Scottie Scheffler rolls to victory at Memorial for 3rd win of year
OHIO: Scottie Scheffler showed once again that he's ready to conquer whatever challenge he's faced with on the PGA Tour.
The world's No. 1 golfer had another smooth round and won for the third time in his last four tournaments, successfully defending his title at the Memorial Tournament with Sunday's 2-under-par 70 in the final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
"This is a golf course that is definitely going to expose your weaknesses," Scheffler said. "Did some really good battling today. ... Put up another really good round on this very difficult golf course."
At 10-under 278 for the tournament, Scheffler secured a four-shot victory over Ben Griffin -- the only other golfer to win a PGA Tour event that Scheffler started in the past month.
Scheffler hadn't won in 2025 until capturing the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which is considered his hometown event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and followed that with claiming the PGA Championship. He won seven times in 2024.
Scheffler and Tiger Woods are the only back-to-back winners of the Memorial Tournament. It's a tournament hosted by legendary Jack Nicklaus, who greeted the current champion as he walked off the green.
"It's pretty cool," Scheffler said. "It's always a hard week. It's so challenging to play this tournament."
Much like on Saturday, Scheffler was content with pars as he played the front nine in 1 under with eight pars.
Griffin (73 on Sunday) led for large chunks of the first three days, but lost a share of the top spot with a bogey on Saturday's final hole. He began Sunday with another bogey, and he was 2 over for the day through 13 holes.
"I'll learn from some of my swings down the stretch," Griffin said. "I'll remember some of the good stuff, and I'll bounce back and get right back to it."
An eagle on the par-5 15th with a 12-foot putt followed by a birdie on No. 16 allowed Griffin to extend the suspense. Then the margin went from two strokes to four when Griffin was stuck with a double bogey at No. 17.
"We battled really hard on the weekend," Scheffler said. "Ben made things interesting down the stretch. Overall, it was a great week."
A week ago, Scheffler tied for fourth place as Griffin won the Charles Schwab Challenge. Scheffler has secured seven consecutive top-10 finishes.
"The guy's relentless," said Sepp Straka, the tournament's third-place finisher from Austria. "He loves competition, and he doesn't like giving up shots."
Griffin said his putting was costly during the weekend. The runner-up spot didn't seem as rewarding as it would have in previous years.
"I'd take this finish, like, a year ago, two years ago, three years ago," he said. "I'm definitely a little disappointed to not have made it a little bit closer or gotten it done."
Straka (70) was third at 5 under and second-round co-leader Nick Taylor of Canada (73) finished fourth at 4 under. Russell Henley (71) and Maverick McNealy (70) shared fifth place at 2 under.
Brandt Snedeker's 65 was the best score of the final round, moving him to 1 under and into a five-way tie for seventh place.
"I think I probably made 200 feet of putts today," Snedeker said. "I had the putter working. When you have days like that, it's just get it on the green, give yourself a chance."
Also in that cluster at 7 under was Rickie Fowler (73), who qualified for next month's British Open as a result of his finishing spot.
"We're heading the right way," Fowler said. "This week still could have been a lot better, but definitely positive is going over to Portrush. That's one I've wanted on the schedule."
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New Straits Times
2 days ago
- New Straits Times
Scottie Scheffler rolls to victory at Memorial for 3rd win of year
OHIO: Scottie Scheffler showed once again that he's ready to conquer whatever challenge he's faced with on the PGA Tour. The world's No. 1 golfer had another smooth round and won for the third time in his last four tournaments, successfully defending his title at the Memorial Tournament with Sunday's 2-under-par 70 in the final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. "This is a golf course that is definitely going to expose your weaknesses," Scheffler said. "Did some really good battling today. ... Put up another really good round on this very difficult golf course." At 10-under 278 for the tournament, Scheffler secured a four-shot victory over Ben Griffin -- the only other golfer to win a PGA Tour event that Scheffler started in the past month. Scheffler hadn't won in 2025 until capturing the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which is considered his hometown event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and followed that with claiming the PGA Championship. He won seven times in 2024. Scheffler and Tiger Woods are the only back-to-back winners of the Memorial Tournament. It's a tournament hosted by legendary Jack Nicklaus, who greeted the current champion as he walked off the green. "It's pretty cool," Scheffler said. "It's always a hard week. It's so challenging to play this tournament." Much like on Saturday, Scheffler was content with pars as he played the front nine in 1 under with eight pars. Griffin (73 on Sunday) led for large chunks of the first three days, but lost a share of the top spot with a bogey on Saturday's final hole. He began Sunday with another bogey, and he was 2 over for the day through 13 holes. "I'll learn from some of my swings down the stretch," Griffin said. "I'll remember some of the good stuff, and I'll bounce back and get right back to it." An eagle on the par-5 15th with a 12-foot putt followed by a birdie on No. 16 allowed Griffin to extend the suspense. Then the margin went from two strokes to four when Griffin was stuck with a double bogey at No. 17. "We battled really hard on the weekend," Scheffler said. "Ben made things interesting down the stretch. Overall, it was a great week." A week ago, Scheffler tied for fourth place as Griffin won the Charles Schwab Challenge. Scheffler has secured seven consecutive top-10 finishes. "The guy's relentless," said Sepp Straka, the tournament's third-place finisher from Austria. "He loves competition, and he doesn't like giving up shots." Griffin said his putting was costly during the weekend. The runner-up spot didn't seem as rewarding as it would have in previous years. "I'd take this finish, like, a year ago, two years ago, three years ago," he said. "I'm definitely a little disappointed to not have made it a little bit closer or gotten it done." Straka (70) was third at 5 under and second-round co-leader Nick Taylor of Canada (73) finished fourth at 4 under. Russell Henley (71) and Maverick McNealy (70) shared fifth place at 2 under. Brandt Snedeker's 65 was the best score of the final round, moving him to 1 under and into a five-way tie for seventh place. "I think I probably made 200 feet of putts today," Snedeker said. "I had the putter working. When you have days like that, it's just get it on the green, give yourself a chance." Also in that cluster at 7 under was Rickie Fowler (73), who qualified for next month's British Open as a result of his finishing spot. "We're heading the right way," Fowler said. "This week still could have been a lot better, but definitely positive is going over to Portrush. That's one I've wanted on the schedule."
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- New Straits Times
Scheffler grabs lead at PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament
WASHINGTON: World number one Scottie Scheffler conjured a late birdie blitz to fire a four-under-par 68 and grab a one-shot lead after the third round at the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio on Saturday. Scheffler, bidding to successfully defend his crown at Muirfield Village, rattled in four birdies in the final five holes to drop to eight under, one ahead of overnight leader Ben Griffin, who stumbled with an even-par 72. "I don't know what the scoring average was today, but I was definitely proud of the way I finished and it was really challenging," Scheffler said afterward. "Through 13 holes I felt like I was playing really good and I was only even par. Just a hard golf course." Three-time major champion Scheffler, who started the day three off the pace, was forced to bide his time after opening his round with 13 pars. But the 28-year-old American got things going on the par-four 14th, draining a 10-foot birdie putt before making a birdie four on the par-five 15th, when his third shot from the edge of the green left him with a tap-in. A par on 16 left him at two under for the day but Scheffler was soon on the move at the par-four 17th, when he stuck his approach to eight feet and then rolled in the birdie putt. Another birdie on the 18th, with Scheffler draining a 14-foot birdie putt, thrust him into a share of the lead alongside Griffin. At that stage, Griffin looked to have overcome the worst of a roller coaster round to hang on to the lead. The in-form American, chasing his third PGA Tour win of the year, had got off to a smooth start after a trio of early birdies on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes. But four straight bogeys derailed his progress and allowed the chasing pack to close. Griffin steadied the ship with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 leaving him on 10 under, five clear of the field. Yet Scheffler's late charge narrowed the deficit and ensured Griffin headed to the 18th with a share of the lead. He looked to have done enough to finish the day alongside Scheffler when his third shot from the greenside rough left him with a five-footer to par. But Griffin's short putt rolled wide for bogey, leaving him with the daunting task of having to chase Scheffler in Sunday's final round. "I felt like I was starting to separate myself midway through and then kind of got to some tough holes and didn't execute very well," Griffin said. "You can do that out here. Tomorrow I've got to clean up some of those holes, make sure I stay aggressive." Scheffler, meanwhile, said he had not panicked after seeing Griffin go five shots clear at 10 under earlier in the round. "No lead's safe around this place," Scheffler said. "I knew if I kept going and played a decent round, I would be in somewhat of a position to chase him down tomorrow." Canada's Nick Taylor is third on the leaderboard on five under, three behind Scheffler, following a two-over-par 74. Austrian Sepp Straka is tied for fourth on three under alongside Keegan Bradley and Jordan Spieth. - AFP
The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
Monahan unconcerned about Rory
Rory McIlroy is not at this week's Memorial Tournament. — AFP US PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has come to the defence of Rory McIlroy, whose tournament scheduling left him out of the Memorial Tournament this week and marked the third signature event he missed this season. 'The beauty of our model is that our players have the ability to select their schedule,' Monahan at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, venue of this week's Memorial Tournament.
