Another week, another win, another massive check ($4M!) for Scottie Scheffler, who is making the PGA Tour look more like a weekly office league than the pinnacle of professional golf. With a calm, surgical 2-under 70 on Sunday, Scheffler cruised to a four-shot victory over hotter than hot Ben Griffin at the 2025 Memorial Tournament—becoming just the second player in history (after Tiger Woods, of course) to win back-to-back at Jack Nicklaus’s Muirfield Village.
That win marked his third in his last four starts, and, perhaps most impressively, ninth straight time he’s converted a 54-hole lead into a win—a streak that dates back to the 2023 WM Phoenix Open. You know that guy in your fantasy golf league who always picks Scheffler? Yeah, he’s sleeping just fine.
CBS’s Trevor Immelman fittingly dubbed him “The Closer”, and Ian Baker-Finch took it a step further, likening Scheffler to Mariano Rivera, the Hall of Fame Yankees reliever who made entire fan bases weep with one cut fastball. Scheffler’s version? Greens in regulation, dead-center putts, and zero emotion—unless you count “mild tax-season confusion” as an emotional state.
So what makes Scheffler the best professional golfer in the world today? Let’s count the ways:
1. Consistency That’s Borderline Ridiculous
He doesn’t miss cuts. He barely finishes outside the top 10. In a sport where chaos is the norm, Scheffler is pure, steady excellence. You could schedule your week around his leaderboard position—he’ll be near the top, guaranteed.
2. World-Class Iron Play
Statistically, the best on Tour in strokes gained: approach, Scheffler hits laser beams into greens like he’s got GPS-guided irons. His proximity to the hole on approach shots is so good, it’s borderline disrespectful. And he’s arguably the 2nd best driver of the ball under pressure behind Rory.
3. Sunday Killer Instinct
Nine straight 54-hole leads converted to wins? That’s not luck—that’s Tiger-level mental toughness. When he’s got a lead, he doesn’t protect it—he steps on throats.
4. Improved Putting = Complete Game
The only semi-question about Scheffler used to be his putting. Not anymore. He’s cleaned it up, gotten more confident inside 10 feet, and now he’s officially unstoppable.
5. Ice in His Veins
He reacts to birdies, bogeys, and bunker lip-outs like someone who says no to coffee and yes to Melatonin. Now and then, he’ll whisper a curse to his caddie, but loses his cool less often than a pastor playing a casual round at the local muni. Pressure doesn’t rattle him—it barely registers.
At this point, the only real suspense in a tournament is whether someone else can play perfect golf for four days while Scheffler plays his B game and still wins. He’s not just the best golfer in the world right now—he’s playing at a level we haven’t consistently seen since Prime Tiger. And that’s not hyperbole. That’s just Scottie doing Scottie things.
So, yes, “The Closer” is fitting. But maybe it’s time for a new nickname:
“The Problem”—because right now, Scottie Scheffler is just that for every player in the world, Rory and Bryson included.
Winners & Losers from Sunday the Memorial:
- Winner: BDR – Rickie Fowler’s strong play last week in the Memorial earned him a spot in next month’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush. His T-7 finish was his best of the season and came at the right time to earn him an additional major championship start in ’25, and a cool $603k
- Winner: Brandt Snedaker – Brandt fired a tourney best, final round 7-under par 65 to finish up T-7 alongside Rickie. He moved up 31 spots on the leaderboard.
- Loser: Jacob Bridgeman – Jacob, who we couldn’t pick out of a lineup, dropped 21 spots on the leaderboard after posting a final round of 6-over par 78. Ouch. Had he shot par Sunday, he would have taken home $603k; instead, he pocketed $114k.
- Loser: Austin Eckroat – Normally, after posting a final round 6-over 78, a player would drop down the leaderboard. Not Austin. Because he started the day in last place among all the players who made the cut. Austin’s posted 81-78 over the weekend. That’s bad no matter how tough the conditions.
- Winner: The golf course. Beautiful. Penal. A perfect warm-up for the PGA TOUR’s finest leading into the US Open. Nice job Mr. Nicklaus!