Scottie Scheffler and his habit of consistency: The 2023 Players Championship winner's form explored
Scottie Scheffler added another title to his cabinet, proving why he is one of the best golfers at the moment. The 26-year-old went on to win the 2023 Players Championship by a margin of five strokes over Tyrrell Hatton.
Scheffler has been in some red-hot form since the beginning of 2022. Last year, he won four titles: Waste Management Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Technologies MatchPlay, and his biggest victory, The Masters Championship.
As a result, he ascended to the World No. 1 in OWGR. The Texas native was awarded the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the year for all his achievements.
Including his four victories, Scottie Scheffler made nine top-10 finishes in the 2021-2022 season. Over the past couple of seasons, the young golfer has made 15 top-10 finishes, including six wins.
Scheffler is developing a habit on the PGA Tour, and a very good one, of being consistent. His closest rival right now, Jon Rahm, has made 12 top-10 finishes in the same time duration.
Before the Players Championship, Scheffler successfully defended the WM Phoenix Open last month. Only thrice since the beginning of 2022, Scheffler has failed to make the cut. The way Scheffler is playing this year, he looks like a favorite in every event.
There hasn't even been one in 2023 that Scheffler has finished out of the top 12. His worst finish in the ongoing season came at the Genesis Invitational, a T-12. It's not wrong to say that Scheffler is the man to beat at the moment.
Race to the top gets interesting as Scottie Scheffler returns to No. 1
With a win at the 2023 Players Championship, Scottie Scheffler made his return to the World No. 1, displacing Jon Rahm, another golfer in hot form.
The 2023 season began with Rory McIlroy as the World No. 1, who reached the top position after two years. Rahm continued his stellar form and eventually reached the numero-uno position.
Scottie Scheffler became the new No. 1 after successfully defending the WM Phoenix Open before Rahm again snatched the top position with a win at Riviera Golf Club.
Rahm had a shocker outing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he finished at T-39, proving that he's a human too. He got sick at TPC Sawgrass and missed the competition. With Scheffler triumphing in the event, he is back at the top.
It has been an interesting three-way fight to the top as only Rahm, McIlroy and Scheffler have been at the top since July 2021. If we go a little back, only four have been the World No. 1 since July 2020. The fourth is Dustin Johnson, who is now a member of LIV Golf. Such has been the dominance of the three players.
While Rahm and Scheffler have been remarkable in 2023, Rory is still struggling to find form this year. Since his win in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Northern Irish star hasn't been that impressive. The only silver lining for him was a T-2 finish at the Arnold Palmer classic where everyone thought he had finally found the touch but then missed the cut in Players.
Jon Rahm is inarguably the best player right now, but Scheffler isn't far from the Spaniard. It will be interesting to see how the race to the top unfolds in the coming weeks.