Woods won three events and returned to world number one before arriving at Augusta 11 years ago as the red-hot favourite.
This year Scheffler, who has topped the standings for the past 47 weeks, has also enjoyed a stellar run-in, winning twice and finishing runner-up in his past three events.
But that is where the 27-year-old will want the similarities to end.
Woods, by then a four-time Masters champion, finished joint fourth in 2013 and narrowly avoided being disqualified after unwittingly admitting in a post-round interview to taking an illegal drop during the second round.
Scheffler tops most of the PGA Tour’s key metrics from tee to green, while his putting stats – which had been under scrutiny – are on the rise after his recent work with putting guru Phil Kenyon.
He went straight to the champions’ locker room to slip into his Green Jacket when he arrived at Augusta for the 88th staging of the only major to be held at the same venue each year.
Into the famed white clubhouse, up 13 stairs and a turn to the left. It is a route only winners walk. Scheffler shares a locker with 1971 winner Charles Coody and 1937 champion Byron Nelson – fellow Texans.
“It’s usually the first thing we do here on Sunday when I get in,” said Scheffler, who has finished in the top 20 on his three other appearances. “It’s fun walking around the grounds and being able to put it on. It’s a special feeling.”
It is a special feeling that McIlroy is desperate to experience. This will be the 16th year that the Northern Irishman will tee it up among the azaleas and magnolias.
Even the most casual of golf fans will surely know that for the past decade he has arrived in Georgia looking to complete the career Grand Slam, having won two US PGA Championships as well as The Open and the US Open between 2011 and 2014.
It is 13 years since his best chance of winning the Masters went “pear-shaped” on the 10th as he so succinctly put it at the time. A triple-bogey seven at the par four that opens the back nine came in a ruinous round of 80 as he let slip a four-shot lead on Sunday.
Two years ago he recorded his best finish – but that was a distant second to Scheffler, three shots back despite closing with an eight-under 64. Either side of that are two missed cuts.
