Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda are the biggest things in golf for a reason

The heights they reach have become comical, two golfers taking over their respective sports with such dominance that – at least at this point – it’s hard to imagine anyone beating them.

Nelly Korda just won her fifth straight start and finished with a major, the Chevron Championship. Scottie Scheffler just won four of five starts with a Masters in the middle. The men’s and women’s world number 1s are no longer just the best players in their sport. They will be two of the best ever. It’s gotten to the point where Scheffler was playfully asked this week in Hilton Head if the two of them would compete in a competition.

“I don’t know, man,” he joked, “I think if it’s a competition, she’s got me pretty beat at this point. Five wins in a row. She had that T16 at the beginning of the year, which was just awful. I can’t believe she did that.”

And with their big successes has come a fun little trend: who can post the most ridiculous, impressive stats or notes to quantify how incredible their 2024 golf has been.

“The best five weeks since this.”

“Most of the successes have been achieved since then.”

It’s become so extreme and entertaining that we decided: let’s make a list of the most impressive and telling notes about Scheffler and Korda’s historic runs.

1. In their last 10 combined starts, Korda and Scheffler have defeated 1,163 golfers, per Monday Q Info. Only one golfer didn’t beat either. Stephen Jaeger avoided a playoff and defeated Scheffler by one stroke at the Houston Open after his putt on 18 was missed. For Korda, it is the first time since Annika Sorsenstam (2004, 2005) that someone has won five LPGA events in a row. Scheffler’s series of WW-T2-WW is only the fifth series of five T2s or better in the past 30 years. Tiger Woods did it eight times in a row twice, and on another occasion seven in a row. Scheffler has matched Vijay Singh’s 2004 run.

2. Korda and Scheffler became the second pair of world No. 1 players in both men’s and women’s golf to win majors in consecutive weeks (since the inception of the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking). Tiger and Lorena Ochoa did it in consecutive weeks at the Women’s British Open and PGA Championship in 2007, according to The Athletics contributor Justin Ray.

3. In the last 42 days, Scheffler has made $16.3 million. That’s the second-most earned in a PGA Tour season, and he did it in just five events. That means Ted Scott, Scheffler’s caddy, has made about $1.78 million this year, putting him 45th on the 2024 PGA Tour money list, ahead of Rory McIlroy.

Scheffler is chasing his own record. Last season he won $21.04 million.

4. It’s not just Scheffler’s wins. It’s his two years of historic consistency. Scheffler has finished in the top-3 in 23 of his last 51 events. That beats almost the entire field 43 percent of the time. For reference, Xander Schauffele is ranked #2 on DataGolf and is one of the most consistent players in men’s pro golf not named Scheffler. Schauffele’s RBC Heritage betting odds predicted him to finish in the top five 30 percent of the time. For one tournament. Scheffler finished in the top three almost one and a half times faster.

5. Scottie’s lead in the world rankings over No. 2 Rory McIlroy is greater than McIlroy’s lead over No. 788 Tiger Woods. Scheffler has double the OWGR points as McIlroy, with 690 total points for an average of 15 points, compared to McIlroy’s 338, for an average of 7.4.

The gap between world No. 1 Nelly Korda and world No. 2 Lilia Vu in the Rolex Women’s Golf Rankings is as wide as the gap between Vu and 185th-ranked player Auston Kim.

6. Scheffler has twice as many rounds of 64 or lower (4) this season than rounds of even par (2). Even par is his worst score in 2024 (round 2 at the Houston Open and Masters). He hasn’t shot above par since a 3-over 73 at the Tour Championship in August.

7. With her victory at the Chevron Championship, Korda became the third LPGA player to win five tournaments in five starts, joining Nancy Lopez (1978) and Sorenstam. After withdrawing from this week’s LA Championship, Korda could earn a record sixth victory at the Founders Cup (May 9-12 in Clifton, NJ).

8. No American golfer had won five tournaments in a single LPGA season since Juli Inkster in 1999. Korda won only five in consecutive events before May.

9. Korda leads the LPGA’s 2024 season-long points race with 2,702 CME Globe points. Lydia Ko is in second place and has not even earned half of that. Korda has already earned enough points to finish third each of the past two years.

10. Korda, 25, became the youngest American player to win a second LPGA major since Juli Inkster (who was 23) in 1984 (via Justin Ray). Inkster went on to win seven from 1984 to 2002. Meg Mallon is the only other American to win four majors in the 21st century. Korda is halfway there.

The only good news for the rest of the PGA and LPGA Tours? Scheffler and Korda have decided to take this week off.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletics; Photos: Andy Lyons, Andrew Redington / Getty Images)