Scheffler era seems upon us, with Tiger talk at the centre

The world No.l’s Open win has taken comparisons with the 15-time Major winner toa feverish pitch

- Joy Chakravarty

PORTRUSH: Scottie Scheffler started the 153rd Open Championship with a question that became the talk of the golf world: “What's the point?

On Sunday evening, his ruthless romp to a four-shot victory for his fourth major title was so utterly dominating, the rest of the elite field at Royal Portrush was left asking the same question.

When the new world ranking came out on Monday morning, he was still the No.1, but that’s because he has nowhere else to climb. Of course, there is a danger of slipping down, which is statistically improbable at least until the 2026 Masters. With 20.252 average points, he has opened a nine-point gap over the second-placed Rory Mcllroy (11.556). Xander Schauffele is a distant third at 7.288.

This is how the Official World Golf Rankings looked in peak Tiger Woods era. The gap between him and the others - in terms of technical skills, consistency and mental strength - was ridiculously large.

A unique statistical coincidence between the two is that both have taken 1,197 days between their first and fourth major wins.