Scottie Scheffler breaks 26-year Tiger Woods record after winning $10m Tour Championship prize

Scottie Scheffler made history once again as he broke one of Tiger Woods' longest-standing records after winning the Tour Championship.

There's no doubt that Woods is one of, if not the, greatest golfer we have ever seen.

The 50-year-old has won 82 official PGA Tour events, tied with Sam Snead and nine ahead of Jack Nicklaus's 73 wins, as well as 15 majors, second all time behind Jack Nicklaus' 18.

Of course, Woods is also one of just six men to have completed the modern career Grand Slam by winning all four major championships: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship.

One man who still chasing this feat is current world no.1 Scheffler, who has won four major championships in his career but is yet to claim the U.S. Open.

However, that doesn't mean that the American isn't making history as he continues to remind fans why he's the best in the world right now.

On Sunday, Scheffler erased a three-shot deficit to chase and surpass Viktor Hovland and win the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, taking home a record-setting $10million (£7.38m) first-place cheque in the process.

In doing so, the 30-year-old took his total career earnings to $130,390,661 (£96.28m), surpassing Woods, whose $120,999,166 (£89.33m) career total had stood atop the PGA Tour's career money list for more than 26 years.

Woods had occupied the top spot since February 13, 2000, meaning Scheffler needed less than a decade as a professional to dethrone his fellow golf legend.

But, it's important to acknowledged that PGA Tour purses now pay significantly more than during Woods' prime, something that Scheffler admitted to the media ahead of his win in Atlanta.

The world No 1 said: “You're kind of comparing apples and oranges.

“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.”

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How much does Rory McIlory need to win to surpass Scheffler and Woods?

And it may not be long until Woods finds himself down in third in the all time rankings, as fellow grand slam winner McIlroy is also dangerously close to surpassing the American.

Heading into the Tour Championship, Mcilroy required a solo fourth-place finish, paying $3.2m (£2.36m), to move him past Woods.

Unfortunately for the Northern Irishman, his seven-way tie for fourth with the likes of England's Alex Fitzpatrick and Sweden's Ludwig Aberg wasn't quite enough.

McIlroy a cool $1.7m (£1.26m) for placing in that group for fourth place, putting him $2.8m (£2.07m) behind Woods' career earnings, with a total of $119,555,514 (£88.25m).

Of course, all three of McIlroy, Woods and Scheffler will have earned considerably more than just their career earnings through various sponsorship deals and other business ventures.