Scottie Scheffler compiles career's worth of achievement through dominant, one-of-a-kind 2024 season

There has never been another golf season like the one Scottie Scheffler put together in 2024. There have been better seasons and ones in which golfers put together longer lists of accomplishments -- more major championships, more PGA Tour events won. But in terms of the unique nature of an entire year, nothing like what Scheffler accomplished has ever happened before.

Let's start with the wins.

Scheffler totaled eight overall victories with the sport's two primary bodies each recognizing seven. He won seven tournaments on the PGA Tour, though the Tour Championship is not counted by the Official World Golf Rankings. He also captured an Olympic gold medal in Paris, which the OWGR acknowledges as a victory while the PGA Tour does not.

Whatever number you want to put next to Scheffler's name, no golfer has accomplished a similar feat over the last 17 years and only two other players have done it at all over the course of a single season in the last 41 years.

Seven or more PGA Tour wins (since 1983)

"It's great," said Scheffler of his win total. "Still don't understand why the Olympics doesn't count. That's a bit weird to me. I think that's part of the greed that goes on in your brain. You say, 'seven,' I'm like, 'I won eight.' I won the Olympics in the middle of the year, and for some reason, it doesn't count as an official PGA Tour win. It counts the same as -- no offense to the Hero -- but it counts the same as the Hero World Challenge in the grand scheme of things.

"But overall, it's been a great year. I'm proud of the results. It's something I try not to focus too much on, but at the end of the day, being able to win tournaments is a great feeling, and it's what we work towards. And to be able to have as many wins as I have this year is really special."

Scheffler won't praise himself, but the guy who finished T4 at the Tour Championship -- 44-year-old Adam Scott -- used the T-word when referencing what Scheffler did in 2024.

"It's been pretty incredible, from really starting at Bay Hill, I guess," Scott said. "I think it is on par with those great years of Tiger's. I think it's very hard today for anyone to separate themselves as much as Scottie has. I don't think we've seen that in a long time. I think it's harder to do it today."

One of the more incredible stats from Scheffler's year: In 20 worldwide starts, he had 17 top 10 finishes. Seventeen! He did not miss a single cut, and 13 of those top 10s were top fives. He put himself in position to win a lot, and he cashed in.

"I think his consistency, his attitude," said Rory McIlroy, who finished T9 at the Tour Championship, 14 shots behind Scheffler. "I feel like he just sort of brings the same demeanor to the course every single day no matter what position on the leaderboard he's in. He's just amazing to just watch the way he manages himself around the golf course. Yeah, we'll look back on 2024, and it's obviously one of the best individual years that a player has had for a long time."

Scheffler did not have any wins entering into March. Then he won eight of his next 15 tournaments, including his second Masters and second Players Championship. His gold medal win in August is where the season started to get unique. Scheffler is the first male golfer to win a gold medal and a major in the same year. And that's just the beginning of his unique combinations of victories in 2024.

Scheffler did all of this while spending every week as the No. 1 player in the world and entering every tournament as the favorite, often a heavy one as short as 5-1 or even lower.

"I don't even know where to start," said Justin Thomas, who finished T14 at the Tour Championship. "Obviously, [Scheffler's] putting has been so impressive in terms of literal what part of his game. But I just think how well he plays when he's the guy to beat every single week. I don't think people understand how hard that is to do when you're expected to win, when you're the favorite to win, when every single thing you're doing is being looked at, good and bad, on the golf course, and how hard it is to get in your own little zone and own little world and truly just quiet the noise. 

"It's something that is just as much of a skill as being able to hit a driver in the fairway or an iron on line. He's clearly figured that out very well."

Now, let's talk about the money.

A record $29.2 million earned in the regular season (breaking his own record from a year ago). Another $8 million from the Comcast Business Top 10, which rewards regular-season play on the PGA Tour. And then the big one: a $25 million check for winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup on Sunday at East Lake. That totals over $62 million won -- about seven times what Jack Nicklaus made over the course of his entire career -- the vast majority of which was earned in just six months.

For a moment, it didn't look like Scheffler was going to cash that last $25 million. He teetered for a bit Sunday at East Lake before righting the ship with three consecutive birdies in the middle of his round that put playing partner Collin Morikawa on his back foot and the FedEx Cup out of reach.

"Just nothing fazes him," Morikawa said. "Whether I was close in gaining some ground or he was gaining ground, it didn't change how he walked or how he played or how he went through every shot. That's something to learn. I think his mental game is a lot stronger than a lot of people know."

The statistics were exceptional, too.

Scheffler put together one of the great seasons in recent history even from a raw data standpoint. He gained over 3.0 strokes per round (adjusted for field strength) across the tournaments in which he played, according to Data Golf. Though the exact post-Tour Championship numbers have not been officially released, a full year of maintaining over 3.0 SG (which Scottie accomplished) has not been achieved at least since 2010. Some of that was because he zeroed out his putting (he was an average PGA Tour putter in 2024), but the approach play (over 1.5 strokes gained per round!) was on another planet.

What Morikawa said is also true: Scheffler has never been more in control mentally. It's his secret sauce and his greatest gift. He wants to win the right amount. He's not defined by it, but he dives into competition earnestly, every chance he gets. He holds the tension between wanting to win too little and wanting it too much so perfectly.

"So, this week [at the Tour Championship], my goal to start the week was just to have the right attitude and use what I feel like is my best strength, and that's my mind," Scheffler said. "That's what [caddie Ted Scott] reminded me of at the beginning of the week, and that was really just the thing that I focused on the most was just staying in it mentally, and it paid off."

Then there's everything else.

The hoopla around the Masters -- conversation that Scheffler might leave for the birth of his child, though the due date was not until several weeks out. The arrest at the PGA Championship -- when he stretched in a jail cell before being released only to score 66 en route to nearly leading at the halfway point at Valhalla.

When you look at the last year in totality, it was a one of one season. There has literally never been anything like it, and given all the unique circumstances and events, it's doubtful that there ever will be again.

"I feel like I've lived almost a full lifetime in this one year," Scheffler said. "It's been nuts. I don't know, I think it just always comes back to my faith. I think that's the thing that just keeps me grounded, keeps me in the right frame of mind."

A full lifetime in this one year is a great way to contextualize Scheffler's accomplishments given he achieved more than most golfers ever will ins ix months. He basically had Hideki Matsuyama's career between March 1 and Sept. 1, and he did it in the most Scottie way imaginable: deflecting praise, talking about process, rocking wired headphones and generally maintaining a joviality that is uncommon in professional golf.

That was on display perfectly during an interview after his Tour Championship victory, the conclusion of one of the greatest seasons in modern golf history. 

What is the simplest way to sum up your year?

Scottie Scheffler: "I mean, pretty fun. Yeah."