Scottie Scheffler the clear US Open favourite after retaining Memorial Tournament by four shots

Irish Independent

2 days ago

The world number one went into the final round just a shot ahead of Griffin on eight-under par and closed with a two-under 70 to his rival's 73 to win for the third time in his last four starts on 10-under par and pocket $4 million.
'It's pretty cool,' said Scheffler, who became the first player since Tiger Woods won three in a row in 2001, to retain the title.
"It's always a hard week this week. It's so challenging to play this tournament, and I battled really hard over the weekend. Ben made things interesting there down the stretch."
Scheffler will not be joining Rory McIlroy in this week's RBC Canadian Open but the PGA champion heads home to practice for Oakmont believing he's prepared himself well to win his second major this year.
'This is a golf course that's definitely going to expose weaknesses,' Scheffler said. 'I got a few things that I can practice next week but overall it was really solid week.
'It was a really good battle today and (caddie) Teddy (Scott) and I did really good job working our way around the course and not getting ahead of ourselves and put up another really good round on this very difficult golf course,'
The Dallas based world number one didn't have his A-game on the front nine at Muirfield Village.
But he turned in level par to lead by two strokes and while he bogeyed the 10th, he extended his lead to four shots over the next three holes as he birdied the 11th and watched Griffin bogey the 12th and 13th.
Griffin, who was looking for his third win in six starts and his second in a row after winning the previous week's Charles Schwab Challenge, produced a brief late rally to add some excitement to the finish.
But after making eagle to Scheffler's birdie at the 548 yard 15th and a 27 footer for a birdie two at the 16th to cut the deficit to two shots, his challenge evaporated at the 17th, where he made a double-bogey to leave Scheffler four clear playing the 18th.
The American went on to make a seven footer for a two-putt par at the 18th to win his 16th PGA TOUR title and his third this year following triumphs in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
Sepp Straka was third, five shots behind Scheffler after a closing 70 but Shane Lowry carded a disappointing, five-over 77 to finish joint 23rd on three-over ($208,000).
After making birdie at the first, the Offaly man made a three-putt bogey at the second and double-bogeyed the third after putting his second in the water.
He dropped another shot at the par-five fifth but after a birdie at the sixth, he drove out of bounds and triple-bogeyed the ninth before playing the back nine in level par.
On the plus side, he holed 127 feet of putts, making three between 20 and 30 feet to gain strokes on the field with the blade for the first time all week.
Lowry returns to action this week in the RBC Canadian Open alongside McIlroy and Seamus Power at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley as Scheffler rests on his laurels at home in Dallas.