There is no debate about who the best two golfers in the history of the game are. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are far and away the best players of all time.
However, it's fair to say that Scottie Scheffler is currently on course to at least come close to challenging their records.
The 30-year-old from Dallas, Texas, has come closer than anyone to mastering our wonderful game since the prime years of Woods and Nicklaus.
However, does Scottie Scheffler have what it takes to go on a run now for the next decade or so and put himself in similar conversations to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus ?
There is no reason why he shouldn't be able to do exactly that, given his almost unrivalled talent and exceptional work-rate.
Scheffler has already been compared to Woods and Nicklaus , but it's fair to say that he seriously has his work cut out if he is to ever come close to matching the two greatest golfers ever to have lived.
Scheffler currently has 22 wins from 170 PGA Tour starts – a win rate of 12.9%.
His record is truly incredible, especially when you consider the fact that he didn't win on the PGA Tour until his 71st start.
During those events, he has missed just 20 cuts and has recorded an incredible 69 top-5 finishes and 89 top-10s.
That means he has finished inside the top 5 in 40.6% of the PGA Tour events he has played, and inside the top 10 in 52.4% of his appearances.
Now, let's compare those numbers to the records of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus when they were both 30 years of age.
When Woods was 30, he had already amassed 46 PGA Tour wins from just 199 starts – a remarkable win rate of 23.1%.
During those appearances, Woods missed only 13 cuts. He also recorded 102 top-5s (51.3%) and 121 top-10s (60.8%). By the time he was 30, Woods also had 10 major championship wins to his name.
Nicklaus had won 33 PGA Tour titles in the 208 events he had played by the time he was 30 years old – a win rate of 15.9%.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
In those tournaments, Nicklaus missed just 10 cuts. The Golden Bear racked up 103 top-5s (49.5%) and 128 top-10s (61.5%). At the age of 30, Nicklaus had won 8 major championships.
As you can see from those numbers above, Scheffler isn't too far away from where Woods and Nicklaus were at the same age, percentage wise.
It's also worth remembering that the current world number one's success began a lot later in life than Woods' and Nicklaus' did.
Scheffler did not win his first PGA Tour event until he was 25, whereas Nicklaus' came at 22 and Woods was just 20 when he recorded his maiden victory.
It's not beyond the realms of reality that Scheffler could get close to the records set by Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods before he retires.
However, he will need to maintain the win rates he has recorded on the PGA Tour and during the majors over the past four years for at least the next decade if he is to have any chance of doing so.
