TIGER WOODS OFF EARLY FOR US OPEN PRACTICE THAT INCLUDES ADAM SCOTT AND HIS MAJOR STREAK

AP Photo 

 PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) — Tiger Woods was among those on Pinehurst No. 2 for the first full day of U.S. Open practice before the sun could break through the clouds and climb over the trees.

It's his first time playing a U.S. Open on this Donald Ross gem in 19 years, and so much of it is new to him because of a restoration project from a decade ago that replaced rough with native sandy areas and wiregrass bushes.

As for Adam Scott, there is nothing new about playing in the majors — this is 92nd in a row, the longest active streak — only about the way he got into the 156-man field.

A week ago, he walked off the 36-hole qualifier in Springfield, Ohio, as the first alternate after losing in a playoff to Cam Davis for the final spot from that site.

“Leaving from Springfield, there was a lot of uncertainty, I would say,” Scott said. "By Friday, and fully understanding how this field works, I was feeling a lot better about myself. It's funny, not having been in that position there is a lot to finding out how a field gets filled. And it's complicated.

“I'm grateful I haven't been in this position too much.”

The USGA set aside six spots for anyone who moved into the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking published Monday, and the rest go to alternates.

Scott was No. 60 last week, almost certain to fall out. But there also was the delicate issue of Grayson Murray, who took his life on May 25, still listed among the top 60. The USGA wanted to honor Murray's position in the world ranking — it will stay there for another week — though it said it would remove his name as it related to its top 60 category.

Scott fell to No. 61 — Billy Horschel, already in the U.S. Open, was one shot away from bumping Scott to No. 62 — but still extends a streak in the majors that dates to the 2001 British Open.

It looks close only on paper. In fact, Scott learned his qualifier would be the fourth site selected for alternates. Of the six spots held back, only one would be taken by Canadian Open winner Robert MacIntyre. That left five spots.

“I can do that math,” Scott said with a smile.

He also had to go through U.S. Open qualifying five years ago, what he said then is no different now. Getting into the major is great. But the goal is to win.

What awaits is a Pinehurst No. 2 course among the most challenging. In three previous U.S. Opens, only four players have finished under par — Payne Stewart (1 under) in 1999, Martin Kaymer (8 under), Erik Compton (1 under) and Rickie Fowler (1 under) in 2014.

“This is pretty typical U.S. Open in the sense that par is a great friend to you all week,” said Webb Simpson, a former U.S. Open champion who had to qualify this year for the first time since 2011. "It’s a brutally hard golf course.

“You have to be incredibly disciplined. You have to accept 30-footers all day.”

Woods has a full week beyond the golf. He had scheduled a mid-morning news conference, only to postpone that until later in the week. He also is being given the Bob Jones Award on Tuesday night, the USGA's highest honor.

Still to be determined is whether — when? — he will accept the Ryder Cup captaincy for the 2025 matches. And he was in New York on Friday for a PGA Tour Enterprises board meeting with the Saudi financiers of LIV Golf.

He played with Fowler, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, with son Charley walking along with him now that he's out of school for the summer.

Scottie Scheffler wasn't on the course after winning the Memorial by one shot on a Muirfield Village course that was tough enough to feel like a U.S. Open.

AP Photo 

Among those playing in the afternoon was David Puig of Spain, a 22-year-old who plays on the LIV Golf circuit and is a reminder of what else is at stake this week. The world ranking published Monday will be used to determine who plays at the Paris Olympics.

For Puig, it's simple — and daunting. If he makes the cut, he will get the second spot that goes to Spain. If he misses, it goes to Jorge Campillo.

Also in the field was Maxwell Moldovan, who just graduated from Ohio State, turned pro and was second alternate in Ohio a week ago. It took a sequence of events for him to get to Pinehurst, and it worked out perfectly for him.

No one at the Memorial was able to bump Scott out of the top 61. Because Scott was the first alternate at Springfield, that spot went to Moldovan. He didn't find out until Neal Shipley — the low amateur at the Masters and his Buckeyes teammate — messaged him at 5:20 a.m. Monday.

Moldovan had to win a playoff over Troy Merritt just to be second alternate. The final round of the Memorial had a huge bearing on his immediate future.

“I did a lot of leaderboard watching and OWGR searching, and a lot of my friends were trying to crunch numbers and see what I needed,” he said. “I'm thankful how it all worked out.”

- DOUG FERGUSON

SCHEFFLER HOLDS ON TO WIN MEMORIAL FOR HIS 5TH PGA TOUR TITLE OF THE YEAR

AP

 DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except there was nothing typical about his victory Sunday at the Memorial.

He made only one birdie. He closed with a 2-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 5 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 U.S. 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.

Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, either, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on his heels all afternoon, and on a back nine where making par felt like hard work. Par is what it took on the 18th hole.

“This is a tough place to close out,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t do a whole lot great today, but I did enough.”

Just barely.

Scheffler was leading Morikawa by one shot and both hit approach shots that bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough. Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the force of his fist pump to celebrate showed how tough this day was on him, and practically everybody.

Making the day even more special was a recent memory with Nicklaus at the Memorial, and cradling month-old son Bennett at his newborn's first PGA Tour event.

Scheffler thought back to 2021, when he missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole that ended any chance of a playoff. Walking off the green, he recalls Nicklaus telling him one day Scheffler will make the putt on 18 “and I'll be walking off to shake his hand.”

“It was pretty special thinking about that as I was walking over to shake his hand," he said.

Morikawa, who played in the final group of both majors this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole and stayed on Scheffler's heels the rest of the way. He shot 71, the only one from the final 13 groups to break par.

Adam Hadwin was right there with them until closing with three straight bogeys for a 74 to finish alone in third.

Scheffler finished at 8-under 280 and won $4 million from this signature event and its $20 million purse. That pushes him over $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour season earnings record — and it's barely June — that he set last year in this era of rising purses.

He also become the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to have won five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open.

That's next week at Pinehurst No. 2, and Scheffler will go to the U.S. Open as a huge favorite. This was his 11th consecutive tournament with a top 10.

Morikawa picked up $2.2 million and now has a big cushion as he tries to sew up the fourth spot for the Americans going to Paris this summer for the Olympics.

Hadwin was within one shot of the lead until finishing the front nine with a pair of bogeys. He stayed in the hunt until closing with a pair of bogeys for a 74. Still, his third-place finish moves him ahead of Corey Conners for the second Canadian spot in the Olympics.

The world ranking after the U.S. Open determines who goes to Paris.

Scheffler had only one birdie — a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole — and he missed two birdie chances inside 10 feet on the back nine that could have provided a cushion.

But he made the biggest one on the par-3 16th.

Scheffler and Morikawa were both short of the super slick green some 90 feet away. Scheffler used putter and hit it weakly, coming up 15 feet short. Morikawa chipped from the collar and also hit a pedestrian chip some 20 feet short.

Morikawa missed his par putt, and Scheffler buried his for a two-shot lead.

Scheffler dropped his final shot on the 17th, however, and he was clinging again to a one-shot lead playing the tough 18th that he ended with one last putt.

Next up is the so-called toughest test in golf, and players felt like they just got finished with one at Muirfield Village.

“You could look at it one of two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it's good prep for next week or we just got our butts kicked before going into next week.”

For Scheffler it's another victory, his 11th of his career and 12th worldwide. He has finished strong to win big or come from behind. He has pulled away when it was tight at the start. This time, he nearly lost a four-shot lead.

It was his highest closing round since a 74 in the British Open at St. Andrews in 2022. But it goes in the book as another big win against the strongest fields. He now has won three signature events (Bay Hill and Hilton Head were the others) to go along with The Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.

- DOUG FERGUSON