Analysis: Golf has two dominant forces in Scheffler and Korda. It didn't happen overnight

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Golf went a decade without being able to identify a dominant player. And then within the last month, the sport suddenly has two of them.

Scottie Scheffler won his first PGA Tour event in the Phoenix Open two years ago and now he has 10 tour titles, two of them at the Masters.

Not only is he the No. 1 player in the world, he has double the average points of the next player, Rory McIlroy. That hasn’t happened since Tiger Woods doubled the world ranking lead over Phil Mickelson in the summer of 2008.

Nelly Korda went through 2023 without winning on the LPGA Tour — her only title was the Aramco Series in London on the Ladies European Tour — and ended the year at No. 5 in the women’s world ranking. Now she is in the LPGA record book with five straight victories and is close to having double the points average of Lilia Vu, who won two majors last year.