A bad news and a good one. Let’s start with the bad, which is already known: tomorrow, Thursday, the Hero World Challenge begins, Tiger’s tournament, but without Tiger, as he is not ready to compete, as he admitted a few days ago. And now the good news, which was also no secret: the current King of world golf, Scottie Scheffler, returns to competition at the Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas. The Sun King, one might say: World Number One, FedEx Cup winner, and Olympic gold medallist. He returns after two and a half months of absence, specifically since last September 29, the day the last round of the Presidents Cup was played.
How does the World Number One arrive after so much time out of the spotlight? Well, if we go by his words, it seems he has landed in the Bahamas with all his resources in good shape. In short, this man has been working hard on his game for several weeks. “Yes, I feel like I’m in good shape, I did a good job this preseason and yes, I’m excited to play four good days of competition here and then go home and prepare for the season to start. After taking a break, it usually takes me a while to make sure my swing is in the right place. I wouldn’t say they are bad habits, just making sure my swing is where I like it and then continuing to improve on the things I’ve been working on over the last few years,” he said today at a press conference.
And the Texan is not someone who usually plays games. If he says he’s in good shape, he’s in good shape. And we already know what that means, or has meant in recent years. If Scheffler is moderately sharp, it means he will most likely be very high on the leaderboard or fighting for victory. He also explained that he hasn’t brought any noticeable changes to his equipment or work method to this event, which is no surprise, considering how well things went for him in 2024.
Let’s remember that this Hero World Challenge is almost an exhibition tournament, although it distributes world ranking points, and this year twenty players are competing, all within the world’s top 40. And now let’s go with an interesting fact: in the first three editions of this tournament (years 2000, 2001, and 2002) Tiger Woods achieved, in this order, a second place, a first, and another second. Well, Scheffler has already played three editions (this week he plays for the fourth consecutive year) and so far has achieved, in this order, a second place, another second, and a first…
The problem with comparisons to Tiger is always the same: Woods’ records become impossible over time because the lad from Cypress achieved five wins and four second places in his first ten appearances in this tournament. Let’s see who can match that or even come close. Scheffler, certainly, hasn’t started his journey badly and, moreover, starts this week as the clear favourite unless proven otherwise.
