It’s a curious thing, staring at greatness.

Of course, greatness should be celebrated. And in golf, unlike in team sports, accomplishments can only be traced back to one person. 

Over the last two years, golf’s greatness — minus the big tip to Rory McIlroy and his Grand Slam effort in April — can only be pointed toward one man: Scottie Scheffler. 

Scheffler won the Open Championship by four shots over Harris English after a 3-under 68 at Royal Portrush on Sunday. It was his second major triumph of the year, after also winning the PGA Championship.

Are we seeing an epic run? Or are we on the doorstep of all-time greatness?  

“I kid you not, I have worked since I was two or three years old to have a chance to play professional golf for a living, and now I’ve been able to win tournaments I’ve just dreamed of playing in. It’s an amazing feeling, and I’m so grateful to be able to live out my dreams,” Scheffler said Sunday.  

Jack Nicklaus, the grandest of major winners on the men’s side, won 10 of his 18 majors after he turned 30. Scheffler, in a delicious spin of irony, turns 30 on the Sunday of next year’s U.S. Open — the only major he needs to complete the career Grand Slam himself.

Ask anyone else who tees it up alongside Scheffler and they’re thinking, ‘Well, darn, what are we going to do?’

“I don’t think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here’s Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance. You can’t even say he’s on a run. He’s just been killing it for over two years now,” said Xander Schauffele, the defending Open champion. “He’s a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us.” 

Scheffler was 3 under for his first five holes in the finale. The door opened a crack after he made a double bogey on the par-4 8th, but he immediately added another birdie on No. 9. His final birdie of the week came on the par-5 12th, and he was steady as ever coming home.  

“It’s taken a lot of work — not only a lot of work but it takes a lot of patience. It’s a high level of focus over 72 holes of a tournament. This was, I felt like, one of my best performances mentally,” Scheffler said.  

“To only have one double (bogey) — really only one over-par hole in the last 36 holes of a major championship — that’s how you’re able to win these tournaments, just being able to do stuff like that. It takes a high level of focus.” 

There were plenty of chasers, including English and last week’s winner Chris Gotterup, who finished solo third. Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick and Haotong Li all finished tied for fourth at 11 under, a touchdown behind.  

Li, who played with Scheffler on Sunday, knew it was going to end this way 24 hours earlier.  

“Four shots behind, kind of like play for second, especially (playing) with world No. 1,” Li said Saturday night.  

One of those other chasers was Canadian Corey Conners. Conners made the cut on the number at 1 over through 36 holes but had a tremendous weekend, shooting back-to-back rounds of 5 under.  

Conners finished tied for 10th and in the process became the first Canadian male to notch at least two top-10s at majors in a single season (Brooke Henderson has accomplished that feat five times since 2015) since Mike Weir in 2006. Conners, who also finished tied for 19th at the PGA Championship, was on pace for another excellent major finish at the U.S. Open if he wasn’t forced to withdraw due to injury.  

Conners made five birdies in a six-hole stretch in his back nine Sunday and was back to his normal ball-striking self through the week, gaining nearly four shots on the field in strokes gained: approach. He’s set himself up for another excellent major-championship run in 2026.  

“That’s what we’re all working for,” Conners said. “It takes some special golf. Didn’t quite have it the first couple days here.  

“I feel like I’ve got a lot of confidence in my game and feel like I belong in contention.” 

The only problem, of course, is that to win a major he’ll have to top Scheffler. It’s not unlike Weir himself winning the Masters in 2003 against peak Tiger Woods, and it certainly can be done. Scheffler doesn’t win every time he tees it up, but of late it feels that way — this marked Scheffler’s 11th straight top-10 finish and within that run he’s had four wins, including two majors.

“I think all you can do is admire what he does and how he does it,” McIlroy said. “I think what he does is one thing, but how he does it is another. He just goes about his business, doesn’t do anything overly flamboyant, but he’s the best at executing in the game right now.” 

The north-star number was set by Nicklaus at 18 majors won. But there are all the other Woods statistics and accomplishments worth peeking at as they relate to Scheffler now, too. Of note — and somewhat wildly — the number of days between both Woods’ and Scheffler’s first and fourth major titles was exactly the same: 1,197 days.  

To pass McIlroy — a worthwhile contemporary — and his major record, Scheffler needs only to win two of the next 40 majors (one of which needs to be the U.S. Open). If he does that, consider him automatically a top-10 golfer of all time.  

Statistically, Scheffler continues to hit the ball better than anyone on the planet. And he’s found something with his putter as well — long considered his biggest weakness. This week at Royal Portrush he was first in strokes gained: approach and second in strokes gained: putting.  

So, he’s playing better than anyone and he’s also got a better mental outlook on golf, and life, than anyone else. It’s a heck of a combination to know you have to beat if you’re also a PGA Tour golfer.  

“I think it’s more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you’ve seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport,” said Jordan Spieth, who has a tight Texas connection to Scheffler. “I don’t think anybody is like him.” 

And no one is winning like him these days, either.