[PHOTOS: Getty Images]

Should you be among those who circle December 30 each year to make note of another birthday for Tiger Woods, no doubt you know that he’s on the threshold of No.49.

Forty-nine? Say it isn’t so and help us understand how time has passed by so quickly.

Especially for those who were rabid PGA Tour followers circa 1996-2013, a golden period during which Woods won 79 times in 309 starts, with each and every birthday, there is a feeling of melancholy. Perhaps we ask ourselves: Will we ever see such greatness?

Well, for now you can stifle your fears because during the 2024 PGA Tour season Scottie Scheffler delivered a Tiger Woods-like campaign. It was filled with seven victories, another green jacket from the Masters, emphatic rolls by five and four strokes, nail-biters, the dramatic playoff and the FedEx Cup-clinching Tour Championship.

Oh, and the 28-year-old put a delicious box on his superb season by coming from behind to win an Olympic gold medal in Paris.

His peers could only watch in awe of his majestic season.

“We’ll look back on 2024 and it’s obviously one of the best individual years that a player has had for a long time,” said Rory McIlroy, whose season wasn’t all that bad – wins No.25 and 26 in his PGA Tour career.

It’s just that only the magic performed by Scheffler can get us comparing it to the sort of stuff Woods did. As for where Scheffler shined brightest, it is hard to look past the mid-March to late April stretch. In the middle was the four-stroke Masters win, his second in three years at Augusta National but what he did on each side of the major was pure brilliance.

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler closed with 66 to win by five. The next week, the Texan with the footwork you can’t take your eyes off came from five behind through 54 holes and posted a Sunday 64 to eke out a thrilling one-stroke triumph at the Players Championship [above], the tour’s flagship tournament. One week later, Scheffler was six off the pace through 18 holes, but proceeded to shoot 65-63-68 and win by three at the RBC Heritage.

In all, during this four-win stretch Scheffler played 16 rounds and had at least a tie for the lead after seven of them. His worst round was a level-par 72 at Augusta National in round two and he signed for 69 or better 12 of 16 times.

Sheer brilliance, this Scheffler performance in which he became the first PGA Tour player to win seven times in a season since Woods in 2007. Stand and applaud, for sure, but let’s remind ourselves that this season was a long and fruitful one that offered plenty of other highlights.

* No one had a fourth round finish quite like Hideki Matsuyama – and to do it at Riviera only tossed down a few exclamation marks. Having trailed by eight shots through 36 holes and six entering the final 18, Matsuyama put on a ball-striking clinic to triumph at the Genesis Invitational. With a birdie-birdie-birdie start and six birdies over his final nine holes, he shot 62 and stormed from behind to overtake Patrick Cantlay. Victory saw him break a tie with K.J. Choi as the winningest Asian on tour with nine career titles.

* Not since Phil Mickelson in 1991 had an amateur won on the PGA Tour, but that changed in a stunning way at the American Express event. A heralded collegian from the University of Alabama, Nick Dunlap was in the field on a sponsor’s exemption when he left spectators and many of his competitors speechless.

Buoyed by a third-round 60 in which he made an eagle and 10 birdies, Dunlap finished at 29-under 259 to win over a list of pursuers including stalwarts Justin Thomas and Sam Burns. OK, so as an amateur Dunlap couldn’t accept the $US1.512m cheque (it went to runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout). The story continued beautifully as he turned pro with his PGA Tour status, won another tournament and $US2,930,388 – all of which he got to keep.

* Major winner and PGA Tour icon. You knew that about Rory McIlroy. But could he belt out Journey’s classic song, “Don’t Stop Believin’”?

Well, it turns out he could in a grand but most raucous and haphazard way after McIlroy and Shane Lowry teamed up to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans [below], the only team event on the FedEx Cup calendar.

With thousands of fans flocking to watch McIlroy in his first-ever visit to New Orleans, he and fellow Irishman Lowry narrowly escaped in a playoff against Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer. The roars erupted and continued during the post-tournament party with volunteers.

* It was as if a Hollywood scriptwriter had been asked to produce this year’s Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick. With deft aplomb, the storyline was carried out. That’s because a native son, Robert MacIntyre, thrilled his countrymen one year after this title had been taken from him in heartbreaking fashion. In 2023, McIlroy won the Scottish Open, apologising to the fans for making a birdie at the final hole to edge MacIntyre by a stroke.

Make amends, the golf gods must have said, because in July, it was MacIntyre who birdied the 72nd hole to win by a stroke [below]. Theatrical and dramatic as it was, even the man who lost by one, Adam Scott, tipped his cap. “You know, pleased for Bob,” said the Queenslander. “This is a big win. You can hear them singing over there. I think that’s awesome for him.”

* Ah, vintage Scott to be such a sportsman, but the truth is, singing was extended to other venues and other memorable names in a memorable 2024 PGA Tour season.

Good vibes were on behalf of Gary Woodland as he returned to action after undergoing surgery for a brain lesion and for Billy Horschel who was 90th in the FedExCup standings in 2023 but found his grit and form to win the Corales Puntacana Championship and earn the 23rd spot in 2024. Or even for Keegan Bradley who was only being talked about in 2025 terms (next year’s Ryder Cup captain) when he stormed to victory in the BMW Championship to not only earn his way into the Tour Championship but into the thick of things at the 2024 Presidents Cup.

Leave it to Bradley to prove while it’s nice to look ahead, it still pays to be in the moment – and 2024 surely had lots of moments to salute.