Weekly PGA Recap: C's and D's Get Degrees

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

We all know what Scottie Scheffler can do when he has his A game. And we often hear about athletes succeeding on days they have their B game. But what Scheffler had on Sunday at the Memorial was not even a B.

And, in what has to be the worst possible news to every other golfer in the world, he still won.

If Scheffler -- who occupies a prominent spot in our U.S. Open Power Rankings -- was ever ripe for the taking, it was on this day. He coughed up most of his four-lead early in the final round, then spent the rest of the afternoon fighting his game while fending off hard-charging Collin Morikawa, Canadian Adam Hadwin and a brutally tough course.

When Scheffler's 5-footer for par on 18 dropped to the bottom of the cup for a one-shot win, his emphatic fist pump and embrace with caddie Ted Scott told you all you needed to know about how hard this round really was, and how relieved he was. 

Scheffler thus won for the fifth time this season, and it ended an eternal-for-him two-tournament winless stretch.

In Sunday's final round, during which he shot a 2-over 74 to stand at 8-under, he ranked 21st in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, ninth in Approach, 28th in Around-the-Green and 42nd in Putting, which added up to only T17 in SG: Total for the day. The 74 was the highest final-round winning score on Tour since Jon Rahm in 2020 right here at Muirfield Village.

"I played all right. I didn't have my best stuff, but man, I felt like I hit a lot of good shots that were just barely off," Scheffler told reporters after being congratulated by tournament host Jack Nicklaus and briefly celebrating with his wife and new baby. "If I holed a few more putts, it probably would have been a really good round. But outside of that, you know, a few bounces my way -- or a few bounces or breaks go my way, the day could have looked a little bit different, but I felt like I stepped up when I needed to there in the end."

That he did. And about those bounces, Scheffler doesn't normally need them. He doesn't normally put himself in position to need them. 

So now Scheffler heads to the U.S. Open back on track, in as much as T8 at the PGA Championship and runner-up at the Charles Schwab qualify as being off track. History awaits at Pinehurst No. 2. But Scheffler's season to date is already historic. 

These factoids come courtesy of the PGA Tour:

• Scheffler is the seventh player (16th instance) with five or more Tour wins in a season since 1983 and first since Justin Thomas in 2016-17
• He has finished outside the top 10 once in 13 starts this season (T17 at the Amex)
• He's the second player since 1950 with five Tour wins including a major before the U.S. Open (Arnold Palmer did it twice in 1960 and 1962)
• He's the first player with five Tour wins before the U.S. Open since Tom Watson in 1980
  (Watson got win No. 5 on May 11, a month before Scheffler just did it, which is mind-boggling
• Winning five times in a calendar year by June 10 had been done only four other times since 1960: the two Palmer years, the Watson year and Johnny Miller's amazing 1974.

There's not much more to say, other than don't expect Scheffler to have his C game this week in North Carolina.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa was in the final pairing with Scheffler on Sunday, just like at the Masters. He got within one shot, and ended within one shot, but could never pull even. He was three shots better than Scheffler -- an enormous accomplishment -- but he needed four. Morikawa is playing his best golf since winning his last major in 2021. He's the only golfer to finish in the top-5 in both majors so far, and that's been without his vaunted approach play firing on all cylinders. But it's getting better. He ranked fourth in SG: Approach at the Memorial, which bodes well for him at Pinehurst No. 2.
 
Adam Hadwin
Hadwin birdied three of the first seven holes to pull within one but, like Morikawa, could never pull even. Still, solo third constituted a great week, one that came with an enormous perk and a potentially enormous perk. First, he locked up a spot in the Open Championship next month at Royal Troon. Also, he was projected to move into the second and final position from Canada for a spot in the upcoming Olympics. Qualifying ends next week after the U.S. Open.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Ever so quietly, the South African sits 12th in the FedEx Cup point standings after a solo fourth, pretty much assured of being in the Tour Championship, now just a little more than two months away. This was his third top-10 and he has nine top-25s.

Ludvig Aberg
Aberg withdrew from the Wells Fargo last month citing a knee injury. Now we know has torn meniscus in his left knee. He will try to play through it before considering offseason surgery. He tied for fifth at the Memorial, which might indicate he can compete despite the injury. But … he got worse as the tournament progressed, shooting 68-72-72-74. And, he ranked only 36th in the field in SG: Off-the-Tee, the hallmark of his game. And that was after taking a month off. Now Aberg has to play two weeks in a row. We shall see.

Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick tied for fifth, showing much-needed form the week before his best major.

Sepp Straka
Straka had a chance for a great week. And a tie for fifth surely sounds like a great week. But he had five bogeys on the back-nine (along with two birdies) to tumble backward when he could've vied for the title.

Xander Schauffele
Playing for the first time since winning the PGA Championship, Schauffele tied for eighth. He should be on the first page of the leaderboard at Pinehurst.

Hideki Matsuyama
Heading to a U.S. Open track where play around the greens will be paramount, Matsuyama, who was ranked first on Tour in SG: Around-the-Green, tied for eighth.

Sahith Theegala
Theegala's one big weakness this season has been a curious one: SG: Around-the-Green. That's because it's normally a strength. At the Memorial, he ranked 16th in the field, a great sign, and he tied for 12th.

Nick Dunlap
Dunlap hasn't had many good weeks since winning the Amex and turning pro back in January. So when he gets his second top-20 since then -- a tie for 12th -- it's worth a mention.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy was never in the mix and tied for 15th. There aren't many players for whom a T15 would be an off week, but McIlroy is one of them.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland couldn't match his solo third at the PGA, but his tie for 15th was still his second best result of the season. After opening 69-69, he ballooned to 77-75.

Sam Burns
Two good weeks in a row for Burns, tying for 15th a week after tying for 10th in Canada.

Billy Horschel
Horschel tied for 15th at a tournament he won two years ago. He ranked top-10 in putting and could make that work at Pinehurst this week.

Akshay Bhatia
After four straight weeks of 42-MC-MC-T60, a tie for 22nd looks much better for Bhatia heading into a major.

Jackson Koivun
The 19-year-old Auburn freshman and Nicklaus invitee made the cut, unlike all the big names in the next paragraph. His final three rounds were 76-78-80 and he wound up 52nd and last among those who made the cut. But that doesn't tarnish his accomplishment in the least.

MISSED CUTS

Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler, Matthieu Pavon. Every one of these five golfers has been playing poorly for a while now and it's hard to expect much from any of them this week at the U.S. Open. Cantlay is a two-time winner of the Memorial.

U.S. Open

The USGA announced the final five berths in the 156-man field on Monday. The big name was Adam Scott, who will play in his 92nd straight major going back nearly a quarter century. Scott is already in next month's Open Championship, next year's Masters and, in all likelihood, next year's PGA, bringing his streak to 95. Others added were recent Canadian Open winner Robert MacIntyre, plus four alternates from final qualifying, including Sergio Garcia. The others are 21-year-old amateur Brendan Valdes, 30-year-old Otto Black and 22-year-old Maxwell Moldovan.