Connect with us

News

COVERAGE: Scheffler Surges Into Memorial Tournament Lead

Published

3 weeks ago

on

Photo credit: Pittsburgh Golf Now/Julia Wingard

DUBLIN, Ohio — A Memorial Tournament staffer was watching the CBS third round broadcast when he made a very clear observation.

“He’s the story,” he beamed. “That was PGA Championship-like.”

The he in this case was Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion of this event, who was down six shots eight holes into Saturday’s play and birdied four of his last five holes — including a thunderous roar heard in the media center after his putt on 18 — leading Ben Griffin by a single shot.

Scheffler’s 68 is his first bogey-free effort in 19 rounds at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

“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, like through 13 holes I felt like I was playing really good, and I was only even par,” he said.

With the wind and mudballs very much factors, Scheffler ramped up his play, making a 10-foot putt for birdie on 14 and then it was off to the races.

Scheffler ranks second in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach to Green, Greens In Regulation and Scrambling. His Strokes Gained: Off the Tee is third in the field and Around the Green is fifth.

A win makes him the first golfer since Tiger Woods (1999-2001) to successfully defend his Memorial Tournament title.

“This golf course is really challenging and no lead’s safe around this place,” Scheffler reminded. “I knew if I kept going and played a decent round, I would be in somewhat of a position to chase him down tomorrow. If he’s sitting there at 10-under and if he gets to 12 or 13, there’s not much I can do about that, so I’m not really going to change my mindset trying to get to 12-under when I’m sitting at 4. That’s not really going to do me a lot of justice. So, I tried to keep plotting along and hit some good shots and was able to have a nice finish.”

As for Griffin, his lead extended when he birdied holes six through eight in succession, but he then bogeyed four consecutive holes.

He was able to recover by recording birdie on 14 and 15 to keep in front by multiple strokes, but with Scheffler storming back, he missed a three-foot putt on the last hole to lose his lead.

Despite this miss he remains second in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. If Griffin were to win, he would join Scheffler (2021-22) and Jimmy Walker (2013-14) as players who won their first three PGA Tour titles in the same season.

“I was really into shapes today, a lot of circles and a lot of squares,” Griffin quipped. “There’s not a stage that’s too big for me anymore. I think if you go back maybe a year or two, there would definitely be maybe a tick of intimidation, just because I was unfamiliar with the territory.

“Now that I’ve experienced it and I’ve competed against the best players in the world and had success, there’s nothing from a mental standpoint that’s going to block me from trying to win tomorrow. I’m out there on the golf course; I’m just trying to win a golf tournament. So, I’m excited to battle against Scottie and I don’t think there’s a moment too big.”

Nick Taylor, the second member of the final group, had an up-and-down round, dropping two shots on the front nine and then bogeyed the 12th and 13th holes.

Just when it appeared things were going in the wrong direction, Taylor hit his 118-yard approach on 14 into the hole. He casually tossed his club, sheepishly smiled and high-fived his caddie. Griffin even came over to congratulate his playing partner on the shot.

Taylor would then birdie the next hole and keep his score at 5 under, three shots behind Scheffler.

“(On) 12 specifically I thought I hit a really quality shot there and just kind of got gusted,” revealed Taylor. “I hit a lot of fairways, which was kind of key for me out here, and just had little specks of mud that I was just second-guessing a little bit of time that just was affecting enough that you have to be so precise out here that hitting it to 30, 40 feet is kind of difficult to make birdie. Obviously that eagle was huge for the comeback.”

There is a three-way tie for fourth with Sepp Straka vaulting back into contention with the round of the day at 6-under 66. It was a bogey-free effort.

“I had trouble yesterday in the rain hitting my driver in the fairway, got in some tough positions and, yeah, it’s easy to get out of position on this golf course,” Straka understood. “Any time you’re on a tee you can either make a double or you can make a birdie. It’s one of those courses where there’s a lot of volatility, and today I executed pretty well, judged my lies very well, and judged the wind very well, which I did not do the first two days.”

He is joined by Keegan Bradley and Jordan Spieth.

“Maybe 7 out of 10,” said Spieth on his confidence. “That number’s just continuing to go up. I wouldn’t say it’s been any higher at any point this year yet. I know how to get it to a 10 and it’s just more work. It’s more of what I’m doing. It’s just things move slowly.”

Tee times begin Sunday morning at 8:55, with Austin Eckroat going off first as a single.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD

  1. Scottie Scheffler -8

  2. Ben Griffin -7

  3. Nick Taylor -5

T4. Keegan Bradley -4

T4. Jordan Spieth -4

T4. Sepp Straka -4

T7. Patrick Cantlay -3

T7. Rickie Fowler -3

T7. Shane Lowry -3

T10. Jacob Bridgeman -2

T10. Russell Henley -2

Related Topics:

Get PGN in your Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Moon Golf Club

PGN on Facebook

PGN on Facebook

Follow PGN on Twitter