SCHEFFLER HOLDS ON TO WIN MEMORIAL FOR HIS 5TH PGA TOUR TITLE OF THE YEAR

Scheffler was leading Morikawa by one shot and both hit approach shots that bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough. Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the force of his fist pump to celebrate showed how tough this day was....

Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except there was nothing typical about his victory at the Memorial. He made only one birdie. He closed with a 2-over 74, his highest final round in two years. And victory wasn't assured until Scheffler had the mettle to put a firm stroke on a downhill putt from 5 feet above the hole to take out the break. It went right in the heart for a one-shot victory over Collin Morikawa, and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Their exchange said it all. “You're a survivor,” Nicklaus told him.

“Thanks,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”

Scheffler endured more stress than he wanted and got the victory everyone has come to expect, his fifth of the season — one week into the month of June — as he heads for another tough test next week in the U.S. Open. Muirfield Village was so demanding with its ultra firm greens and swirling gusts throughout the afternoon that only six players broke par and the average score was a fraction under 75.

Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, either, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on his heels all afternoon, and on a back nine where making par felt like hard work. Par is what it took on the 18th hole.

“This is a tough place to close out,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t do a whole lot great today, but I did enough.”

Just barely.