$130million Scottie Scheffler smashes through Tiger Woods decades-long prize money record

Tiger Woods has sat at the top of numerous golf lists and rankings in years gone by.

The legend has a fistful of impressive records to his name, including the highest number of PGA Tour victories (shared with Sam Snead), the highest number of consecutive cuts made, and the most consecutive weeks at the top of the world rankings.

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Woods has made a pretty penny playing golf, too, and his career earnings of $120,999,166 on the Tour is a record.

But it’s one he no longer owns after Scottie Scheffler‘s three-shot victory at the Tour Championship gave him a second victory in the event in three years.

With it he claimed the $10million winners check, and the season-ending FedEx Cup, also for the second time.

Two stars chasing Tiger Woods career earnings mark

Scheffler and McIlroy started the week within striking distance of Tiger’s $120,999,166 career mark, despite ​a dramatic difference in victories.

Woods won 82 times on the Tour. Scheffler, meanwhile, now has 22 victories at 30-years-old.

Crucially, Scheffler’s $10m check at East Lake, means he now stands almost $9million clear of Woods – who was among the first to congratulate him with a post to social media.

“To come from behind and be able to win tournament is a really cool feeling,” Scheffler said.

“There were a lot of talented guys in front of me on the leaderboard,” Scheffler said after beating out Viktor Hovland (-13) and Ryan Gerard (-12).

“I was fortunate to get off to a good start and put myself in the mix. It’s a gift to be out here on tour. Each and every day I’m going to try to give it my best.”

McIlroy boasts 45 wins, and after his share of fourth place earned him just over $1.7m he is now just $1.4million behind Woods.

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One or two more birdies would have also seen the back-to-back Masters champion overtake Woods – who does still stand clear of both McIlroy (6) and Scheffler (4) on the all-time majors list with 15.

When did Scottie Scheffler overtake Tiger Woods?

Ahead of the tournament, Scheffler was quick to reflect on the reasoning for him going clear of Woods – thanks to the stratospheric prize pots the players on the PGA Tour are playing for.

“You’re kind ​of comparing apples and oranges,” the American said Wednesday, of the opportunity to move top.

“But I think a lot of success we’ve had out here, especially when you look ​at it from a financial perspective, Tiger has a lot to do with that.

“Like I said, it’s apples and ⁠oranges. The reason our purses are so large today is because of the influence and impact that Tiger had on the game.

“I wouldn’t really consider ​that a Tiger record being broken. I think it’s more — I think it just shows one of the many effects he had on the game ​of golf in a positive way.

“Like the Tour is only getting more competitive as it goes forward, and I think that’s part of kind of how he played the game.”

Scheffler might not see the all-time money list as a record to break, but he now sits top of it after another super season.

He may not have added another major to his total of four, but he remains just a US Open away from completing the career Grand Slam.

But his Tour Championship win joins the FedEx St Jude Championship two weeks ago and The American Express at the start of the year to give him three tournament victories this year.