There are some Tiger Woods records which simply beggar belief.

And as Scottie Scheffler passes Rory McIlroy in weeks spent at world number one during his career, it is yet another reminder that nobody will ever catch Woods.

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Scheffler has well and truly taken McIlroy’s crown in recent years, winning two majors and a gold medal in the processCredit: Getty
Scheffler spent the entire calendar year of 2024 in a world of his own at the top of professional golf.

The American won seven of the 19 events he played and only finished outside the top ten on three occasions.

It pocketed Scheffler a cool $30million, plus $25m on top for winning the FedEx Cup bonus, and firmly cemented his status as today’s greatest player by a country mile.

World number two Xander Schauffele was his closest competitor – winning two of the year’s four majors.

And while McIlroy’s decade-long major drought continued, the world number three still bagged four wins worldwide.

The Northern Irishman will be the first to tell you that it can feel easy getting to the top; it’s staying there which is the hard part.

And McIlroy may have to concede he is no longer golf’s most consistent player in the post-Woods era.

As of January 20, Scheffler has spent 123 weeks at world number one, taking him past McIlroy’s career tally of 122 weeks.

Only three players in golf history are ahead of Scheffler: Dustin Johnson, Greg Norman and Woods.

Naturally, some have started to compare Scheffler’s incredible dominance to the Woods era.

Most weeks spent at world number one

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Scheffler is still a long way off matching the outrageous longevity of WoodsCredit: Getty
After bursting onto the scene in 1997, Woods owned the game of golf for most of the following two decades.

And the 15-time major winner spent more time at world number one than Scheffler could possibly imagine.

While Scheffler’s 123 weeks amount to more than two years at the top, Woods was world number one for 683 weeks.

That’s about 13 years – meaning Scheffler has to stay there for more than a decade longer to catch the 82-time PGA Tour winner.

Scheffler’s 2025 got off to the worst possible start after a bizarre Christmas Day injury ruled him out of the season’s first two events.

The 28-year-old is hoping to return at next week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am, having undergone hand surgery for a glass wound suffered while making ravioli.

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Scheffler has returned to the gym and could be back on the golf course by the end of January
“Feeling good, everything went well with the surgery,” Scheffler told the PGA Tour.

“Body feels pretty good. Still making decisions on schedule going forward.

“Should know next few days to a week whether I’ll be playing next week. Everything’s on schedule.”

He added: “It was pretty unusual for me not to be able to do much in the gym.

“I was still able to get in there and do some movement stuff and some of the stuff I usually do with my legs.

“But as far as the upper body goes, I’m not going to go and just work out the left side of my body and come into the season walking like this.

“I went back while I was sitting around kind of elevating my hand post-surgery, I was just sitting there, watched some old shots, watched some old tournaments, and I reflected a little bit.

“Not much, but I just really wanted to jog my memory and since I wasn’t able to play golf, I tried to almost train a little bit at home to remind my brain what I was feeling over certain shots, what my hands felt like on the club, stuff like that, so I wasn’t totally checking out from golf.”