Colin Montgomerie Names Three Box Office Golfers, Excludes World Number One Scottie Scheffler

In a candid interview with GolfMagic, European Ryder Cup legend Colin Montgomerie shared his unfiltered perspective on the current state of men’s professional golf. Despite Scottie Scheffler’s dominance on the PGA Tour, Montgomerie did not include him in his list of the game’s biggest stars.

Scheffler, currently ranked as the world number one, has had a stellar year with five victories on the PGA Tour, including a triumph at The Masters. This winning streak has earned him over $25 million in prize money, drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods at his peak. Nevertheless, Montgomerie remains unimpressed by Scheffler’s appeal, citing a lack of the captivating ‘aura’ that Woods and other golfing legends possessed.

Montgomerie identified Rory McIlroy, recent U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, and emerging European talent Ludvig Aberg as his “box office” players. Despite acknowledging Scheffler’s exceptional talent, Montgomerie refrained from including him in this exclusive group. During his conversation with GolfMagic, Montgomerie explained:

“I would say there are three box office (players) right now; I would have to include Ludvig Aberg as a potential box office player, Rory and Bryson DeChambeau. I think they’re your box office, and I’m not including Scottie Scheffler because I wouldn’t say he was box office as such. He’s a hell of a golfer and still the best in the world, but I wouldn’t say he’s box office. I wouldn’t go, ‘Okay, now where is Scottie Scheffler? I must run out on the course and see him play’. I’d run out and watch Bryson, Ludvig, and Rory.”

Montgomerie elaborated on what separates Scheffler from McIlroy, DeChambeau, and Aberg, noting the former’s lack of magnetic presence on the course:

“He doesn’t have Tiger’s aura. He doesn’t have Phil Mickelson’s aura. When you played against them, there was something about them. I wouldn’t be too bothered with a draw coming up Scottie Scheffler number one. I was bothered when it came up Tiger Woods because you know you’ve got to not just play golf but you’ve got to play him as well and everything around Tiger when you play with him. Bryson would be the same, Rory would be the same to have that aura around somebody, Scheffler, no. Yet you can’t knock what he’s done. [It is] incredible; I mean, this is the best season we’ve had since Tiger, even better than. Who knows? He’s down to play in the Scottish Open, I believe, and also the Open, so that’s great for the Scottish fans to be able to see him twice, and we will see how he goes.”

Scheffler’s season on the PGA Tour in 2024 has indeed been remarkable, with wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, The Masters, RBC Heritage, and the Memorial. While he remains a distance from Woods’ career record of 82 wins, he only needs four more victories this season to match Woods’ best single-season record of nine wins, set in 2000.

However, Scheffler’s seemingly unstoppable form hit a snag when he was arrested on the morning of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. Although he was later released and managed to make his tee time, the incident seemed to affect his performance, resulting in a disappointing two-over-par on Saturday and an eventual 8th place finish.

As The Open at Troon approaches, Scheffler has a chance to impress Montgomerie on his home turf. A strong performance there could potentially sway Montgomerie’s opinion and see Scheffler join the ranks of the ‘box office’ elite.