HARTFORD, Connecticut – Travelers Championship officials had to be delighted again Sunday.
Having arguably the best field in tournament history coming to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell for one of the PGA Tour’s eighth and final Signature event June 19-22, there already was an abundance of excitement surrounding Connecticut’s biggest sporting event.
Well, defending champion and top-ranked Scottie Scheffler added another layer to the enthusiasm when he wore down the opposition again for a closing 2-under-par 70, 72-hole total of 10-under 278 and a four-stroke victory over Ben Griffin in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Scheffler’s Sweet 16 career win in the past 21/2 years earned him another handshake alongside the 18th green from tournament host Jack Nicklaus and enabled him to join Tiger Woods (2000-2003) as the only repeat champion in the 50th anniversary edition of the event.
“Well, you did it again,” Nicklaus told Scheffler.
“It was pretty cool to shake his hand again,” Scheffler told CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis with a wide smile while holding 1-year-old son Bennett.
© Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
But the normally low-key Scheffler got choked up when Balionis asked him about the support and impact that his wife, Meredith, had had on his life.
“My wife is my biggest supporter,” Scheffler said, fighting back tears. “She’s my best friend and … you know, this is our life here on the road. We have had some special memories at this tournament. I definitely couldn’t do it without her.”
Balionis subtly compared Scottie and Meredith to Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, the honoree of the 50th anniversary Memorial. She explained how important she was to the Golden Bear’s career and made the connection with what seems to be the next power couple, the Schefflers.
Scheffler began the day with a one-stroke lead over Griffin thanks to four birdies on the final five holes on Saturday, when he was six behind Griffin midway through the third round. Scheffler started shaky on Sunday, missing the first four greens, but his short game kept bailing him out. Griffin’s three-putt bogey at the fourth hole stretched Scheffler’s lead to two, and he added a birdie at the par-5 seventh to improve to 9 under. His streak extended to 31 straight holes without a bogey until he dropped a shot at No. 10, his lone miscue on the weekend.
But as Scheffler is apt to do, he bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 11th hole thanks to a 14-foot putt. After that, his closest competitors fell by the wayside.
“It was a hard week with a lot of stress,” Scheffler said. “The course is as much of a course as we have to handle every week.”
It was Scheffler’s third win in his last four starts after he missed the first month of the season following surgery to remove small glass fragments from a puncture wound to the palm of his right hand sustained while preparing Christmas dinner. But his three victories enabled him to join Woods (2000, 2003) as the only players to have at least that many wins in the same PGA Tour season by four shots or more. Scheffler also achieved that rarity last year, when he won eight times, including the Masters, Players Championship and Olympic gold medal, and was PGA Tour Player of the Year and FedExCup champion.
Scheffler also converted his ninth consecutive 54-hole lead since the 2023 WM Phoenix Open, the longest active streak since 1983. Such Tigeresque production brought plenty of accolades.
“We might have to start calling him The Closer,” CBS commentator Trevor Immelman said during the network’s broadcast.
Later, his CBS colleague Ian Baker-Finch compared Scheffler to the Hall of Fame closer for the New York Yankees, Mariano Rivera.
“He never loses,” Baker-Finch said.
“Obviously, Scottie Scheffler’s the best player in the world, but No. 1 can be beat,” Griffin understated.
“What impresses me the most is his club face control is elite,” said 2017 Travelers Championship titlist Jordan Spieth, who played on a sponsor exemption, shot 74 to tie for seventh at 287. “It’s maybe the best there’s ever been as far as club face control. So his consistency is ridiculous. And then that just leads to his distance control being phenomenal.”
Griffin, who played in the final twosome with Scheffler, had a topsy-turvy start with two birdies and two bogeys in the first five holes on the way to a front nine of par 36. Bogeys at the 12th and 13th holes cost him any realistic chance of beating the steady Scheffler. He had a wild finish of eagle-birdie-double bogey-par for 73 and total of 282, one ahead of Sepp Straka, a two-time winner this year who closed with 70.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” a classy/smiling Scheffler said of Griffin.
Griffin finished second a week after winning his first individual PGA Tour title in the Charles Schwab Challenge. He had won his first PGA Tour event on April 27 when he teamed with Andrew Novak to capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The other winner Sunday was popular Rickie Fowler, who also played on a sponsor exemption, closed in 73 to tie for seventh and earn a spot in the British Open in July as the top finisher not previously qualified. Fowler had the better world ranking than Brandt Snedeker, who shot 65 and also finished in a tie for seventh to break the tie.
