Scottie Scheffler: Why has world number one stopped winning tournaments?

If wins are the only currency, both Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young have three on tour this season, while Wyndham Clark has a regular victory and a US Open.

But a glance at the FedEx Cup’s season-long rankings reassert Scheffler’s dominance.

Players are awarded points for where they finish in a tournament – and Scheffler has 795 more than Fitzpatrick in second.

That is because even though he has not win since January, he has done everything but.

Sunday’s second place at the 3M Open was his fifth runners-up finish – only the second golfer in 40 years to have at least five second places in a season on the PGA Tour.

He has also finished third on two occasions, and in the top five 11 times across 17 starts in 2026. It is a body of work that dwarfs anything put together by his rivals.

“I think I’ve been really close to winning some tournaments and that can be frustrating,” Scheffler said before the Scottish Open.

“At the same time, I’ve had some good results – a fourth and a second are not bad results by any means. Margins in golf are really small and I just keep trying to do my best.”

The lack of wins has not prevented him stretching his lead at the top of the Official World Golf rankings, external either.

In fact, the distance between him and second-placed Rory McIlroy is equivalent to between McIlroy and America’s Matt McCarty (in 67th).

Scheffler has been world number one since 21 May 2023 – nearly 166 weeks. Woods’ unbroken record stands at 281 weeks, between June 2005 and October 2010.

That intimidating record is still more than two years off for Scheffler, but current evidence suggests knocking him off top spot will be extraordinarily difficult.