World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will chase a rare three-peat this week at the Memorial Tournament, last accomplished at Muirfield Village Golf Club by Tiger Woods a quarter-century ago.
Scheffler finished 10-under to beat Ben Griffin by four strokes last year, successfully following up his 8-under, one-shot victory against Collin Morikawa in 2024 at Dublin, Ohio.
Woods won the tournament five times, including three in a row from 1999 to 2001. The other multi-time winners are Kenny Perry (three times) and two-time champions Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Hale Irwin and tournament host Jack Nicklaus.
“The last two years don’t mean much when you stand on the first tee, but this is a golf course I’ve had some success at and this will be a cool place to be able to accomplish something like winning the same tournament three years in a row, especially with it being Jack’s Place, and I’m looking forward to getting out there this week,” Scheffler said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
“The golf course is already firming up pretty good. It doesn’t look like we have much rain in the forecast, so it should be another pretty challenging week here at Muirfield.”
Scheffler, 29, is hunting his first win since collecting his 20th career PGA Tour title at the American Express in January. He was runner-up at the Masters, RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship before finishing third in his most recent event at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Based on his experience with the firm greens in Wednesday’s pro-am, Scheffler said he anticipates a tough challenge this week.
“I think a test like this — this golf course specifically is a place you can come out, and even if the greens aren’t that fast and there’s not a ton of wind, it will still be challenging because there’s so many areas where you just can’t really miss. The greens have a lot of pitch. There’s certain holes where you just have to step up and hit really great golf shots,” Scheffler said.
“… This is (a course) where I think when you’re testing the ball striking that you do out here, it’s just really challenging. And I think if you hit great shots, you get rewarded for it, and if you start hitting poor shots, you’re going to be punished pretty severely, especially when you look at some of the shorter holes out here like 3 and 14.”
Scheffler said his favorite part about playing the Memorial Tournament is the crowd support.
“Every year here the crowds are amazing. They make a lot of noise, they’re very passionate about this tournament. And the community really rallies around this tournament and Mr. Nicklaus. And I think any time you can play a tournament that has his name on it is something that’s really special. He’s a guy that I look up to, not just from being a great golfer, but he was a great family man as well,” Scheffler said.
“… Mr. Nicklaus is a part of the fabric of this tournament and his family is as well. It’s not just about him. This is a special place for us to be able to come and compete, not only from the challenge of the golf course, but being able to play in front of the fans and carrying on Mr. Nicklaus’ legacy. This is a really cool tournament for us.”
