Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except there was nothing ordinary about his victory at the Memorial on Sunday.
He made only one birdie. He finished with a 2-over 74, his highest final round in the past two years. And victory was far from assured until Scheffler showed the courage to hit a strong downhill putt from 5 feet from the hole to take a break.
A one-shot win over Collin Morikawa and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus were heartwarming. Their exchange said it all.
“You’re a survivor,” Nichols told her.
“Thanks,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”
Scheffler endured more stress than he expected and produced the win everyone expected, his fifth of the season – one week into June – and now he faces another tough test at the US Open next week.
Very firm greens and strong winds during the afternoon at Muirfield Village made play so challenging that only six players managed to score par, with the average score just under 75.
Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin trailing him all afternoon, and not on the back nine where making par seemed like a tall order. Par on the 18th hole is the one to do it.
“It’s a tough spot to get out of,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t play great today, but I did well enough.”
barely.
Scheffler was one shot ahead of Morikawa and both hit shots that bounced off the green and into the rough. Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler made his putt for the win and the force of his fist-pumping in celebration showed how tough this day was for him and practically everyone else.
The day was made even more special by a recent incident with Nicholas at the Memorial, carrying one-month-old son Bennett in his arms at the newborn’s first PGA Tour event.
Scheffler recalled 2021, when he missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole that ended any chance of a playoff. Walking off the green, he remembered Nicklaus telling him that one day Scheffler would make a putt on 18 “and I’ll walk up to shake his hand.”
“It was very special to think that as I was walking up to him to shake his hand,” he said.
Morikawa, who played in the final group of both majors this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole and trailed Scheffler the rest of the way. He shot 71, the only player in the final 13 groups to break par.
Adam Hadwin made three consecutive bogeys to finish third with a score of 74.
Scheffler finished at 8-under 280 and won $4 million from the signature event and its $20 million purse. That gives him more than $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour season earnings record — and it’s still June — that he set last year in an era of rising purses.
He became the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win five times on the PGA Tour before the US Open.
It will be next week at Pinehurst No. 2, and Scheffler will go into the US Open as a huge favorite. This was her 11th consecutive tournament with a top 10 finish.
Morikawa received $2.2 million and now has big money at his disposal as he tries to secure the fourth spot on the U.S. team heading to the Paris Olympics this summer.
Hadwin was one shot out of the lead until finishing the front nine with two bogeys. He stayed in contention until finishing with two bogeys for a score of 74. Still, his third-place finish moves him ahead of Corey Conners for the second Canadian spot at the Olympics.
The world rankings after the US Open will determine who goes to Paris.
Scheffler got only one birdie — a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole — and he missed two birdie opportunities inside 10-foot on the back nine that could have given him the lead.
But he scored the biggest goal on the par-3 16th hole.
Scheffler and Morikawa were both 90 feet from the super slick green. Scheffler used his putter and hit weakly, leaving him 15 feet behind. Morikawa chipped from the collar and also hit a pedestrian chip 20 feet behind.
Morikawa missed his par putt and Scheffler putt in for a two-shot lead.
However, Scheffler missed his final shot on the 17th hole, and was again in a one-shot lead playing the 18th, which he closed out with a final putt.
What followed was golf’s so-called toughest test, and the players felt as if they had just finished that ordeal at Muirfield Village.
“You can look at it two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it’s good preparation for next week, or it’s breaking our backs going into next week.”
It’s another victory for Scheffler, his 11th of his career and 12th worldwide. He has finished strong to win majors or come from behind. He regained the lead when conditions were tight early. This time, he lost a lead of about four shots.
It was his highest closing round since a 74 at the British Open at St Andrews in 2022. But it registered as another major victory against the strongest fields. He has now won three signature events (Bay Hill and Hilton Head were the others), which goes along with The Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.
