At Arnold Palmer’s, he has triumphed. He has triumphed in the PGA Tour’s home base. He triumphed handily at Augusta and again in Hilton Head a week later.
Scottie Scheffler was already the top golfer in the world, but Sunday he drove that point even further with a win at the Memorial Tournament — Jack Nicklaus’ signature event — for his fifth win in eight starts.
Only five men played Sunday under par on the difficult Muirfield Village course, and Scheffler survived runs by Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin to shoot a final round 74 and defeat Morikawa by one stroke.
With two majors and the FedEx Cup Playoffs remaining in June, Scheffler’s victory makes him the only golfer since Justin Thomas in 2017 to win five PGA Tour tournaments in a single season. And each of the five victories came from prestigious competitions: the Players Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and now the Memorial.
Leading Morikawa and the rest of the field by four shots going into Sunday, Scheffler was in the lead. Scheffler played the front nine holes over par while Hadwin, a Canadian, made a strong charge to come within one stroke due to the quick and firm play of the course.
Morikawa also played the better part of the back nine in one shot, but Scheffler held his ground as the majority of the field faltered. On Sunday, he missed seven of his first eleven fairways, but he birdied eight of the next nine holes to maintain the lead.
Scheffler even made a bogey on the 17th hole, which allowed Morikawa to equal the score on the 18th. Following a strong bounce off the green into the rough, Scheffler’s approach shot found the same rough behind the pin for Morikawa.
Scheffler had to sink a five-foot putt for par to win, and he was able to grab the victory with an emotional fist pump.
Big win. Big fist pump.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/Q6jydEACll
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 9, 2024
The close finish means that Morikawa, the two-time major winner, finished in second place once again. Despite enjoying his finest season since 2021, he was unsuccessful several times. This spring, he was in the final pairing at the Masters and the PGA Championship, but he lost by seven and six strokes, respectively, to the winner in both events.
He also entered Sunday at the RBC Heritage two back of Scheffler only to end up six back.
Scheffler is currently the largest favorite in the sport since Tiger Woods’ 2010 peak, with odds of 3-to-1 for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, which takes place next week.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
