“I still think they’re a bit silly,” Scottie Scheffler said after winning The Open Championship 2025, downplaying the growing comparisons to Tiger Woods. His latest triumph at Royal Portrush, where he won by four shots and at one point led by seven, cemented a historic season. Scheffler is now just one U.S. Open away from the career Grand Slam, and fittingly, that final round in 2026 falls on his 30th birthday. He’s also held the World No. 1 ranking for 148 consecutive weeks, the longest streak since Woods. His calm demeanor and even celebratory fist pump on the sixth green echoed a familiar greatness, but Scheffler stays clear-eyed. “Tiger stands alone in the game of golf… he was inspirational for me growing up,” he said. Still, with the spotlight intensifying and legacy talk swirling, it’s worth asking how he’s handling it all.

That’s where NBC Golf reporter Rich Lerner steps in. Speaking on the latest YouTube episode of The Dan Patrick Show, Lerner reflected on Scheffler’s humility and the wisdom behind not chasing greatness for the sake of it—an attitude that, in Lerner’s eyes, could help him avoid the very trap that eventually led to the unraveling of golf giants like Woods and Phil Mickelson.

“He can only be who he is,” Lerner said. “And okay, that doesn’t seem to be enough for people.” Despite winning two majors and dominating the PGA Tour, Lerner noted how Scheffler still faces relentless questions: “Scotty, do you think you can win the career slam? Scotty, do you think you can catch Tiger?” But Scheffler, Lerner believes, has found a rare clarity: “This is not the be-all, end-all,” he explained. “If you get on that hamster wheel, it’s at your peril.”

Lerner pointed out that Scheffler is focusing on something greater than just wins and trophies. “If you have not tended to what’s important in your life—that personal stuff—at some point the weight of all this, the expectations, the roaring chorus of the never satisfied… all of that will get to you.” He continued, “No amount of wins can fill whatever hole you might have inside. And with due respect, I think we saw evidence of this in the last 30 years with the two previous greatest players in the sport, in Tiger and Phil.”

And it is true. Tiger Woods, once the face of invincibility, has faced a series of personal and professional hurdles. His devastating injuries derailed what could have been a seamless road to 100 PGA Tour wins. He was last seen on course in 2024, trying his best to make a solid run, but that didn’t quite work out. He withdrew from the 2024 Genesis Invitational, finished 60th at the Masters, and missed the cut at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. And now, much of Woods’s energy is tied up in TGL, which, while forward-thinking, requires massive logistical involvement and diverts attention from competitive play.

Describing Scheffler as “something of a holy warrior,” Lerner highlighted the 2024 Masters champion’s devout mindset: “He said, ‘I’ve been called to do this.’” But that spiritual grounding doesn’t mean a lack of competitive fire. “Scheffler burns to win,” Lerner emphasized. “He’s just not going to burn down the house in the process.” And as his quiet dominance stretches into history-making territory, it’s not just fans and analysts taking notice.

Scottie Scheffler’s dominance forced Phil Mickelson to change his stance on the PGA Tour Pro

Phil Mickelson’s relationship with Scottie Scheffler has shifted dramatically over the course of the season. What began with subtle jabs—like his January prediction that Scheffler wouldn’t win again in 2025 before the Ryder Cup—has evolved into open praise. At the time, Scheffler was recovering from a palm injury and had gone five straight events without a win, raising questions about his form.

But Scheffler quickly flipped the narrative by capturing the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in May, a week when Mickelson missed the cut. The six-time major winner acknowledged his misfire and congratulated Scheffler, signaling a noticeable change in tone.

That shift became more evident after Scheffler’s dominant win at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, where he finished 17-under-par, four shots ahead of Harris English and 11 shots ahead of Mickelson, who tied for 56th. The victory marked Scheffler’s third leg of the career Grand Slam, leaving only the U.S. Open. Mickelson took to X, posting, “Congrats to Scottie Scheffler on another impressive victory. So many iron shots were amazing, and what a putting performance.”

When Kevin Kisner resurfaced Mickelson’s earlier failed prediction, Lefty didn’t flinch. “I’ve never been afraid to make mistakes… I’ve already acknowledged I was wrong on this,” Mickelson wrote, also pointing out how fear of scrutiny drives many away from competition. As Mickelson tees it up at LIV Golf UK, Scheffler’s continued dominance has forced even his early-season critics to take notice.