The heights they are attempting to reach have become comical, with two golfers excelling at their respective sports with such sheer force that it's hard to imagine anyone beating them, at least for now. I'm taking over.
Nelly Korda just came off a five-game winning streak that ended with a major Chevron Championship. Scottie Scheffler entered the Masters in the middle of the pack and just won four of five matches. The world's number one male and female athletes are no longer just the best in their sport. They're shaping up to be two of the best of all time. This week in Hilton Head, Scheffler was goofing around to the point where someone asked if the two would compete.
“I don't know, dude,” he joked. 5 consecutive wins. She had her T16 earlier this year and it was really bad. I can't believe she did that. ”
And along with their amazing run, some fun trends are also emerging. Who can post the most ridiculously impressive stats and notes to quantify how great their golf was in 2024?
“This has been the best five weeks since.”
“I got the most strokes since then.”
It got so wild and interesting that I decided to compile a list of the most memorable and storied notes about Schaeffler and Korda's historic run.
1. In their last 10 combined starts, Korda and Scheffler have defeated 1,163 golfers. Q information for each Monday. Only one golfer won both. Steven Yeager avoided a playoff and beat Scheffler by one stroke at the Houston Open after Scheffler's putt on No. 18 missed. Korda is the first player since Annika Sorsenstam (2004 and 2005) to win five consecutive LPGA events. Scheffler's WW-T2-WW record is only his fifth consecutive T2 or better record in the last 30 years.Tiger Woods has done it eight times in a row. Two degrees, 7 straight on another occasion. Scheffler matched Vijay Singh's performance in 2004.
2. Korda and Scheffler became the second pair of No. 1 golf players in the world (since the inception of the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings) to win consecutive weeks at a major. Tiger and Lorena Ochoa reportedly accomplished that in consecutive weeks at the 2007 Women's British Open and PGA Championship. The Athletic Contributor Justin Ray.
3. In the past 42 days, Mr. Scheffler has earned $16.3 million. This is the second-highest total in a PGA Tour season, and he achieved it in just five tournaments. That means Scheffler's caddy, Ted Scott, earned about $1.78 million this year, putting him 45th on the 2024 PGA Tour money list, ahead of Rory McIlroy.
PGA Tour 2024 Prize List
place | pga tour golfer | money in 2024 |
---|---|---|
1 |
Scotty Scheffler |
18,693,235 |
2 |
Wyndham Clark |
9,111,009 |
3 |
sahis segara |
6.565,228 |
Four |
Ludwig Aberg |
6,511,053 |
Five |
Hideki Matsuyama |
6,007,495 |
44 |
Eric Cole |
1,790,728 |
Ted Scott (Scheffler's caddy) |
1,780,000 |
|
45 |
Rory McIlroy |
1,714,672 |
tour average |
1,026,231 |
Scheffler is chasing his own record. He earned $21.04 million last season.
Four. It's not just Scheffler's victory. That's his historical consistency over the past two years. Scheffler has finished in the top three in 23 of the past 51 tournaments. That puts him 43% ahead of almost the entire field. For reference, Xander Schauffele is No. 2 in his DataGolf, making him one of the most consistent players in men's professional golf not named Scheffler. Schauffele's betting odds before RBC Heritage had him projected to finish in the top five with a 30 percent chance. For one tournament. Schaeffler is in the top three at almost 1.5 times that pace.
Five. Scottie's lead over world No. 2 Rory McIlroy is larger than McIlroy's lead over No. 788 Tiger Woods. Scheffler has twice as many OWGR points as McIlroy, averaging 15 points and 7.4 points for a total of 690 points to McIlroy's 338 points.
The gap between No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Lilia Vu in the Rolex Women's Golf Ranking is as wide as the gap between Vu and Auston Kim, No. 185.
6. Scheffler has twice as many rounds of 64 or below (four) as even-par rounds (two) this season. Even-par is his worst score in 2024 (Houston Open and second round of the Masters). He hasn't shot over par since shooting a 3-over 73 at the Tour Championship in August.
7. With her victory at the Chevron Championship, Korda became the third LPGA player to play in five games and win five events, following Nancy Lopez (1978) and Sorenstam. Korda, who withdrew from this week's LA Championship, could seek a record sixth win as early as the Founders Cup (May 9-12, Clifton, N.J.).
8. No American golfer has won five tournaments in one LPGA season since Julie Inkster in 1999. Korda had only won five consecutive tournaments through May.
9. Korda leads the LPGA's 2024 season points race with 2,702 CME Globe Points. Lydia Ko is in second place, but has won less than half that amount. Korda has already earned enough points to finish third in each of the past two years.
Ten. Korda, 25, became the youngest American player to win a second LPGA major since Julie Inkster (then 23) in 1984 (via Justin Ray). Inkster eventually won seven races from 1984 to 2002. Meg He Maron is the only American to achieve his four major wins in the 21st century. Corda is half.
The only good news for the rest of the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour: Scheffler and Korda have decided to take a vacation this week.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photo: Andy Lyons, Andrew Reddington/Getty Images)