He won in Arnold Palmer’s place. He won at home on the PGA Tour. He won at Augusta National and a week later at Hilton Head.
Scotty Scheffler is already the world’s top golfer, but he pushed it even further with a victory at the Memorial Championship, Jack Nicklaus’ signature event, on Sunday, his eighth start. fifth win.
Scheffler held off Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin as just five players finished under par on Sunday at Muirfield Village. Adam Hadwin’s run and a final-round 74 beat Morikawa by one shot.
The victory makes Scheffler the first golfer to win five PGA Tour events in a single season since Justin Thomas in 2017, and we only have two majors in June tournament and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. All five wins came at signature events: the Masters, The Players Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage and now the Memorial.
Scheffler entered Sunday’s tournament with a four-shot lead over Morikawa and the rest of the field. With the course playing so fast and firm, Scheffler shot over par on the front nine, and Canada’s Hadwin putted hard to get within one shot.
Morikawa also spent much of the back nine within one shot, but Scheffler held steady despite trailing for much of the match. Despite missing seven of the first 11 fairways on Sunday, he parred eight straight holes and never relinquished the lead.
Scheffler even bogeyed the 17th hole, giving Morikawa a chance to tie on the 18th. The same long grass was found behind the flagpole.
Scheffler had to sink a five-foot putt for par to win, and he grabbed the victory with an excited fist.
Big victory. Big fist pump.
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/Q6jydEACll
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 9, 2024
The tight match was another tough second-place finish for Morikawa, who is enjoying his best season since 2021 but fell behind on multiple occasions. This spring, he competed in the finals of the Masters and PGA Championship, finishing seven and six shots behind the winner in both events.
He also trailed Scheffler by two races heading into Sunday’s RBC Heritage race, but ended up trailing by six.
Scheffler is currently a 3-1 betting favorite into next week’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst as he becomes the biggest favorite in the sport since Tiger Woods in his heyday in 2010.
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(Photo: Michael Reeves/Getty Images)
