Scheffler defends title at Memorial for 3rd win of season

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Scottie Scheffler never lost the lead and never gave anyone much of a chance down the stretch Sunday in another relentless performance, closing with a 2-under 70 for a four-shot victory to join Tiger Woods as the only repeat winners of the Memorial.

Slowed by hand surgery at the start of the year from a freak accident, Scheffler appears to be in full stride with one major already in the bag and another around the corner at the U.S. Open.

“It’s always a hard week,” said Scheffler, who finished at 10-under 278. “We battled really hard on the weekend. Overall it was a great week.”

On one of the tougher PGA Tour tests of the year, Scheffler made one bogey over the final 40 holes at Muirfield Village.

“Well, you did it again,” tournament host Jack Nicklaus told him walking off the green.

Ben Griffin tried to make it interesting at the end with a 12-foot eagle on the par-5 15th and a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th to close within two shots with two to play. Scheffler, however, doesn’t make mistakes. Griffin made double bogey on the 17th.

Griffin made a 4-foot par on the 18th for a 73 to finish alone in second, worth $2.2 million, more than what he earned when he won at Colonial last week.

Sepp Straka (70) finished another shot back.

“You know Scottie’s probably going to play a good round of golf. The guy’s relentless. He loves competition, and he doesn’t like giving up shots,” Straka said. “But it’s one of those courses where it can always happen, so you got to be prepared for it. I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances to kind of make a push.”

Scheffler now has won three times in his last four starts — the exception was Colonial, a tie for fourth the week after winning the PGA Championship — and expanded his margin at No. 1 in the world to levels not seen since Woods in his peak years.

Woods is a five-time winner at Memorial who won three straight from 1999 through 2001. No one had repeated at Muirfield Village since then until Scheffler.

His performances lately look a lot more like Nicklaus the way he wears down the field by rarely getting out of position.

Rickie Fowler had his first top 10 of the year at just the right time.

He made par on the 18th to tie for seventh, earning him a spot in the British Open. Fowler tied with Brandt Snedeker at 1-under 287, but gets the one Open exemption available based on a higher world ranking — Fowler at No. 124, Snedeker at No. 430.

“That’s one I’ve wanted on the schedule,” said Fowler, who faces a 36-hole qualifier for the U.S. Open on Monday.

Both received sponsor exemptions to the Memorial, a signature event on the PGA Tour.

For Scheffler, it was his fifth victory in a $20 million signature event in the last two years. This one looked inevitable, but only after a quick development early on the back nine.

Scheffler ended 31 holes without a bogey at tough Muirfield Village on the 10th hole, dropping his lead to one shot. Griffin had 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 11th. Scheffler made his 15-foot birdie putt and Griffin missed.

Griffin bogeyed the next two holes, and just like that, Scheffler was four shots ahead. That’s how it was at the PGA Championship — tight one minute, a blowout the next, and the sweetest walk toward the 18th green with victory secure.

This one ended in a handshake with Nicklaus, who had said earlier in the week of Scheffler, “He plays a lot like I did.”

Nicklaus said he was all about fairways and greens, having plenty of chances and making enough of them to post a score. That’s the Scheffler way, too, even if it didn’t always look that way at the start of the final round.

With mud on the golf ball in the first fairway, too much spin on short irons on the next few holes, Scheffler didn’t have a birdie putt until the fifth hole. He saved par seven times in the final round, including the final hole.

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