For all the victories and all the scoring prowess and all the achievements compiled by Scottie Scheffler in 2024, here is perhaps his most magical act: He made Xander Schauffele disappear.

We are kidding, of course, but the sentiment is serious.

Schauffele was so utterly dominating in 2024 – presuming, of course, you agree that seven wins, one of them being the Masters and another being THE PLAYERS Championship, plus a FedExCup trophy and an Olympic gold medal can be defined as dominating – that it is easy to overlook what a brilliant season Schauffele had.

Xander Schauffele caps an incredible year by winning two majors including the Open Championship at Royal Troon.

For some, it might be a case of que, sera sera – whatever will be, will be – and there likely will continue to be more gushing about Scheffler and how he earned US$29.2 million in official money and hauled in US$62.6m when you factor in the bonus money he bagged as well. There will be talk of it being one of the greatest seasons in PGA TOUR history, with good reason, most certainly, and it is fully expected that the good-natured and hugely popular Texan will earn his third consecutive PGA TOUR Player of the Year honour.

So salute and applaud as you see fit. But at some point, hopefully the celebration will fade enough so that proper respect will be paid to Schauffele. And the 30-year-old truly deserves it.

We could suggest that it is an unprecedented era we are in right now, with Scheffler being the dominant No. 1 player in the world and Schauffele being a pretty unflappable No. 2. The former you know about; the guess is, you might not be as in tune with the latter, so here’s spinning the spotlight toward Schauffele.

While he was widely trumped in the win column – only two to Scheffler’s seven – you can’t say Schauffele didn’t save his best for the biggest events. Just two months after winning his first major, the PGA Championship in May, Schauffele put in an impressive performance at Royal Troon to win the Open Championship.

Schauffele won the 2024 PGA Championship.

Now two major championships in the same season is pretty stout stuff. It’s just the 14th time in the last 45 years that it has happened (four being authored by Tiger Woods) and if you need proof that we’re in a special era, consider that only once since 1980 has a player won two majors in a year and not been named Player of the Year. That would be Nick Faldo in 1990 and the reason was simple – he wasn’t a PGA TOUR member.

Thus, presuming Schauffele loses out to Scheffler for Player of the Year honours, it will be a dubious distinction for sure. Still, his season had so many highlights that you need to keep reminding yourself that he doesn’t deserve to be a footnote.

In 15 of his 21 starts, Schauffele finished top 10, twice being second, once landing in third.

The biggest issue was, he was unable to muster much magic in the “Signature Events” as he finished T-25 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, T-18 at the RBC Heritage, T-8 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and T-13 at the Travelers Championship, each of them a Scheffler win.

It left a sour taste in Schauffele’s mouth and even a superior performance in the majors couldn’t allow him to fend off the Scheffler juggernaut. Still, it is fair to admire what Schauffele did in the majors – eighth at Augusta, first at the PGA, T-7 in the U.S. Open, and victorious at the Open. For his 16 rounds in the majors, Schauffele was a robust 32-under par, with Scheffler just 17-under.

It needs to be underscored too, that in his eight U.S. starts, Schauffele has finished top 10 seven times and batting 0.500 lifetime (15-for-30) with top-10 spots in the majors.

Schauffele and Scheffler share the top two spots in the world of golf.

If you want further proof that Schauffele’s brilliance is being overshadowed by a competitor who is doing historic stuff, there’s this as well: Currently second in the Official World Golf Ranking, Schauffele’s point total of 11.4671 (as of 1 Sept) would be enough to earn him No. 1 at a similar point in three of the last five years.

Read that again, savour it, and hopefully it provides a truer sense of this remarkable consistent talent.

Ask the 30-year-old Schauffele about the 28-year-old Scheffler and you get nothing but respect. “I think by the definition of dominance, I think that’s literally where he’s sitting,” said Schauffele after finishing T4 at the TOUR Championship where a season- ending win clinched the PGA TOUR’s ultimate prize, the FedExCup, for Scheffler.

“Scottie has just been at the top of the mountain for two full years now,” added Schauffele, who will headline October’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan alongside defending champion Collin Morikawa.

True enough. Only here is something that is also true – Schauffele has been only a notch below. A firm notch, yes, but still he has not been that far off. Scheffler closed out his 2024 season having run his consecutive cuts-made streak to 55. The last time he was out of the money was in the summer of 2022. Over his last 65 PGA Tour tournaments, Schauffele has five wins and 33 top-10s.

The American’s mixed heritage makes him a poster boy of global golf

A Californian by birth, Schauffele is a cultural wonderment. His father, Stefan, is German; his mother, Chen Ping-Yi, was born in Chinese Taipei but raised in Japan. Winning the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021 was special to him and there is a lingering feeling that if Schauffele had held on and successfully defended the gold medal in Paris in August (instead of closing with 73 to finish T-9 and see Scheffler win gold) that the season could have ended more positively. Perhaps a win in front of his family at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP would be the sweetener to end his 2024.

But there is no playing the could’ve or would’ve scenarios for Schauffele. There is only total acceptance of the reality, which is this: As great a year as Schauffele had, it still stands second to Scheffler’s.

Small consolation, perhaps, but here is a very warm thought that Schauffele could take into the post season. Imagine, if you will, that at next spring’s Masters, Schauffele, after four previous top 10s, finally breaks through and wins at Augusta National.

Praise would ring out and it would be written how Schauffele had now won three of the last four major titles and was three- quarters of the way to the career grand slam. By tradition, Scheffler, as defending champion, would help Schauffele into the Green Jacket and maybe, just maybe the point would be made that this is quite the one-two punch the game has.