Remember how Tiger Woods took over the PGA Tour’s all-time career money list on February 13, 2000? The 82-time PGA Tour winner has held the position for 26 years through his major wins, injuries, and time off the course. The streak, however, seems to be at its final stretch. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler‘s win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship has left him just $1 million short of Woods, and reporters wanted to know how it felt to be this close to history. Scheffler’s answer, once again, was to talk himself out of the comparison.

“And like you said, I mean, that has a lot to do with the purses and all that. You know, I’m not really too close to him, I think, in terms of career-wise,” he said speaking to the media.

“No, I mean, Tiger did a lot for the game of golf, and he put us in a position where we were able to earn some pretty good stuff financially, and so that’s something we’re very grateful for. You know, Tiger’s contributions to the game, I think when you look at where the purses were at before he came out on tour and where they’re at now, it’s a pretty stark difference. You know, we’re very thankful for his contributions to the game, and hopefully we’ll see him back out here competing again soon.”

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Although it’s not the first time Scheffler has been compared to the Big Cat in terms of career trajectory or earnings, the speculation is stronger this time. His big win at Memphis pushed his career earnings to $119,964,411, leaving him just over $1 million behind Woods’ all-time joint tour mark of $120,999,166. And yet, Scheffler is quick to deny it.

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Scheffler has denied the comparisons before too. After winning the 2025 Open Championship, he called the Woods comparison “silly” and pointed out that he had “one-fourth” of Woods’ total majors. He credits the money gap to purse inflation rather than a gap in his own game. Reports highlight that average PGA Tour purses have roughly doubled since Woods’ prime.

Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996 and built his total across 364 PGA Tour starts, 82 wins, and 15 majors, of which roughly $28 million came from the major championships. Whereas Scheffler turned pro in 2018, he has had just 163 starts to collect 21 wins and four majors. That turns out to be around $735,000 earned per start, against Woods’ roughly $332,000.

Moreover, Jack Nicklaus makes the conversation stronger. Golf’s leading major champion with 18 titles and 73 PGA Tour wins across 44 seasons, retired with career earnings of $5.7 million. Simply put, purses were small in his era. His best single season in 1972 paid him $316,911. Several Signature Events today hand the winner a single Wednesday pro-am.

Moreover, Scottie Scheffler’s acknowledgment of Tiger Woods traces back to the shift Woods triggered the moment he turned pro. Nike signed Woods, their first golfer, to a five-year contract for $40 million in 1996. Since then, sponsors, broadcasters, and tournament purses followed the rise.

Now with that, Scottie Scheffler is looking forward to the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship left this month, both with no cut and eight-figure prize purses. If he continues his dominance, he could pass Tiger Woods within weeks. Going by his answer in Memphis, he will keep thanking Woods for it as well.