Opinion– By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net (Dublin, Ohio)
The Winners Circle
It is hard for anyone to say Scottie Scheffler has peaked. He has won five times this PGA Tour season and he was in command by four shots after yesterday’s round. It looks like he is orbiting around the rest of the PGA Tour right now. Today, he was in cruise control with a two over 74 and never lost the tournament lead. Collin Morikawa made things interesting, but Scheffler put this tournament away by throwing jabs at Morikawa. Scheffler is No. 1 because he does not beat himself. He takes this question from the press.
Was it the hardest one this year?
I don’t think so. It’s kind of hard to rate difficulty of wins. Maybe THE PLAYERS, I think, would maybe be the hardest, if I could think, just because I was coming off a win and I had — the neck was bugging me pretty bad that week.”
In the Hunt
Collin Morikawa gave it a heck of a run. He pulled out driver on a few holes that Scheffler played it safe. He had four birdies and three bogeys on Sunday and pulled out an 18th hole bunker shot that he executed into the rough behind the green and nearly holed it. Morikawa is another clutch player and a pleasure to watch. Morikawa describes that final pitch shot from behind the green. “I mean, yeah, to be honest, I thought it was breaking right. Completely whiffed that one and it broke left. But that’s such a tough chip shot. All you had to do was just kind of nestle it on the green. I hit it exactly how I wanted it and you can’t complain when you’re hitting shots like that down the stretch and you’re doing things like that.”
The Faders
Adam Hadwin started the Memorial off with a 66 and could not break 72 the final three days. He gave it a run at three under on the day through seven. five bogeys sent him out of contention. He finished in third place. Hadwin said Muirfield Village got the best of him on Sunday. “Yeah, obviously, an rxtremely tough golf course when things are going well, and I was kind of fighting things, for the most part, today. I didn’t drive it in the fairway, which is enemy No. 1. Even when I did, I felt like I hit some good shots that just didn’t work out.”
Last Year’s Champ
Viktor Hovland went south on moving day and finished Sunday with five bogeys and two birdies. Hovland told me in May that he welcomes the challenge of playing in all of the big tournaments in succession and will play the US Open this week. Bet he takes a break after that.
They Said It… Scottie on the Legacy of Jack Nicklaus
“Yeah, it’s very special. Yeah, Mr. Nicklaus did a lot of great things for the game of golf, but
the affect he had on his community and our country as well is very special, and so I’ve looked up to him for a long time. He was always a family-first guy and I try to put my family first as much as possible just the way he did, and you can kind of see it.”
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net