Texas Longhorns-Ex Scottie Scheffler Finishes Third at Memorial

Scheffler finished two shots out of a playoff, but ended up with his sixth Top 10 finish of the PGA Tour season

Former Texas Longhorns golfer Scottie Scheffler finished in third place at The Memorial on Sunday, giving him one of his best finishes on the PGA Tour this season.

Scheffler vaulted into contention on Saturday after shooting a 3-under 69, and after defending champion Jon Rahm — who was up six shots on the field after three rounds — had to exit the tournament after a positive test for COVID-19.

Scheffler was in the hunt until the end, as a bogey at the final hole dropped him to 11-under for the event and gave him a 2-under 70 for the day. He would have needed a birdie at No. 18 to get into the sudden-death playoff with Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay.

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Cantlay, who like Scheffler was at 12-under going into the final hole, fired a birdie on the closing hole, which allowed him to tie Morikawa and send the event to a sudden-death playoff. Cantlay won the playoff on the first hole. 

Scheffler could only watch and think about what might have been.

He started the day three shots back of the lead and closed in fast, recording birdies on Nos. 1, 3, and 5, putting him in prime position to win his first PGA Tour event. But, he fell back after bogeys at Nos. 6 and 9.

On the back nine, Scheffler was rock steady as he recorded birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, putting him within one shot of Morikawa, who was in the lead at the time. But, at 18, Scheffler put his second shot in a greenside bunker. His exit from the bunker landed eight feet from the cup, and his putt wouldn’t drop.

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But, Scheffler notched his sixth Top 10 finish of the season and is projected to be in the Top 20 of the FedEx Cup standings next week. Scheffler reached the final of the WGC-Dell Match Play event before losing, and he finished in fifth place in the WGC-Workday Championship.

Jordan Spieth also played in the Memorial, as he finished 1-under for the tournament and in a tie for 18th place.

Next week the PGA Tour moves on to the Palmetto Championship in South Carolina, which is a replacement for the Canadian Open. Then, the Tour takes a break as players head to the third major of the season, the U.S. Open, on Father’s Day weekend at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.