Clutch-time closing propelled Scottie Scheffler’s back-to-back victories at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

Scottie Scheffler was once known as the guy who couldn’t win.

Before he picked off majors in bunches, became a staple on U.S. Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups, and took a stranglehold atop the Official World Golf Ranking, he was someone who got close but couldn’t convert.

That feels particularly hard to believe as the PGA TOUR arrives at Muirfield Village Golf Club, but Scheffler can count the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday as one of his close calls.

The year was 2021. Scheffler was battling Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay, and he needed a birdie on the 18th hole to make a playoff. Pushing for a makeable look, Scheffler hit an aggressive approach that veered further left than he hoped and dropped into the bunker. He splashed it to 6 feet and missed the putt to fall two shots back. Walking off the green, Scheffler passed Jack Nicklaus, who was waiting greenside for the eventual champion. That wasn’t Scheffler, but he recalled Nicklaus telling him then that one day he would make the putt on No. 18, “and I’ll be walking off to shake his hand.”

Five years later, Scheffler has had that honor in back-to-back years, winning the Memorial in 2024 and 2025 by doing what he couldn’t back then: close brilliantly in clutch time.

It sounds reductive, but Muirfield Village demands excellence from hole No. 1 to No. 72 and particularly down its brutish closing stretch. A year ago, the final three holes ranked among the seven hardest on the course. In 2024, they were among the five hardest, and the 18th was the most difficult.

The stretch starts with a precarious 218-yard par 3 with water lurking left. It’s been the scene for iconic moments throughout the Memorial’s history. Most notably, Tiger Woods’ chip-in in 2012 en route to victory. From there, players head to the longest par 4 on the course, the brutish 503-yard penultimate hole, and close with the always-fickle par-4 18th. In 2025, the field played them to an average of 2-over par for the week. Scheffler played it in 3 under with no bogeys.

To win, you must not just survive but thrive in the closing moments.

“I think that great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events,” Nicklaus, the tournament host, said after the final round last year.

Nicklaus was a witness to a closing clinic a year ago. Scheffler led Ben Griffin by just one stroke with eight holes to play. The tournament was in the balance, and Scheffler faced a stern test in his defense against a less proven opponent with little to lose. Yet Scheffler showed what separates the best from the rest at Muirfield Village. Scheffler hit his next five fairways and picked up birdies at the 11th and 15th. With three holes to play, his lead was only two strokes, but crucially, Scheffler found the fairway at the 17th while Griffin blew his tee shot miles left. Scheffler was easily able to advance with par, while Griffin hacked his way to a double bogey.

“I told myself when we were standing there on 17 tee, if Ben eagles 15, birdies 16 and 17 and 18, we deserve to be going into a playoff, and that's kind of the conversation I had with myself,” Scheffler said. “I can't stop him from playing great golf, but all I can do is just go out there and try and execute. I hit the fairway on 17, hit the green, gave myself a good look.

“When you're in the rough out here, it's really challenging, and Ben put it in the rough on 17,” Scheffler added, “which makes that hole extremely difficult, and (he) paid the price for an errant tee shot.”

Scheffler hit 11 of 14 fairways in his final round – which he said was the best part of his game on Sunday – and it proved to be the determining factor in the biggest moment. With a four-stroke lead, Scheffler was able to comfortably close for a victory, playing the last three holes in even par. Griffin played them in 2 over.

It wasn’t as simple in 2024. Scheffler and Morikawa dueled throughout the back nine. Scheffler was momentarily up two strokes but dropped a shot on the penultimate hole as the deficit shrank to a single shot. That left the tournament in the balance on the 18th, as it was in 2021 when Scheffler came up short.

The hole began in an eerily similar fashion. Scheffler hit the fairway, but his approach left something to be desired, this time skipping into the rough long of the green. Morikawa did the same, and suddenly two of the top players in the world were in a chip-off for the title. Morikawa and Scheffler each hit it to 5 feet. Morikawa had the honors and poured in his putt, forcing Scheffler into a must-make situation.

This time, he poured in the putt on the 18th to realize the dream of winning Nicklaus’ event and shaking his hand. What did Nicklaus tell him this time?

“You’re a survivor.”

That’s what it takes to win at Muirfield Village.