Scottie does it again
COVER PHOTO: Scottie Scheffler hoists the Memorial Tournament trophy for the second year in a row to become only the second golfer in the tournament's 50-year history to successfully defend the title. Picture by Angie Greenwood/Columbus Wired.
It’s only been done once before on the course that Jack Nicklaus built: win back-to-back.
Now it’s been done again.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler became only the second golfer in the 50-year history of the Memorial Tournament to successfully defend his title as he won the 50th annual version of the tourney with a 10-under par score.
The only other golfer to have done it is someone Scheffler is definitely in good company with: Tiger Woods, who not only successfully defended his first win in 1999 by repeating in 2000 but is the only golfer to three-peat because he won again in 2001.
Afterwards, Scheffler admitted the course at the Muirfield Village Golf Club wore him out.
“I feel pretty tired right now. No, it was a great week. It's always special being able to come here and play Mr. Nicklaus's tournament. The golf course was a great test this week,” he said. “It was pretty nasty and it was a good challenge. Definitely fun to be sitting here.”
Nicklaus said Scheffler may not have played his best golf but did what he needed to do to maintain the lead and take home the trophy.
“Scottie, he didn't play, for him, spectacular golf. He played what he should do,” said Nicklaus. He played good, solid, smart golf and, you know, three 70s and a 68, that's pretty good golf under the conditions that were out there. That's what the best player in the world does.”
One major reason for being worn out was the rough, with comparisons by several golfers throughout the week saying it was much like playing in a major.
“The rough was as healthy as I had seen it,” said Scheffler. “We've had that length of rough before, but not the thickness.”
Nicklaus agreed and said when they play the U.S. Open in two weeks at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Penn., they’re going to see the same conditions.
“We had a wet spring. You're going to find the same rough at Oakmont. I mean, it's the same grass. It will be the same thing all through the whole Midwest. I think we were lucky to get through the week with some of the weather we had and some of the odd conditions. But what it did is it created a different condition every day. We didn't have two days alike, and your champion is the one who manages all those conditions, and Scottie managed them.”
Scheffler was the only guy to shoot every round under par. He came into the final round atop the leaderboard at 8-under with a one-stroke lead over playing partner Ben Griffin but ended up winning by four strokes.
Griffin came close with not only a Memorial single-round best 65 on Thursday but the best round of golf he’s ever shot in his seven-year professional career. He followed it up with even par 72’s on both Friday and Saturday and was one-over in the final round.
He said he felt he had his game where it needed to be to hoist the Memorial trophy and notch his third overall PGA Tour win.
“I knew going into today I needed to shoot under par, and I knew my game was there,” said Griffin. “My putter was just a little shaky early. For some reason I didn't feel as comfortable on the greens as I did the first three rounds and then going back to last week at the Charles Schwab. So I did a good job towards the end feeling things out and kind of getting those feelings back. It just kind of stings, but yeah, (Scottie’s) a heck of a golfer. I mean, he's the best in the world.”
Sunday didn’t necessarily go by without at least a little bit of drama, though.
After shooting his first-ever bogey-free round of golf Saturday on Jack’s course, Scheffler began his final round defense with a bogey-free front nine consisting of eight pars and one birdie. Although, the back began inauspiciously when he carded the only bogey of his round on par-4, no. 10 after he put his tee shot into the right rough.
And due to the thickness, the only thing he could do was chop it into the fairway, which only went 79 yards.
Scheffler then sent his third shot onto the green a little over 12 feet from the cup but his par putt came up a foot short.
However, he went bogey-free for the remainder of the back nine with birdies on both remaining par 5’s, nos. 11 and 15.
After no. 11, Griffin was still only two shots behind but bogeyed nos. 12 and 13 to give Scheffler a four-shot lead. Two holes later, though, Griffin gained a shot by sinking a 12-foot eagle putt on no. 15 when his second shot from the fairway went 255 yards to the front of the green and came to rest 12 feet to the left of the hole.
The very next hole, Griffin began to make it interesting when he sank a 27-foot birdie while Scheffler’s 40-foot birdie putt came to rest a mere four inches from the cup.
With two holes left, Griffin still had a chance only down by two strokes.
But disaster struck on no. 17 when his tee shot found the left rough and his second shot found the rough again to the left of the green. His third shot sailed over the green onto the fringe 43 feet away and his chip landed short, over 27 feet out. He would two-putt for a double bogey, putting him back down by four strokes and all but solidifying Scheffler’s repeat.
“I told myself when we were standing there on 17 tee, if Ben eagles 15, birdies 16 and 17 and 18, we deserve to be going into a playoff, and that's kind of the conversation I had with myself,” Scheffler said. “I can't stop him from playing great golf, but all I can do is just go out there and try and execute. I hit the fairway on 17, hit the green (and) gave myself a good look.
“When you're in the rough out here, it's really challenging, and Ben put it in the rough on 17, which makes that hole extremely difficult, and paid the price for an errant tee shot.”
Griffin said any other year he’d have been happy to finish second at the Memorial but given the position he was in after the first three rounds, the three-time tourney participant felt let down.
“Ultimately, I mean, it's funny, I'd take this finish, like, a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. I'm definitely a little disappointed to not have made it a little bit closer or gotten it done.”
This was the first time Griffin made the cut after failing the previous two years. Scheffler has made the cut all five times he’s played.
Nicklaus said Griffin is a “nice player” but isn’t on Scheffler’s level.
“I think that great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events. Looking at the leaderboard today, he didn't have -- I mean, Ben Griffin's a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player.
“But he knows that those guys, you know, are not in his league.”
Scheffler said he really doesn’t think about how other guys are playing, he always goes out and does what he knows he does best and attempts to execute what he knows it’s going to take to win.
“I always just dreamed of playing these tournaments. I never think about dominating. I don't -- it's a waste of time for me to think about that kind of stuff. I'm just trying to be the best that I can be and work hard and use the gifts that I have for good and that's pretty much it.”