 1 at U.S. Open

Scottie Scheffler arrives at Pinehurst No. 2 as a 3-to-1 favorite, astonishingly short odds not seen since the mid-2000s when Tiger Woods dominated the golf world.

As a result, Scheffler has been the talk of the town, with fans, pundits and fellow players buzzing about the reigning Masters champion’s accomplishments this season: Scheffler has already won five tournaments, his most since the 1980 U.S. Open, and finished below par, finishing tied for 17th at the American Express in January.

His advanced stats are also incredibly impressive.

“When you start getting compared to Tiger and what Tiger has done, you know you’re on a pretty special level,” said LIV Golf’s Jon Rahm, who, like many others, answered questions about Scheffler at Tuesday’s pre-tournament press conference.

“To win five times in one season…to win tournaments, he’s winning. To win Bay Hill, The Players, The Masters, RBC. [Heritage]”And then at the Memorial, he’s basically replaying Tiger Woods’ season. It’s been great to watch. He’s playing great golf and doing what he needs to do.”

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Everyone’s talking about Scheffler because no one has had a season like this since Woods was in his prime.

“The only reason he didn’t win a golf tournament was because he got locked up in jail for an hour,” Rory McIlroy joked, referring to Scheffler’s arrest at the PGA Championship.

“He always seems to be in the running to win. The most exciting thing about last week at the Memorial was him hitting that triple on the ninth. [on Saturday]”Everybody thought, ‘Oh, he might be unattractive here,’ but he found a way to steady the ship and got some birdies when he needed them. He’s definitely the best player in the world at the moment and it’s our job to get to his level.”

Scheffler’s ability to bounce back from mistakes is one of the most impressive aspects of his game. Whether he misses a short putt or hits a bad tee shot, Scheffler always seems to bounce back, as he did last week in his one-stroke victory over Collin Morikawa at Muirfield Village.

“You don’t win so many tournaments and be so high on the leaderboard unless you do everything well,” Viktor Hovland added.

“If there were holes in his game, he wouldn’t be performing as well as he is.”

Prior to the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, many pundits criticized Scheffler for his struggles on the greens, where his putting looked shaky and he missed many opportunities early this year.

However, since switching to a mallet putter at Bay Hill, he has had a dominant performance on the PGA Tour.

“He tried the Spider. [putter] “I played a few tournaments last summer,” McIlroy added.

“But the work he’s done so far [his putting coach] “Phil Kenyon was there too. I think that’s a big factor. I know they started working on it after the FedExCup Playoffs last year. Obviously, their work has paid off.”

Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images

CBS Sports invited McIlroy to broadcast the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February, where McIlroy suggested Scheffler switch from a blade to a mallet, which he said would help his own game.

However, this move has taken Schaeffler to new heights and he is now unstoppable.

“The way I look at it, he has total control over his golf swing. He’s got a lot of his putting figured out. He plays very strategic golf from what I see. He doesn’t do too many gimmicks. He just hits the right shots at the right time. He’s really in control of his environment, not just his environment but the conditions on the golf course,” explained Bryson DeChambeau of LIV Golf.

“He knows how the golf ball moves. He knows how to react accordingly. If things go well, he can bounce back quickly. That’s the secret to success, and he’s been doing it for a long time, longer than anybody. He’s the gold standard now, and we all look up to him and think, ‘Okay, how can I get to that level?'”

There’s no doubt that Scheffler is currently in a league of his own.

The odds reflect that, and fellow players agree with that assessment.

But are we now at a stage, like Woods at the height of his power, where the question is: “Is it Scheffler versus the field?”

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.