DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy think the same way about Muirfield Village, and what it takes to succeed at the Memorial Tournament.
This is a big golf course, but it’s not all about power.
“Here it’s more about placing the ball in the right spots and taking your opportunities when you can get them,” said Scheffler, who speaks from the experience of winning the last two years.
“For being such a long golf course, I feel like it takes driver out of my hand a lot,” said McIlroy, who played for the 14th time without ever getting that winner’s handshake from tournament host Jack Nicklaus off the 18th green.
The Memorial is one tournament McIlroy can’t seem to win — he’s had only five finishes in the top 10 and never a reasonable chance to win.
And it’s the one tournament Scheffler can’t seem to lose.
Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, sets out this week to try to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win three straight times at the tournament Nicklaus built.
Nicklaus was asked why he thought Scheffler played so well at Muirfield Village, beyond the obvious of having great control of his shots. Nicklaus raised his right index finger and tapped the side of his head.
“He thinks his way around the golf course,” Nicklaus said. “His golf swing is certainly not spectacular from a standpoint of looking at balance — the pathway of his club is very good. But he doesn’t put himself in position to make doubles and triples.”
Scheffler and McIlroy, Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, lead another strong field at the Memorial with the U.S. Open looming two weeks away. Both went to Shinnecock Hills on Monday on their way to central Ohio — they didn’t play together — to scout the U.S. Open course.
It’s not like they run in the same circles or even play in the same events. This is the 12th event for Scheffler this year, the 10th for McIlroy. But they have played the same tournament only six times, two of them majors and The Players Championship.
Both have won this year, McIlroy’s victory being far more meaningful. He held off Scheffler at Augusta National to become only the fourth back-to-back winner of the Masters.
Scheffler, coming off another dominant season, won his first tournament of the season at The American Express. The rest of the year has been close calls — three runner-up finishes in a row, three other finishes in the top 5.
“I felt like I haven’t been as sharp as I would have liked to have been,” Scheffler said. “When you look at the margins in this game, they’re quite small. I think statistically I’m probably not far off from where I’ve been the last couple years, it’s just a couple shots here or there, a couple of those momentum shots where it can kind of swing you in a tournament.”
McIlroy has the career Grand Slam, and it’s cherry-picking what else he would like to win. Courses mean a lot to him. There’s also an Olympic gold medal to chase once every four years, and Riviera and Muirfield Village — the tournaments hosts are Tiger Woods and Nicklaus — are on his list.
“I’ve been lucky enough to win at Bay Hill, but not while Arnold (Palmer) was alive,” McIlroy said. “So I always thought it would be cool to win here and take that little walk up the hill off the 18th green and shake Jack’s hand. Also, Jack and I share a nice history. I’ve known him for nearly 20 years. He’s been nothing but great to me and my family. So, yeah, this is certainly one I would love to get done.”
McIlroy skipped last year and played the RBC Canadian Open instead. He also missed in 2017 when he was tending to sore ribs from an injury earlier in the year. But he’s played all the rest of them at Muirfield Village, just not with anything to show for it.
That’s not unusual in golf. Woods never figured out how to win at Riviera, the Los Angeles masterpiece that’s one of his favorites and now is tournament host for the Genesis Invitational. Nicklaus was runner-up seven times at the Canadian Open. His only win in Canada was as Presidents Cup captain in 2007.
“Obviously a great list of champions on a wonderful golf course,” McIlroy said of the Memorial. “I haven’t quite figured it out yet. It’s frustrated me over my career. But hopefully, this is the week that I put it all together.”
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