Scottie Scheffler (-10) has confidently saved the third round of the Memorial Tournament, too eventful for this player’s usual. To know: at hole 5, the first par 5 of the Muirfield Village Golf Club, he hit something like a whack from the third shot sand and went into the water (bogey); and at hole 9 he went out of bounds from the tee and ended up signing a triple bogey…
Well, anyway, he finished the round under par, maintained the lead and even extended the advantage to four over his immediate pursuers, Adam Hadwin (-6), Collin Morikawa (-6) and Sepp Straka (-6). He responded to the bogey at 5 with a birdie at 6, and to the triple bogey at 9 with birdies at holes 10 and 12, for a total of six birdies in the round and a final 71, far from the best record (it was a 67 from Sungjae Im), but after all within the exclusive group of fourteen players who have beaten an unmerciful course (tomorrow, with firmer greens, it will be even more so).
Scheffler has not shown his best version this Saturday, although he has still left a good bunch of excellent shots (six birdies on this course are not made with closed eyes or weak pulse), but the fact is that he could not be in better disposition to show us all the hand, the fifth victory in 2024. He would do it, moreover, when he still has at least eight tournaments to play…
But let’s not anticipate events. Not even his sublime figure of Number One allows it. To start with, tomorrow he will be paired in the stellar match with a Morikawa who has been warning and who may also bring some lesson learned from the same pairing that both starred in the past Masters, also in the fourth round. Then, the Californian felt all the weight of the Texan’s consistent game and forced more than necessary at specific moments. The difference, four strokes, is huge, but Scheffler has left some crack in his armour today and you never know, because Morikawa, on the contrary, has handed in a card of 68 strokes today, free of bogeys, and continues to emit excellent signals. The real question is: was today’s the ‘suffered round’ of the Number one and will he be back tomorrow as one of the best, if not the best, from the tee? Because that has been his problem. Today the driver was not as fine as usual.
Muirfield Village does not seem to be a course prone to great comebacks, as long as Scheffler does not go into a spin, as happened today to Viktor Hovland (-1, round of 77), so even a round over par could be enough for Scottie tomorrow to add that fifth victory. Look at it from any angle, no one will get rich tomorrow betting on the Texan, but something tells us that he will still have to sweat ink to receive the Golden Bear’s hug.
