Scottie Scheffler wins his third Signature Event
The breezy conditions on Friday & Saturday dried out Muirfield Village and made it extremely difficult to shoot a good score as only 11 players finished under par.
Scottie Scheffler -10 shot rounds of 67, 68,71 and took a four-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round. Scheffler played in Sunday’s final group with -6 Collin Morikawa. Morikawa closed the gap to three shots with an incredible birdie at two. Adam Hadwin and Sepp Straka both -6 played in Sunday’s second last group and the Canadian achieved two remarkable birdies at one and four to trim Scheffler’s lead to two shots. The world number one dropped a shot at four but showed yet again why he is leader of PGA Tour Bounce Back Ability category as he returned to -10 with a birdie at six.
Scheffler gave the chasing pack encouragement as he failed to get up and down for par at eight. Hadwin finished the front nine with two bogeys and dropped back to -7. Morikawa has returned to form since joining up again with Rick Sessinghaus and two-time major champion achieved a quality birdie at nine to reach -7. Scheffler -9 took a two-shot lead over -7 Morikawa and Hadwin into the back nine. A one-shot swing at the 179 yard par three 12th hole with a birdie by Morikawa to reach -8 and get within one of Scheffler.
A massive turning point at 15 with Morikawa failing to achieve a birdie and Scheffler took a slender lead to 16th tee. Another twist at 16 with a bogey by Morikawa and a par save for Scheffler was good enough to stretch the lead at top to two shots. A clumsy chip at 17, a missed putt resulted in a bogey for Scheffler and his lead was cut to one shot. A quality up & down at 18 by Scheffler gave himself a one-shot win over Morikawa and his fifth victory of 2024. Scheffler created history as he becomes the fastest golfer since Tom Watson 1980 to win five times in a season.
Morikawa is in great form heading to Pinehurst with two top five finishes at Augusta & Valhalla and runner-up at Memorial earning $2.2 million. Hadwin shot a disappointing back nine of 39 but managed to finish -4 in third and earned $1.4 million. Christian Bezuidenhout -3 achieved two remarkable birdies at 14 & 15 to finish fourth and earned $1 million. 2023 Europe Ryder Cup participants Sepp Straka, Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg all finished tied fifth on -2.
Rory McIlroy -3 shot rounds of 70,71 and headed into Saturday six shots off the lead. McIlroy -2 was paired with -1 Shane Lowry for Sunday’s final round and the Northern Irishman only managed two birdies in a disappointing 76. Four-time major champion finished +2 tied 15th and will now turn his attention to the third major of 2024 starting Thursday June 13th at Pinehurst. Seamus Power’s week started with qualifying for Pinehurst but finished with a +5 round resulting in a tied 27th. Shane Lowry had a great Saturday which included two eagles but a nightmare on Sunday resulted in finishing +12.