And come Monday, he’s primed to pass another benchmark previously accomplished by only two golfers.
When the Official World Golf Ranking updates Monday, Scheffler will be in the No. 1 spot for the 82nd consecutive week, breaking a tie with Nick Faldo for the fourth longest span of all-time. The only two golfers to spend more consecutive weeks atop the OWGR are Tiger Woods, who did it twice for 281 and 264 weeks, respectively, and Greg Norman, who was No. 1 for 96 straight weeks.
Scheffler is the 25th golfer all-time to reach No. 1, and he has held the position since May 21, 2023. With his massive lead in points, he’s not going anywhere for some time, either.
Next week will mark Scheffler’s 117th as No. 1 in the world, only five weeks behind Rory McIlroy’s 122, a mark he’ll pass in the middle of January. Dustin Johnson is next on the list, being in the top spot for 135 weeks, another mark that Scheffler is likely to top.
🚨BREAKING
Most world ranking points earned in a calendar year since the inception of #OWGR:
Another feat Scheffler is bound to pass is Norman’s longest stretch on top of the world at 96 straight weeks. Because of how many average points Scheffler has between he and world No. 2 Xander Schauffele, the chances of him losing the top spot in the world in the early part of 2025 are slim to none, meaning he’s likely to become the second golfer ever to spend at least 100 consecutive weeks at No. 1.
As far as catching No. 1 on that list? We’ll check back in a couple years.
As mentioned above, Scheffler earned the fourth-most OWGR points in a single year in 2024, trailing only Woods’ 2000, 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Woods is by far the most successful golfer in OWGR history, with Norman a distant second. The 28-year-old Scheffler is closing in on third with arguably the prime of his career just starting.
Scott has also benefitted plenty financially from Scheffler’s dominance. Although all caddies may be paid slightly different depending on their relationship with a player, the normal scale is as follows: 10 percent of winnings if a caddie’s player wins, 7 percent for a top 10 and 5 percent for making the cut.
Following that formula, Scott could be up to $5,338,504 this season, if not more, after the Hero World Challenge. Almost half of that amount — $2.5 million to be exact — came at the Tour Championship. There’s also a question mark for the PGA Championship, where Scott missed the third round to attend his daughter’s graduation.
Nevertheless, that number of projected earnings would rank top 20 on the PGA Tour this season, ahead of golfers like two-time winner Austin Eckroat, 2023 FedEx Cup winner Viktor Hovland and Hero runner-up Tom Kim, among others.
Here’s a breakdown of possible money Scott has earned caddying for Scheffler during 2024.
The world No. 1 picked up his ninth victory of the year Sunday, winning the 2024 Hero World Challenge for the second straight year. He dominated the field in the final round, shooting 9-under 63 to win by six shots over Tom Kim.
Scheffler will take home $1 million from the $5 million purse, but everyone was paid well in the 20-man field.
NASSAU, Bahamas — Eight wasn’t enough for Scottie Scheffler.
With birdies on three of the first four holes on Sunday, he assumed the lead and cruised to a six-stroke victory over Tom Kim at the 2024 Hero World Challenge for his ninth win of the year.
“It feels nice,” Scheffler said. “I’ve been fortunate to get some wins out of some really good golf. This was another week where I played really solid and was able to see some nice results from that. Overall it was a pretty fun year.”
Was it ever. Scheffler closed with a birdie at the final hole to shoot 9-under 63 at Albany Club, a 72-hole total of 25-under 263 and successfully defend his title at the 20-man unofficial event hosted by Tiger Woods.
“You were in my tummy last time,” Meredith Scheffler told the couple’s first born, son Bennett, who arrived in May and was carried around the course by her mother in a baby carrier.
Scheffler, the world No. 1 and FedEx Cup champion, won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the Masters, Players Championship and Tour Championship. He also won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which he counts as win No. 8.
“Gotta enjoy each one, they’re all so unique,” Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott said. “It’s just good to see him back on the horse.” And he smiled a wry smile before dashing to the airport to catch a flight.
Scheffler opened with 67 and followed with a bogey-free 64 to assume the lead. But he shot a rather pedestrian third-round 69 and trailed Justin Thomas by one stroke heading into the final round. Thomas wedged from 112 yards to 3 feet at the first to protect his one-shot lead. But he made bogeys at Nos. 2 and 5 (and a birdie at three) to lose the lead and never got it back. Scheffler now has shot lower than Thomas, who closed in 71 and finished alone in third, eight of the last nine times they have been paired together.
“I would have liked to put a little more heat obviously on Scottie going to the back nine,” Thomas said. “But I mean, you know, obviously I can’t expect to have good things happen when I’m leading by one over Scottie and only shooting 1 under on Sunday.”
Scheffler stormed out of the gate hot to let it be known he meant business. He drained an 8-foot birdie at the first and reached the par-5 third hole in two and two-putted for another birdie. Then a body blow to the hopes of his competitors at the fourth: He sank a 49-foot birdie putt.
“Anytime you see a long putt go in like that, it’s always a good feeling and it’s good momentum and I try to use that as good fuel for the rest of the round,” he said.
Kim, who closed in 68, cut Scheffler’s lead to one momentarily with a 4-foot birdie at the ninth before Scheffler converted his own 4-foot birdie putt at nine in the next group. He kept the pedal down on the back nine, making birdie at 10 and went flag hunting at 13. He dripped in the 6-foot putt using the claw grip, taking his palm of the right hand off the club, which he used from around 15 feet and in this week for the first time in competition.
“It’s over,” a fan said, perhaps prematurely, but he wasn’t wrong.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course on December 08, 2024 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Scheffler left little doubt down the stretch, driving the green at the 359-yard par 4 14th for another birdie and adding circles on the card at Nos. 16 and 18.
When it was all said and done, some of the best players were left with nothing else to do but praise his brilliance.
“Sometimes he makes the competition look like he’s just playing around with us, you know what I mean, which isn’t easy to do,” Jason Day said.
To Kim, who often played money games at home in Dallas with Scheffler before the birth of Bennett and noted he lost 95 percent of those matches marveled at how Scheffler never goes out shoots and bad score.
“He comes out here and wins, he does it all the time,” Kim said. “I think the biggest thing that I see is that he’s always trying to get better. Despite winning nine times this year, he’s always finding little ways and I think it’s really, really cool to see and you can take a lot from that.”
Thomas and others echoed a similar sentiment that Scheffler excels at handling all the outside noise – whether it be the birth of his baby or being arrested before his tee time at the PGA Championship or just dealing with expectations he’s supposed to win every time he tees it up. No one has proved better at being able to compartmentalize and stay in his own little bubble.
“I don’t think people understand how difficult it is to win when you’re expected to win or when every single person that’s there expects you to play well and you expect you to play well and then to still play well,” Thomas said. “It truly is just as much of a talent as being able to, you know, control your distance with your wedges or flight a driver or hit it far, whatever it is, is being able to stay present, stay in the moment.
“It’s very hard to explain, but it’s so hard to do sometimes,” Thomas added. “To me that’s been the most impressive thing from Scottie.”
The year 2024 was for Scottie Scheffler, and if his latest putting adjustment is any indication, he’s in for only more success in 2025.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Justin Thomas has one last chance to win a tournament in 2024 and he’ll head into the final round with a one-stroke lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at the Hero World Challenge.
Thomas carded a bogey-free 6-under 66 at Albany Club on a warm and wind-swept Saturday to improve to 17-under 199.
“I didn’t think I played nearly as well as he had the first two days but it was tough out there and I made a few more putts,” he said.
His play has been none too shabby: he’s bogey-free for his last 51 holes, his lone bogey came at the par-5 third hole in the opening round. Thomas struggled mightily with the putter the first two days, ranking last in Strokes Gained: Putting, and joked, “there was only one way to go.”
Competing for the first time since welcoming the birth of his first child, daughter Molly, he reeled off birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 from inside 10 feet and then let his driver do some damage. Using a 46-inch driver this week, he drove the green at the 359-yard seventh to inside 10 feet and two-putted for birdie.
“That was nice,” he said. “I didn’t have to go full go. It was an advantage for me. I felt like I could be in control… Because how the green sits, you can’t see the ball until you get up there so it was nice to see it up there.”
He tacked on a birdie at nine to go out in 32, then started finding his touch from long range with his putter. First, he made an 18-foot par putt on the par-3 12th hole. His next birdie, at No. 14, was an unlikely one. After being out of position off the tee, his pitch ran 47 feet past the hole, but he buried it after recalling something his caddie had said the other day.
“I had a similar thing on Thursday where I hit a bad chip and Rev was, you can still make the putt, you’re fine, that kind of thing. I kind of reminded myself that,” he said.
Justin Thomas from 47 FEET OUT to grab a share of the lead! 📈
Thomas has had a lot of success at the Hero over the years, owning top-five finishes in his four most recent appearances (third/2023, fifth/2022, T-5/2021, T-5/2019). But victory has eluded the 15-time Tour winner since the 2022 PGA Championship.
“I’ve been progressing nicely, been working on all the right things. Feel like I’ve been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want and that’s all I can do. I can’t control everybody else or what’s going on, I’ve just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope that it’s enough come Sunday,” he said.
If so, that trophy would come from none other than Tiger Woods.
“That would be great. I’ve had a couple opportunities in the past, but it’s definitely something I’d love to check off my box in my career at some point,” he said.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States walks off the seventh tee during the third round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course on December 07, 2024 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler shot 69 on Saturday and played his way into the final group alongside Thomas. But is he pleased with his play so far, which included an 8-under 64 on Friday? Not so much.
“Pleased I think would be a stretch, but overall my game’s in a good spot,” said Scheffler, who has never shot an over score in 15 rounds at Albany. “I’ve liked what I’ve seen the last few days out there on the course and hoping to finish off with a real solid round tomorrow.”
If pleased wasn’t the right description, Scheffler was asked what word he’d use instead. “That’s too difficult a question. My vocabulary is not that vast,” he said with a smile and a chuckle.
Earlier in his comments summing up the round, he chose the word “decent.”
“I had a stretch at 13, 14, 15 where I felt like I lost a shot or two there, but outside of that I did a lot of really good things today,” he said.
Scheffler complained of a few too many lip-outs spoiling what could’ve been another mid-60s round for him.
“I felt I had some good putts that should have gone in. I had a putt on 1 that looked really good, I had a putt on 10, putt there on 18 that I hit a really good putt just around the cup,” he said. “Overall I feel like it’s coming off my blade really nice. Yeah, so every time it looks like it’s going towards the hole, I feel like it should be going in and that’s a good feeling.”
Still, he’s poised to join Tiger Woods (2006, ’07) and Viktor Hovland (2021, ’22) as the only back-to-back winners of the Hero World Challenge.
Tom Kim of South Korea and caddie, Paul Tesori, look on from the third tee during the third round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course on December 07, 2024 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Tom Kim had a good feeling.
Coming off the lone hiccup of his day at 17, where he needed two shots to extricate himself from the sand, Kim caught the left bunker at 18 and got his revenge. He holed the bunker shot for birdie, his 12th of the day, and posted 10-under 62. Then he told caddie Paul Tesori he knew he was going to make it.
“He actually called BS on it,” Kim said. “He said, ‘No, you didn’t,’ and I tell him like I really did. I saw a good spot, it was a really good spot to miss at. We talked over the shot and kind of let it go. As soon as it landed, I was like, man, this is a really good shot.”
TOM KIM, ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 🤯🔥
Bunker hole-out on 18 for an incredible round of 62!
Man, was it a really good day. Kim’s 12 birdies were the most he’s ever made on the Tour.
“I had a few long putts where you’re not really expecting to make and those go in. I did a lot of good things just to keep my momentum going,” he said, noting a clutch par save at No. 8 and a 20-footer on No. 9. “Made a bomb on 10. Had a really easy — I hit a good drive on 11 so it was kind of like an easy birdie, but didn’t hit it on the green and chipped it really good.”
Given that the wind picked up and scoring tended to be higher on Saturday, Scheffler was impressed with Kim’s ability to go low.
“That’s pretty serious golf out there,” he said. “I feel like I played pretty solid yesterday with no wind and shot 8, so 10 in the wind is a pretty special round.”
Kim vaulted to 15 under overall, good for solo third and two back of the lead, which is all the more impressive given that he was 3 over after six holes and opened in 2-over 74. Kim said he made a small adjustment that has paid quick dividends.
“My spin numbers were coming out a little different than usual. So paid a lot of attention after the round and just put that in play yesterday and automatically I saw some results and I just kind of did the same thing and just seems to be paying off a little bit,” he said.
After 54 holes of the 2024 Hero World Challenge at Albany, Justin Thomas holds a one-shot lead at 17 under. The man behind him? World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday.
Tom Kim was on fire during the third round, shooting a 10-under 62. He’s alone in third at 15 under, two shots back of the lead.
The four-day, 72-hole stroke play event has a $5 million purse and a $1 million first-place prize. There are also OWGR points up for grabs this week.
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
1:30 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
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Scottie Scheffler is up by two on the field, his second-round 64 marking the low round of the day Friday and tied for low round of the week.
Justin Thomas and Akshay Bhatia are tied for second at 11 under, two back. Bhatia was a late add to the event and he’s making the most of his visit to the Bahamas.
Sepp Straka, the last man in the field after a late Tony Finau WD, is tied for fifth at 7 under.
The four-day, 72-hole stroke play event has a $5 million purse and a $1 million first-place prize. There are also OWGR points up for grabs this week.
From Saturday’s third round starting times as well as TV and streaming information, here’s what you need to know about the 2024 Hero. All times listed are ET.
12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
2:30 to 5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
Sunday, Dec. 8
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
1:30 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
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Justin Thomas is as big a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide as anyone out there.
His Tide football team, however, is not in the SEC title game Saturday. Instead, his 8-3 Alabama squad will sit back and watch Texas and Georgia battle it out in Atlanta. All three seem to be in the 12-team College Football Playoff field but JT was asked if he’s rooting for Texas, assuming a healthy hatred for the Georgia Bulldogs.
“My hate? Well, I don’t really like Texas, either. I’m kind of in a lose-lose in that game, I don’t know who I want to win. I mean, it’s good for the conference. I think Texas comes in in their first year and I think they’re one of the best teams in the country,” he said. “Yeah, I don’t know. I’m rooting for a tie maybe.”
From Friday’s second-round starting times as well as TV information, here’s what you need to know about the 2024 Hero. All times listed are ET.
Hero World Challenge Friday tee times
Time
Players
10:55 a.m.
Tom Kim, Jason Day
11:06 a.m.
Wyndham Clark, Matthieu Pavon
11:17 a.m.
Brian Harman, Aaron Rai
11:28 a.m.
Sepp Straka, Sungjae Im
11:39 a.m.
Keegan Bradley, Russell Henley
11:50 a.m.
Nick Dunlap, Sam Burns
12:01 p.m.
Sahith Theegala, Robert MacIntyre
12:12 p.m.
Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler
12:23 p.m.
Akshay Bhatia, Ludvig Aberg
12:34 p.m.
Cameron Young, Justin Thomas
How to watch 2024 Hero World Challenge
Golf Channel, NBC and Peacock will have live coverage of all four days of the 2024 Hero. Golf Channel will have all four days while NBC picks up the third and final rounds.
1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
Saturday, Dec. 7
12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
2:30 to 5 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
Sunday, Dec. 8
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, Golf Channel/NBC Sports app
1:30 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock/NBC Sports app
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
It had been 102 days between shots in competitive rounds for Young.
NASSAU, Bahamas — The calendar may not flip for a few more weeks but Cameron Young already is treating the Hero World Challenge as if it is 2025.
“To me, this kind of feels like the start of a new season in a way,” he said. “I’m playing this week, next week, have a couple of weeks off and then we start (in Maui).”
It had been 102 days between shots in competitive rounds for Cameron Young, who last played in the BMW Championship in August and then flew to Mexico in November for the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico, but withdrew before the tournament began. Was he surprised with how sharp his game was after the long layoff?
“I didn’t play great yesterday,” he said. “But you always feel like you can shoot a number like that. I really felt very well in control, which isn’t necessarily surprising but it’s a nice thing to come out and just feel like yourself.”
Especially with the driver. Young used the big stick as a weapon to set up a bogey-free eight-under 64 at Albany Club on Thursday and open up a two-stroke lead over Justin Thomas after the first round of the 20-man unofficial event hosted by Tiger Woods.
“[The drive on] No. 18 was really nice, especially after waiting a little bit just to kind of get that one down there in place is good. Hit a really good one off 11, I was really proud of that one today,” he said. “I’m sure I missed a fairway or two, but for the most part I was really well in position. Then I made a couple putts early, which was nice. Just kind of got off to a nice start with the putter. There’s a bunch of par 5s and a couple drivable holes, so I feel that if you’re on top of it, especially off the tee, you can make a bunch of birdies.”
And that’s exactly what he did, reeling off birdies on three of the first four holes and five of the first eight. It was a relatively stress-free day for the 27-yer-old native of Scarborough, New York.
“The one on 12 is really as close as I came to having (a bogey) – 12 and then 13, so those two holes in a row,” said Young, who is still seeking his first Tour title. “No. 13 I had a really tricky chip, kind of had to play it over the sprinkler heads from right of the green. Yeah, a three-footer. I pitched it close on the next hole. It wasn’t where I would have put it with my second shot, but happy to get it up and down and kind of make the rest of my round easy.”
Cameron Young plays a shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course in Nassau, Bahamas. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Thomas, playing for the first time since the birth of his first child, overcame a sluggish start to shoot 6-under 66. He was 1-over through five holes and near the bottom of the leaderboard when he made the turn. But he got a pep talk from his caddie Matt Minister on the walk from the 10th tee that kicked him into gear.
“He said, ‘You look like you’re trying so hard on your putter trying to just make putts, almost like play putting stroke as opposed to just putting,’ ” Thomas recounted. “When I get off, that’s a tendency that I have and I feel like I just tried to trust my instincts and just go and react. I did that the last nine holes and I putted really, really nicely.”
He poured in six birdies and shot 30 coming home.
Another player who was happy with his putting was world No. 1 and defending Hero champion Scottie Scheffler, who experimented with a claw grip on Thursday.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve and I felt like this was something that we had looked at last year when (putting coach) Phil (Kenyon) and I first started working together, but it was really our first time working together and it’s something that’s different than what I’ve done in the past,” Scheffler explained. “This year I had thought about it from time to time and it was something that we had just said let’s table that for the end of the season, take a look at it.”
It appears to be a work in progress as Scheffler did manage to make six birdies, including four of the last five, and shoot 67, but he also lost 1.156 strokes to the field and ranked 18th out of 20 players in Strokes Gained: putting.
“I felt like I rolled it really nice,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I hit a lot of edges out there, ball was kind of dancing around the cup.”
