Big names look to end win droughts at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

DUBLIN, Ohio – For Martin Kaymer it has been almost five years. Adam Scott has gone past the three-year mark. Jordan Spieth is coming up on two years.

Those three are no strangers to winning on the PGA TOUR’s biggest stages. But all three have waited longer than they would like since last hoisting a trophy.

Through 54 holes, one of them appears to have the best chance of winning the prestigious the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

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Joining them in the top five on the leaderboard at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club is Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Cantlay. Matsuyama’s drought is at 22 months. And Cantlay is now around 19 months.

Sunday will be a shootout to see who wants to end the drought more.

Kaymer is the conductor at this point. Rounds of 67-68-66 put the German at 15 under and two shots in front. He has nine European Tour wins. He’s won the PGA Championship (2010) before. He won THE PLAYERS Championship and U.S. Open in the same year. But that was in 2014. He hasn’t won since.

“Once you lead a golf tournament, it's so much about how much can you handle yourself,” Kaymer said.

“And obviously if somebody takes a run at you, it is what it is. But the game plan doesn't really change. For me it's pure enjoyment the way I play right now. I don't have many weaknesses that I see at the moment.

“But under the circumstances, it can change. Obviously handling certain nerves and pressure and stuff like that, who knows how you will react. And that is the beauty of golf; that you can't really prepare yourself for those special situations.”

Kaymer leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting having missed just one putt inside 15-feet all week. He will look to continue the form Sunday.

“I just really (need to) embrace the challenge tomorrow, try to keep working on the progress,” he said.

“If it happens to win, fantastic; if not, I will learn a lot, which will help me, especially with the busy summer that's coming up for me.”

Next in line is Scott. The Australian’s 71-66-66 effort has him at 13-under, alone in second place. He’s also a former THE PLAYERS champion (2004) and the 2013 Masters champion. In total he has 13 PGA TOUR wins (and another unofficial one) plus a further 13 International wins. Scott won back-to-back weeks in early 2016 on the TOUR but not since.

He leads the field this week in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Approach-the-Green.

“I'm just going to play as good as I can tomorrow. I like where it's all at. I feel like the last few times I've been in with a chance, going back to the PGA Championship last year, I felt comfortable. So I'm not worried. I feel like this is the spot I'm meant to be,” Scott said.

“And since then, I've seen lots of good golf, and I feel like my game is at a level that, if I put it all together properly and control myself out there, I can win.”

Spieth (66-70-69), Matsuyama (71-70-64) and Cantlay (68-69-68) all sit at 11 under, four back. No one else is closer than six shots to the lead.

Spieth, a former FedExCup champion with three majors to his name among 11 PGA TOUR wins also has won two Australian Opens. But he hasn’t won since the 2017 Open Championship. Three weeks ago he had gone 10 months without a top-10 finish but has since been amongst the best players two weeks in a row.

“All in all I'm pleased with the progress that's been made. If I look back three weeks from the Byron Nelson to now, it's night and day, in my opinion, about how I feel about my game and how it's actually producing,” Spieth said.

“So I'm pleased with that. I'm just trying to make a little bit more progress for tomorrow.”

Matsuyama has five PGA TOUR wins including two World Golf Championships and a win here at Muirfield Village (2014). There are also eight Japan Tour wins on his resume.

Cantlay won his only PGA TOUR title at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open back in early November 2017.

“All of them, if you take Jordan, if you take Adam, or Matsuyama…, they have won huge tournaments. They're good enough to win any week,” Kaymer said.

“And it's the same for me. It's just a matter of how much can you handle Saturday and Sunday. And you need a little bit of luck here and there as well.

“So I think we can all play good golf, and it's quite nice for tomorrow because no one is really holding back.”

At the end of it all, Nicklaus will be waiting for his customary winner's handshake. As a 73-time TOUR winner who won at least once in his first 17 seasons, he isn’t super familiar with the feeling of ending droughts.

But he’ll have an idea when he sees the champion's face.