In most people’s minds, the greatest golfer in the history of the sport at the peak of his powers is and likely always will be Tiger Woods. But on Thursday, former Masters winner Bubba Watson outlined how he believes that this claim now belongs to Scottie Scheffler after what was a truly spectacular 2024 from Scheffler.
In 2000, Woods went on to have a year of golf that we had never seen before at the time, winning nine of the twenty PGA Tour events he entered throughout the year, breaking the record for lowest scoring average in tour history in a year in the process.
For most, this is the kind of hot stretch that will never be rivaled by another golfer. But during an interview with Sean Zak of Golf.com, Watson outlined how he believes that Scheffler’s stretch of play last year is actually better in his eyes than Woods was in 2000.
“I know Tiger did some stuff in 2000,” said Watson. “But Scottie (Scheffler)’s year was the best year we have ever seen. With all of the talent around the world now playing, that was it.”
Watson and Scheffler actually have some ties in that Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, rose to prominence as a caddie for Watson before the two ultimately split in 2021.
When asked about how he feels about all of Scott’s success with Scheffler, Watson outlined how he is happy that Scott was able to find a golfer that he could take to the next level, as he believes Scott did for him once upon a time.
“It’s great,” said Watson of Scheffler’s success with Scott. “When we split up, we talked about it. And I said ‘If you could find a young guy that you can help, as much as you helped me, go help them. It would be amazing.’ I didn’t think he would go to Scottie Scheffler’s bag and change the world. But Scottie was at that point. Scottie was a great golfer. But you know, that friendship, that bond, he went to being an elite golfer.”
Scottie 2024 > Tiger 2000
Bubba Watson spoke highly of Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott when he sat down with @Sean_Zak. pic.twitter.com/U76yqhwHl6
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 27, 2025
Given his relationship with Ted Scott, maybe Watson is a bit biased in his assessment that 2024 Scottie Scheffler was better than Tiger Woods in 2000. But either way, it’s certainly a sight to see that we are even having this conversation, which is a testiment to the kind of play that Scheffler has put together in the past year.
