Scottie Scheffler Wins the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village

Scottie Scheffler shot a two-over par final-round 74 to win the Memorial Tournament by one shot over Collin Morikawa at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Muirfield Village played very difficult throughout the week and on Sunday, as only six players shot under par in the final round, and only 11 golfers finished under par for the week. Morikawa's final-round 71 (-1) was the only under-par round among any golfer in the final 14 groups Sunday.

Scheffler entered the final round at 10-under par with a four-stroke lead over Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Adam Hadwin at six-under par. Hadwin would finish in third place at four-under par while Straka faded and finished at two-under par in a tie for fifth. Consequently, the back nine was a two-horse race between Scheffler and Morikawa in the final pairing.

After making the turn at one-over par for the day, Scheffler made three straight pars to start the back nine. Morikawa started his round one over after six holes but played his next six holes at three-under par to move to eight-under par for the tournament and within one shot of Scheffler’s lead.

Both golfers made three straight pars on holes 13 through 15 until they reached the par-3 16th hole, which surrendered just one bogey in the final round and played as the fourth-toughest hole for the day.

Both Morikawa and Scheffler missed the green short in regulation and left themselves long par putts after below-average second shots. Morikawa missed his 22-foot par putt to drop back to seven-under par, and Scheffler capitalized on the opportunity to extend his lead by knocking in his 15-footer for par.

This gave the reigning Masters champion a two-shot lead with two to play. Both Morikawa and Scheffler missed the green in the rough short of the par-4 17th green. Scheffler had the shorter third shot but left himself with the longer par putt from just outside 10 feet. He would miss the right-to-left putt low and tapped in for bogey while Morikawa made his five-foot putt for par to move within one shot heading to the final hole.

Both golfers missed the green in regulation at the difficult 481-yard par-4 18th hole in the thick rough over the green. Both golfers had roughly five feet putting for par as Scheffler held the one-stroke lead on the last green.

Despite being farther away, Scheffler would putt first for par from four feet and nine inches and rolled it right into the middle of the cup for the win before Morikawa made his own putt for par from five feet and two inches.

The Texas Longhorn had been the best on the PGA Tour by a wide mile from tee to green in his first five starts in 2024, but he was also losing strokes with his putter, as the flatstick prevented him from winning in January and February.

Following his worst putting week of the year at Riviera in The Genesis Invitational, Scheffler switched putters from a blade to a mallet and hasn't looked back. Scheffler has now won five of the eight tournaments since that putter change and has only finished lower than a tie for second once in that eight-tournament span.

The biggest key to Scheffler's dominance this season has been his elite approach play, but per DataGolf’s Skill Ratings (which have not been updated with data from the Memorial Tournament as of the time of writing), Scheffler ranks first in Strokes Gained (SG): Off the Tee, first in SG: Approach (by a wide margin) and first in SG: Around the Green.

This week at Muirfield Village, Scheffler approach play led him to victory as he led the field in SG: Approach the Green as he gained 12.960 shots on the field with his irons, via PGA Tour Shotlink Data.

Not only did that lead the field, but Scheffler was also more than five shots better than the man who was second on approach this week, Adam Hadwin at +7.597 SG: Approach the Green, and he gained more than twice as many shots on approach as the golfer who was third on approach, Justin Thomas at +5.170 SG: Approach the Green.

Consequently, his odds at bet365 for the upcoming U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 sat at +400 as of Thursday afternoon but have since dwindled to +280 after his win Sunday at Muirfield Village.

Scheffler finished one shot out of a playoff at the Memorial Tournament last year when he was by far the best ball-striker in the field but was dead last among those who made the cut in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing over two strokes per round. After gaining strokes with his putter at Jack's place this weekend, Scheffler got redemption with a win this year and a triumphant handshake with the Golden Bear on the 18th green.