Scottie Scheffler Adds Memorial to His Remarkable 2024 Win List

DUBLIN, Ohio — Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except his victory Sunday at the Memorial was anything but typical.

He only made one birdie. He finished with a 2-over 74, his highest final round in two years. And victory wasn’t assured until Scheffler had the courage to sink a firm shot on a downhill putt from 5 feet above the hole to eliminate the break.

A one-stroke victory over Collin Morikawa and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus went straight to his heart. Their exchange said it all.

“You are a survivor,” Nicklaus told him.

“Thank you,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”

Scheffler endured more stress than he wanted and pulled off the win everyone expected, his fifth of the season – a week into June – as he heads to a another tough test next week at the US Open.

Muirfield Village was so demanding with its ultra-hard greens and swirling bursts throughout the afternoon that only six players passed par and the average score was just under 75.

Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the advantage. He never felt safe either, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on his heels all afternoon, and on a back nine where reaching par seemed like hard work. Par is what it took on the 18th hole.

“It’s a tough place to close,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t do much today, but I did enough.”

Barely.

Scheffler led Morikawa by one stroke and both approach shots bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough. Both chipped about 5 feet away. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the strength of his celebratory punch showed how difficult the day was for him and virtually everyone else.

What made the day even more special was a recent memory with Nicklaus at the Memorial and his month-old son Bennett at his newborn’s first PGA Tour event.

Scheffler reflected on 2021, when he missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole that ended any chance of a playoff. As he left the green, he remembers Nicklaus telling him that one day Scheffler would make the putt on the 18th “and I’ll go and shake his hand.”

“It was pretty special to think about that as I walked up to shake his hand,” he said.

Morikawa, who played in the final group at both majors this year, made a 30-foot birdie on the par-3 12th hole and stayed on Scheffler’s heels until the end. He shot 71, the only one of the final 13 groups to go over par.

Adam Hadwin was there with them all the way to the close with three straight bogeys for a 74 to finish alone in third.

Scheffler’s $4 million payday on Sunday propelled him past his 2023 total.

Scheffler finished at 8-under 280 and took home $4 million from the marquee event and its $20 million purse. That nets him more than $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour single-season earnings record – and it’s barely June – that he set last year in this era of rising purses. .

He also becomes the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win five times on the PGA Tour before the US Open.

It’s next week at No. 2 Pinehurst, and Scheffler will head into the U.S. Open as the heavy favorite. This was his 11th consecutive tournament with a top 10 finish.

Morikawa raised $2.2 million and now has a big cushion to try to secure fourth place for the Americans who travel to Paris this summer for the Olympics.

Hadwin was one shot out of the lead until finishing in the top nine with a pair of bogeys. He stayed in contention until the close with two bogeys for a 74. Nonetheless, his third-place finish put him ahead of Corey Conners for second Canadian place at the Olympics.

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

Scheffler made just one birdie — a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole — and he missed two birdie opportunities within 10 feet on the back nine that could have provided a cushion.

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

Scheffler and Morikawa were both short of the super-smooth green at about 90 feet. Scheffler used a putter and hit it weakly, coming in 15 feet in the air. Morikawa chipped off the pass and also struck a pedestrian about 20 feet long.

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

Scheffler, however, dropped his last shot at the 17th and he again clung to a one-shot lead playing the difficult 18th which he finished with a final putt.

Next up is what’s been called the toughest test in golf, and players felt like they were done with one at Muirfield Village.

“You can look at it two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it’s good preparation for next week, or we’re just getting our butts kicked before we start next week.”

For Scheffler, it is a new victory, the 11th of his career and the 12th in the world. He finished strong to win big or come from behind. He pulled away even though it was close at first. This time he almost lost a four-shot lead.

It was his highest closing round since a 74 at the St. Andrews Open in 2022. But it goes into the book as another big win against the strongest fields. He has now won three marquee events (Bay Hill and Hilton Head were the others) to go along with the Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.