Scheffler Holds on to Win Memorial for His Fifth PGA Tour Title This Year
Comments
Link successfully copied
Scottie Scheffler of the United States (L) and Jack Nicklaus pose with the trophy after Scheffler won the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio on June 9, 2024. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
By The Associated Press
6/9/2024Updated: 6/10/2024

DUBLIN, Ohio—Scottie Scheffler had more stress than he wanted Sunday, June 9, at the Memorial, but emerged with the victory everyone has come to expect.

On a Muirfield Village course so demanding that only six players broke par, Scheffler had his highest final round in nearly two years at 2–over 74, and it was just enough to hold off Collin Morikawa and win for the fifth time this year.

Scheffler, who started the final round four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, either, particularly on a back nine where saving par felt like hard work.

That’s what it took on the 18th hole. He was leading Morikawa by one shot and both hit approach shots that bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough.

Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the force of his fist pump to celebrate showed how tough this day was on him, and practically everybody.

Making the day even more special was the handshake with golf icon Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host, and cradling month-old son Bennett at his first PGA Tour event.

“This is a tough place to close out,” Scheffler said. “It was a fun test of golf. I like when it gets this hard. I didn’t do a whole lot great today, but I did enough.”

Just barely.

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 stayed on Scheffler’s heels the rest of the way. He shot 71, the only one from the final 13 groups to break par.

Adam Hadwin was right there with them until closing with three straight bogeys for a 74 to finish alone in third place.

Scheffler finished at 8–under 280 and won $4 million from this signature event and its $20 million purse. That pushes him past $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour season- earnings record—and it’s barely June—that he set last year in this era of rising purses.

He also become the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to have won five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open.

That’s next week at Pinehurst No. 2, and Scheffler will go to the U.S. Open as a huge favorite. This was his 11th consecutive tournament with a top-10 finish.

Morikawa picked up $2.2 million and now has a big cushion as he tries to sew up the fourth spot for the Americans going to Paris for this summer’s Olympics.

Hadwin was within one shot of the lead until finishing the front nine with two bogeys. He stayed in the hunt until closing with two more bogeys for a 74. Still, his third-place finish moves him ahead of Corey Conners for the second Canadian spot in the Olympics.

The world ranking after the U.S. Open determines who goes to Paris.

Collin Morikawa waves after putting on the second green during the final round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio, on June 9, 2024. (Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo)

Collin Morikawa waves after putting on the second green during the final round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio, on June 9, 2024. (Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo)

Scheffler had only one birdie—a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole—and he missed two birdie chances inside 10 feet on the back nine that could have provided a cushion.

But he made the biggest one on the par-3 16th.

Scheffler and Morikawa were both short of the super slick green some 90 feet away. Scheffler used putter and hit it weakly, coming up 15 feet short. Morikawa chipped from the collar and also hit a pedestrian chip some 20 feet short.

Morikawa missed his par putt, and Scheffler buried his for a two-shot lead.

Scheffler dropped his final shot on the 17th, however, and he was clinging again to a one-shot lead playing the tough 18th that he ended with one last putt.

Next up is the so-called toughest test in golf, and players felt like they just got finished with one at Muirfield Village.

“You could look at it one of two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it’s good prep for next week, or we just got our butts kicked before going into next week.”

For Scheffler it’s another victory, the 11th of his career and 12th worldwide. He has finished strong to win big or come from behind. He has pulled away when it was tight at the start. This time, he nearly lost a four-shot lead.

It was his highest closing round since a 74 in the British Open at St. Andrews in 2022. But it goes in the book as another big win in a series of them against the strongest fields. He now has won three signature events, including Bay Hill and Hilton Head, to go along with The Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.

By Doug Ferguson

Share This Article:

©2023-2024 California Insider All Rights Reserved. California Insider is a part of Epoch Media Group.