Scottie Scheffler has made winning his habit, but his triumph on Sunday at the Memorial was anything from ordinary.
He only managed one birdie. His closing round of 2-over 74 was his best in the last two years. And it wasn’t over until Scheffler proved he had what it took to win the break with a solid stroke on a putt from five feet above the hole.
With a one-shot triumph over Collin Morikawa and a handshake with event host Jack Nicklaus, it went straight to the heart. Their conversation was quite telling.
“You’re alive,” Nicklaus informed him.
“I’m grateful,” Scheffler remarked. “Yes, you did make this place really nasty today.”
One week into June, Scheffler achieved the much-anticipated victory despite more stress than he had expected. He now faces another challenging test the following week at the U.S. Open. This was Scheffler’s fifth of the season.
With its extremely firm greens and winds that swirled throughout the afternoon, Muirfield Village was so difficult to play that only six players broke par, and the average score was just around 75.
Scheffler led from the beginning by four shots and never let up. Even with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin chasing him all afternoon and a back nine when just staying in the hunt felt like a lot of work, he never felt comfortable. That’s what it took, par