In the final tournament of a major tournament on Memorial Sunday, held a week before the U.S. Open, Scottie Scheffler won despite a strong challenge from Collin Morikawa.
Scheffler shot two over par in the final round to finish the tournament at eight under par. Morikawa was one stroke behind at the 18th green but finished three strokes behind Scheffler in the final round to finish second at seven under par. The win was Scheffler’s fifth in seven tournaments, an impressive record that also includes victories at THE PLAYERS Championship and the Masters.
Morikawa’s attack falls short
Scheffler entered Sunday four strokes ahead of Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Adam Hadwin. The two-time major champion played Sunday’s final round with Morikawa, also a two-time major champion.
By the turn, Morikawa was at 1 under par on the front nine, cutting Scheffler’s lead in half. Scheffler fought back with two bogeys and a birdie to go into the back nine at 9 under par, two strokes behind Morikawa. Morikawa then birdied the 12th hole to cut Scheffler’s lead to one stroke going into the 15th hole.
Great performance at number 16
But after Scheffler left a long par putt, Morikawa looked to have a chance to tie at the top of the scoreboard, and Scheffler extended his lead on the 16th green, but Morikawa missed the green on the par-3, chipped short and left himself a long putt. He missed the putt and fell back to 7 under.
Scheffler then sank the putt for par to take a two-stroke lead at nine under par.
Scheffler gave Morikawa a chance on the 17th green, where Morikawa recorded his only loss on the back nine, missing a par putt to fall back to 8 under. Morikawa recorded par and was one stroke behind going into the final hole.
Both players’ approach shots were too long and landed in the greenside rough on the 18th hole. Morikawa put pressure on Scheffler with a chip shot near the flag, but Scheffler had room to make the par putt and sunk it to secure the victory.
The win was Scheffler’s first at the Memorial since finishing second at the Charles Schwab Challenge and tying for eighth at the PGA Championship, where he drew more attention for his early-morning arrest before the second round than for his play on the course.
Scheffler will now look to continue his good form at next week’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, aiming to win his third major championship of his career.
