It’s difficult to overstate how important Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s level-par 72 was on Sunday in the final round of the PGA Tour’s Memorial Championship at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
In a very strong field – it was the seventh of the PGA Tour’s eight Signature Events with limited elite players in them – he finished fourth on a total of three-under-par for the week. That was five strokes behind winner and world number one Scottie Scheffler, who closed with a two-over-par 72 to win his fifth tournament of the year.
Collin Morikawa of the United States was second, one shot behind Scheffler, and Canada’s Adam Hadwin was third on four-under, just one ahead of Bezuidenhout. Behind South Africa’s top-ranked golfer were the likes of Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg, Xander Schaffele, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy.
His performance boosted him 17 places on the FedExCup rankings to 12th as the season races towards a climax, and will give him a substantial climb in the world rankings.
He had two early bogeys in his final round, on the second and the fourth, with birdies on the sixth and the eighth. He dropped a shot on the ninth, and made another bogey on the 12th. But he got things back to level-par with a chip-in birdie on 14 and another birdie on 15.
There was nothing typical about Scheffler’s victory in a season during which he has been dominant. He made only one birdie. He closed with a two-over 74, his highest final round in two years. And victory wasn’t assured until Scheffler had the mettle to put a firm stroke on a downhill putt from five feet above the hole to take out the break.
It went right in the heart for a one-shot victory over Collin Morikawa, and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Their exchange said it all. “You’re a survivor,” Nicklaus told him.
“Thanks,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”
Scheffler endured more stress than he wanted and got the victory everyone has come to expect, his fifth of the season – one week into the month of June – as he heads for another tough test next week in the US Open.
Muirfield Village was so demanding with its ultra firm greens and swirling gusts throughout the afternoon that only six players broke par and the average score was a fraction under 75.
