British Open champion Scottie Scheffler says comparisons to Tiger Woods 'a bit silly'

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — Another comparison between Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler surfaced during the final round of the British Open. This one wasn't about numbers or trophies, but a fist pump.

And it was for par.

Scheffler needed only one hour to expand his four-shot lead to seven shots with a steady diet of fairways and greens at Royal Portrush on Sunday, along with three birdie putts. But he missed his tee shot on the par-3 sixth and his chip was weak, leaving him a 15-foot par putt.

Scheffler fiercely pumped his fist when it dropped, evoking memories of Woods and his 15-shot win at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open.

Woods had a 12-foot par putt on the 16th hole of that final round, and it was the most emotion he showed all day when he made it. He wanted a clean card and wound up going his final 26 holes bogey-free. Woods was so utterly dominant that his only competition came from himself.

That's how it felt with Scheffler when he won the claret jug for the third leg of the career Grand Slam.

Scheffler went 32 holes without a bogey until he took two shots to get out of a fairway bunker on No. 8 and made double bogey. What stood out to Scheffler in his four-shot victory was the lack of bogeys, the DNA of his dominance.

“To only have one double — really one over-par hole in the last 36 holes of a major championship — that's how you're able to win these tournaments,” he said.

He won the British Open by four shots. He won the PGA Championship in May by five shots. He won by four in the 2024 Masters. Scheffler was five shots ahead on the final hole in his first Masters win in 2022 when he four-putted while simply trying to finish.

There are plenty of numbers to consider, starting with his position at No. 1 in the world. No one has held it longer since Woods.

Scheffler and Woods are the only players in the last 50 years to win two majors in the same year by at least four shots. Researchers with time on their hands at the PGA Tour discovered that Scheffler and Woods each went 1,197 days between winning their first and fourth majors.

Enough of the comparisons, Scheffler said.

“I still think they're a bit silly,” he said. “Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf.”

For majors alone, a better comparison would be with Rory McIlroy. He also won four majors in three years, including two of them in 2014. McIlroy won a U.S. Open and a PGA Championship by eight shots, the latter a record margin.

And then he went 11 years without a major. Greatness in golf is also about longevity.

Scheffler won for the fourth time this year and now has 20 victories worldwide. He has won 11 straight times with the 54-hole lead.

The 29 year old from Texas was introduced as champion golfer of the year, a title the R&A has used for more than a century. Scheffler at this rate might be champion golfer of his generation.

And to think he was slowed at the start of the year recovering from a puncture wound on his right hand that he got while trying to cut ravioli with a wine glass.

The year's top highlight still might be McIlroy winning the Masters amid tense drama to finally complete the Grand Slam. That was his third win of the season, following The Players Championship and Pebble Beach. McIlroy, however, sounded almost dismissive about them Sunday evening.

“I also had the three wins when Scottie wasn't quite on his game,” he said.

Also driving the comparisons to Woods are high praise from just about everyone who has had to face Scheffler since that first win in 2022.

“He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to,” McIlroy said.

“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,” Xander Schauffele said. “You can’t even say he’s on a run. He’s just been killing it for over two years now.”

Any hesitation about comparisons — besides the 15-4 tally in majors, as Scheffler is quick to point out — is their style of play. Woods was as dynamic as he was relentless, especially with recovery shots. Scheffler doesn't have that many because he's rarely out of position.

Woods was groomed for stardom when he appeared on “The Mike Douglas Show” at age 2. Scheffler never cared about anything other than playing golf and getting better at it.

“He doesn’t care to be a superstar. He’s not transcending the game like Tiger did. He’s not bringing it to a non-golf audience necessarily,” Jordan Spieth said. “He doesn’t want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do, corporately, anything like that.”

He works. He competes. He wins. That's what Woods did, and that's what matters to Scheffler.

“I don’t focus on that kind of stuff,” Scheffler said of the comparisons. "That’s not what motivates me. I’m not motivated by winning championships. I don’t look at the beginning of the year and just say, ‘I want to win X amount of tournaments.’ I don’t do that.

“When I wake up to practice, what motivates me is getting to live out my dream,” he said. “I get to play professional golf, and I feel like I’m called to do it to the best of my ability.”

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Scottie Scheffler of the United States, celebrates winning the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

The Scoreboard shows congratulations to Scottie Scheffler of the United States after he won the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Scottie Scheffler of the United States kisses the trophy as he poses for photographers with the Claret Jug after winning the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Scottie Scheffler of the United States celebrates after winning the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Scottie Scheffler of the United States speak at a press conference after winning the British Open golf championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive on Wednesday warned that it would take action against any “unjustified measures” after the U.S. State Department barred five Europeans it accuses of pressuring U.S. technology firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.

The Europeans were characterized by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations. They include the former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media rules, Thierry Breton.

Breton, a businessman and former French finance minister, clashed last year on social media with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump in the months leading up to the U.S. election.

The European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive branch and which supervises tech regulation in Europe, said that it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions” and that it has requested clarification about the move. French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned it.

“If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” the commission said in a statement, without elaborating.

Rubio wrote in an X post on Tuesday that “for far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.”

“The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” he posted.

The European Commission countered that “the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments.”

“Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination,” it said.

Macron said that the visa restrictions “amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty,” he posted on X.

Macron said that the EU’s digital rules were adopted by “a democratic and sovereign process” involving all member countries and the European Parliament. He said that the rules “ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country.”

He underlined that “the rules governing the European Union’s digital space are not meant to be determined outside Europe.”

Breton and the group of Europeans fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.

The four others are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index.

Rubio said the five had advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and U.S. companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.

The action to bar them from the U.S. is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or penalties.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Sarah Rogers, the U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, called Breton the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.

Breton responded on X by noting that all 27 EU member countries voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.

Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a news conference at the State Department, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)