Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day
Today’s Topic: Scottie Scheffler (29 years old) — Up There with Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tiger Woods — a few comparisons and biographical tidbits
So far Scottie Scheffler has won 4 major championships — the Masters in 2022 and 2024, both PGA championship the British Open in 2025. And he is only 29 years old! Only three other players in history have accomplished this feat: Jack Niklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods.
On the other hand, Scheffler has just won just 4 championships so far. Niklaus went on to win a total of 18 and Woods 15 and Player 9.
He has been ranked number one in the world for 100 consecutive weeks. Not since Tiger Woods has a player been so dominant. Woods kept the number one position for 281 consecutive weeks between June 12, 2005 and October 30, 2010 and for 264 weeks between August 15, 1999 and September 4, 2004. Cumulatively, Woods held the number one position for 683 weeks. Number two is Greg Norman with 331 weeks. Number three is Dustin Johnson at 135 weeks and Number four is Rory McIlroy at 122.
The general theme of this series is that the more you know about the more things others care most about the greater your chance of a moment of shared joy with anyone you meet.
Today, a few more notes.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
ONLY PLAYER IN HISTORY TO HAVE WON ALL FOUR OF HIS FIRST FOUR MAJORS BY AT LEAST THREE STROKES
1. Only the third player in history to have won 3 major titles and 15 PGA by age 29. The others are Niklaus and Woods.
2. “The analytics website Data Gold has an index that ranks players’ peak stretches by strokes gained, which measures how well someone plays relative to the strength of the field. This season, Scheffler has set a new personal peak at 3.10, which means he has gained that many strokes on the competition not just over the course of a tournament, but per round.”
3. “If it seems like a completely absurd amount, that’s because it is. In fact, only one golfer over the last 30 years has topped it: Tiger Woods. At Woods’s peak stretch, he was at 3.89. That came in 2000, a year he won three majors, which he followed up with a fourth the following April for what became known as the “Tiger Slam.”
NB: “Tiger stands alone in the game of golf.” (Scheffler)
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE — SCHEFFLER HAS A LONG WAY TO GO
1. Nicklaus (1940 — ) “The Golden Bear” — “Along with his 18 victories Nicklaus finished as a runner-up in 19 major championships, which is also a record for any player…competed in 164 major tournaments, more than any other player, and finished with 73 PGA Tour victories, third behind Sam Snead (82) and Woods (82). He holds the record for the most top three finishes in the history of the PGA with a total of 167.”
2 Walter Hagen (1892–1969) nicknames: “Sir Walter” and “The Haig” — “Known as the “father of professional golf,” he brought publicity, prestige, big prize money, and lucrative endorsements to the sport….Hagen won the US Open twice, and in 1922 he became the first native-born American to win The British Open, and won the Claret Jug three more times. He also won the PGA Championship a record-tying five times…”
3. Ben Hogan (1912–1997), nicknames “The Hawk,” “Bantam Ben,” “The Wee Iceman,” author of the bible of golf — “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf.” “”Ben is more respected for the quality of his shots than any golfer ever in history and that includes Woods or Nicklaus — -nobody has been copied more than Ben Hogan and his book has been copied more than any book ever.”
NB: Gary Player (1935 — ) nicknames “The Black Knight” and “Mr. Fitness” — South African, the first non-American to win a career grand slam — also a golf course design architect with 400 design projects on five continents. “Player has also authored or co-written 36 books on golf instruction, design, philosophy, motivation and fitness.”
BIOGRAPHICAL TIDBITS — mother (Italian ancestry), father (German ancestry), ping pong, faith and family
1. Father; Korean war veteran, carpenter, stay-at-home dad. Mother: Chief Operating Officer at a law firm.
2. “Scheffler’s interest in golf began at age three, when his parents gave him a set of plastic clubs and ball. He practiced as a child by hitting ping-pong balls inside his home, curving the ball from one room to the next.”
3. “In 2025, Scheffler described being a professional golfer as “not a fulfilling life”, and stated that he would stop competing if golf began to affect his family life. He added: “I would say my greatest priorities are my faith and my family. Those come first for me. Golf is third in that order.”
NB: His greatest strength has been his approach shot. His greatest weakness has been his putting but he has turned this around. In general, known for his “unflappable demeanor,” “mental fortitude,” and consistency.
CONCLUSION — Any technical insights to share?
Scottie Scheffler Is the Most Dominant Golfer Since Tiger — and These Numbers Prove It
How Scottie Scheffler Obliterated the British Open
He’s the World’s Best Golfer — and He’s Finally Learned How to Putt
Scottie Scheffler Takes a Shot at the One Golf Riddle He Hasn’t Yet Solved
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_play
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claret_Jug
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
For the last four years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to sports, dance, fitness. Or the coolest thing you learned about Sports, Dance, of Fitness in your life — whether on the field, on the dance floor or in the gym, whether from a coach, a parent, a friend, or just your own experimentation.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or even change their life. It’s perhaps a chance to put into words something you have never articulated before. And to cement in your own memory something cool you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.