The part of the game where Scottie Scheffler is yet to reach Tiger Woods’ level has been identified

Perhaps the most intriguing storyline heading into the 2026 PGA Tour season concerns whether Scottie Scheffler will be able to continue to dominate and close the gap to the all-time greats.

Scottie Scheffler will have a chance to complete the Career Grand Slam next year. The 29-year-old won the PGA Championship and The Open Championship in the last few months – meaning that he only needs to win the US Open now.

It is too soon to say with any certainty whether Scheffler will put himself among the greatest to have ever played the game. So much can change so quickly. Few would have ever imagined that both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy would go nearly 11 years without winning a major.

But the world number one is on the right path, it seems.

The skill which marks ‘the biggest difference’ between Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler

Brandel Chamblee claimed ahead of the Tour Championship that Scheffler was the most complete player East Lake had ever seen. That was off the back of Scheffler moving into the top 20 on the PGA Tour for strokes gained putting this year.

Scheffler moved up nearly 60 places from 2024. Nevertheless, it appears that he still has some way to go before he is on Woods’ level on the greens.

Speaking to Indo Sport, Jaime Diaz assessed the difference between Scheffler’s current game and Woods at his best.

“Phil Kenyon helped Scottie Scheffler stabilise what had become, for him, his weakness. Now he was not a terrible putter, but relative to the rest of the game, it was his weakness. He had been a decent putter, certainly as a younger player. He won the US Junior with putting and short game because he was not one of the longer players in those days. As he’s gotten longer and stronger, he’s become the expert incredible ball-striker,” he said.

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“But I think as a putter, just that little difference, because there were wins last year I believe where he lost strokes gained putting, which is really hard to do. He just hit the ball so well, so when there was that 10 percent at the most increase in his putting, it made all the difference. And it went from one stroke losses and two strokes losses, to one and two and three strokes victories.

“To me, Scottie did what he needed to do over the off-season. He didn’t like talking about his putting last year, which to me was a symbol that it was bothering him, but he didn’t want to make a public thing out of it, because he didn’t want to be answering questions all the time or doubting himself even more because he’d get more criticism, so he just kept to himself. I think he handled it beautifully.

“He’s not the putter in my opinion that Tiger was. And that’s the biggest difference. The short game’s almost equal of Tiger’s. It’s not as flashy through the bag, but it’s so steady. You can say he’s actually a more accurate player than Tiger. Tiger was more explosive. There’s not a real comparison yet, apples to apples, but he’s the closest of all the number ones that have followed Tiger to Tiger’s quality, and that’s saying a lot.”

How many majors Tiger Woods needed to complete the Career Grand Slam as Scottie Scheffler sets his sights on the US Open

Woods completed the Career Grand Slam at The Open Championship in 2000. Remarkably, it was just his fourth major title. And it came in his 21st start in the majors.

The trip to St Andrews marked Woods’ first opportunity to complete the Career Grand Slam, and he went on to dominate and win by eight shots.

Scheffler is not going to be able to match Woods’ record. However, he is not too far behind, having won four majors in 25 starts.

That means that he could complete the Career Grand Slam on his 28th start, should he tee it up at The Masters and the PGA Championship next year.

He may not be able to catch Woods on that front, but when you consider that Woods had won 14 of his 15 majors by the time he was 33, it seems that there is plenty of time for Scheffler to close the gap in the years to come.