Yes, it’s at a 20-man exhibition tournament in the offseason, but Scottie Scheffler added to his historic 2024 season with a ninth win as he ran away with the Hero World Challenge on Sunday in the Bahamas.
The Hero is Tiger Woods’ annual event at the Albany resort where many of the top players in the world play to raise money for the Tiger Woods Foundation. While Woods didn’t play this year as he recovers from another back surgery, the field included Ludvig Aberg, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala and Tom Kim, among others. And for the second year in a row, Scheffler cruised to a win in his final appearance before the 2025 season kicks off in Hawaii.
Scheffler, who played four rounds in 25 under par, entered Sunday with only a one-shot lead before opening with three birdies on the first four holes. He was able to then easily carry that four-shot lead throughout the afternoon with a final round 64 to hold off Kim (19-under) and Thomas (18-under).
Scheffler also did it while debuting a new putting grip, switching to a claw grip that puts more emphasis on the shoulders and less on the hands. Scheffler’s putting woes were a major issue in 2023 as he won just three events as world No. 1, and while his putting numbers improved to above average in his epic 2024 campaign, his stroke still cost him mightily at the U.S. Open and Open Championship.
“I’m always looking for little ways to improve,” Scheffler said, “It’s something that (putting coach) Phil (Kenyon) had mentioned to me last year when we first started working together. Over the last couple of months it’s something that we fiddled around with and figured this is a good week for me to kind of try things out.”
That putting stroke will be a big story in 2025, but for now, the focus remains on the cap it places on his historic 2024 campaign. Scheffler now has nine tournament wins, including the Masters, an Olympic gold medal, the Players Championship and the Tour Championship. All of the first eight wins were at either signature events, the FedEx Cup playoffs or the Olympics.
While greats like Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead won 10 or more tournaments in a year back in the 1940s and 1950s, reaching nine wins in a calendar year is rarified air in the modern era. Tiger Woods did it three times, including reaching 10 wins in 2000 and 2006, and Vijay Singh won nine tournaments in 2004. Now, Scheffler can join the club.
The next question for Scheffler will be how long he can keep this incredible three-year run as the game’s best player alive. The 2025 season begins Jan. 2 at The Sentry in Hawaii.
Required reading
- 2024 Hero World Challenge odds, expert picks, DFS: Scottie Scheffler is back for Tiger Woods’ tourney
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
