In a year of golf that’s lacked headlines, Rory McIlroy’s come-from-behind win at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth looked as if it would be the game’s top story, but another one of the game’s stars made an even larger statement about his game at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Adam Scott entered the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, having just ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf. That made Scott the 17^th player in history to achieve the ranking, but he received it rather unceremoniously, assuming the spot without even playing the week before.

It was now Scott’s opportunity to make a statement of his own: that he was not just a placeholder of the No. 1 ranking for the time being, but the best player the game currently has to offer.

Scott just squeaked inside the cutline after his second round at Colonial, but he really turned it on from there, with back-to-back 66’s on the weekend that put him into a sudden-death playoff with fellow 2013 major champion Jason Dufner at 9-under par.

In the playoff, Scott drained a 15-footer for birdie on the second playoff hole, a must-make as Dufner had less than half that distance for his birdie. After Dufner rolled in his putt, the duo moved on to Colonial’s 18th hole where Scott continued to show off the ball striking prowess that helped him climb to golf’s No. 1 spot.

Dufner fanned his approach to the green to the right, leaving a putt of more than 30 feet for birdie. Scott threw a dart to 5 feet with his wedge from the fairway and went on to make the putt, winning the tournament and also becoming the first player to win all four PGA Tour events held in the state of Texas.

Considering Scott hadn’t reached the No.1 spot in the world as a result of winning tournaments this year on the PGA Tour, his lead (in terms of points) on the other top-3 players in the world was far from safe. Due to Henrik Stenson’s 3^rd place finish at the BMW PGA Championship earlier that day, Scott needed a T13 or better on Sunday to retain his spot amongst the top of the world rankings list.

A statistic that stands out about Scott is that he has won all three of the playoffs he has played on the PGA Tour. When it comes to playoffs in golf, winning usually is a product of pulling off clutch shots and converting must-make putts. Tiger Woods, the man who has held the N0. 1 spot for longer than any another since the rankings were introduced, has a playoff record of 11-1. Vijay Singh, another former World No. 1, has a playoff record of 8-4. While the world ranking system hadn’t been introduced during their respective careers, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer both had a playoff record of 14-10.

The point is that great players tend to pull off big shots and big putts when it matters most. Since Scott’s epic collapse at the 2012 Open Championship, where he bogeyed his final four holes to lose by one shot to Ernie Els, it seems that when the pressure has been on, he has delivered: a characteristic that, through time, all of the game’s greats share.

With the U.S. Open at Pinehurst just around the corner, golf finally has two of the biggest names in the game back the winner’s circle just in time for what is always an important summer. Other than Bubba Watson’s second Green Jacket, up until Sunday, this year’s season would probably have been recognized as a little stale. On multiple occasions, the headliners on Sunday’s have taken a back seat to first-time winners, but as my good pals Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

Just to refresh everyone’s memory, the four tournaments leading up to the Masters were won by a second-time winner and three first-time winners on the PGA Tour. First was John Senden at the Valspar Championship, who hadn’t won on Tour since the 2006 John Deere Classic. Second was Matt Every at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley held the top-two spots going into Sunday. Third, Steven Bowditch won at the Valero Texas Open by shooting a final-round 76. Finally, Matt Jones won in a playoff against Matt Kuchar at the Shell Houston Open for his first win on the PGA Tour.

Golf has been yearning for a big name to step up to the plate, and it seems that for the first time this season the two players destined to command the game for the next decade (Scott and Mcllroy) have stated that they are up for the challenge.

In the few days between Adam Scott claiming the No.1 spot and actually teeing it up last week, there seemed to be an uncertainty on whether the “Official” No. 1 was in fact the best player in the game. Scott, with his seemingly perfect golf swing firing on all cylinders and a clutch putter when it mattered most, showed the world how ready he is to take on such a massive title in the sport.

For the game’s elite, the No. 1 ranking is the end goal, and they all say the same thing; “Winning takes care of everything.” Having claimed the No. 1 spot without event touching a club, Scott needed to validate his status with a win. He won, and I guess that means it has been taken care of.