2024 Memorial Tournament scores, takeaways: Scottie Scheffler surges to top after Round 2 at Muirfield Village

Not even a windy, messy day at Jack’s house could slow Scottie Scheffler down. On a day when Muirfield Village played more than one shot over par and five players failed to break 80, the world No. 1 shot a 4-under 68 to take control of the Memorial Tournament over the weekend.

Scheffler is at 9 under, three ahead of defending champion Viktor Hovland and first-round leader Adam Hadwin, and in prime position to claim his fifth victory of the season. A triumph on Sunday would not only mark his fifth overall this season, but it would also represent his second victory in a signature event with the other coming at the Players Championship. This is, of course, in addition to his Masters victory.

No player has achieved five wins in a single season in a short time, as Scheffler aims to join the likes of Justin Thomas (2017), Jason Day (2015) and Jordan Spieth (2015) as players to accomplish the feat in the last decade. The Memorial may ultimately just be a stepping stone to more history, as it could threaten the PGA Tour’s all-time record of nine victories in a season held by Tiger Woods (2000) and Vijay Singh (2004) if successful this week .

While it seems almost certain that the 27-year-old will repay his 36-hole lead with another $4 million winner’s check, Scheffler will still need his best in the second half of this tournament given the names that are lurking.

That, of course, includes the man who took Muirfield Village by storm a season ago. Hovland made three back-nine birdies to move home at 6 under and directly below Scheffler’s name on the leaderboard. After a slow start to the year, the defending FedEx Cup champion continued his resurgence, which first appeared at the PGA Championship.

Even without his best from tee to green, PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele is still there at 3 under. Channeling some heroics to turn wayward shots into wonderful moments, Schauffele is trying his best to keep up with the world No. the main name of the game.

The leader

1.Scottie Scheffler (-9)

It’s simply not a fair fight when the best driver in the world is also the best iron player in the world and has the best short game in the world. Scheffler’s Friday was impressive for a number of reasons, but the biggest head shake came on the par-4 10th when he took his second shot at the proverbial jail. Doing well to keep his third on the green, Scheffler holed his par putt from 15 feet to remain bogey-free for the moment.

After some sloppy squares, the world No. 1 hit the long iron of the day on the par-5 15th to set up an eagle and make up for both misses. A birdie from the fairway bunker on the 18th took a bow down the stretch that took him from tied for the lead to leading by three.

“I think I had about 235 pins,” Scheffler said of his shot at 15th place. “It was kind of a good catch on the 3-iron and, yeah, I felt like I had a good number, and it’s good when I have a number where I want to cut and the pin is on the right and this was one of those cases, so I was able to hit a very good shot very close to the pin and hit the shot.

Other contenders

T2. Viktor Hovland, Adam Hadwin (-6)
T4. Keegan Bradley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-5)
6. Ludvig Aberg (-4)
T8. Tony Finau, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Akshay Bhatia (-3)
T11. Collin Morikawa, Si Woo Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka (-2)

When looking at the grand scheme of things, the turnaround in Hovland’s game is crazy. Without a top-10 finish in the first four months of the season, Hovland returned to his old swing coach, Joe Mayo, and instantly returned to his old self. A PGA Championship podium could be just the beginning for the Norwegian, who opened up his defense with back-to-back 69s. He ranks second behind Scheffler in terms of strokes gained from tee to green and third on approach.

“It’s key to just find a feel for the game, something that’s different and that really makes you hit better, but it still needs to be simple enough for you to do under the gun, because it’s – you don’t have a lot of time to mess around out there. “, said Hovland. “It’s just that when the course is that difficult, you need to know where the ball is going.”

Fan favorites falling apart

It’s a tough time to be a fan of Rickie Fowler or Jordan Spieth. Both will not be in attendance this weekend at Memorial, which is just an extension of what has been a miserable 2024 for both players. Fowler failed to break 80 on Friday and has continued on a downward trend since returning to the winner’s circle last summer in Detroit. In his 21 starts since then, the 35-year-old has not finished in the top 15 and has fallen 20 places in the Official World Golf Ranking.

While Fowler may not have an excuse, there’s a chance Spieth does. He continues to drive the ball perhaps as well as ever, achieving absolutely nothing in his approach game, likely due to his lingering wrist injury. After a solid start to the year with contests in Kapalua and Scottsdale, Spieth missed five cuts, was disqualified and finished inside the top 10 just once in his last 12 starts.

Updated 2024 Memorial Tournament Odds and Picks

• Scottie Scheffler: 1/2
• Viktor Hovland: 13/2
• Xander Schauffele: 18-1
• Rory McIlroy: 20-1
• Ludvig Aberg: 20-1
• Keegan Bradley: 25-1
• Adam Hadwin: 25-1
• Christian Bezuidenhout: 30-1

Scheffler’s eagle at 15 and closing birdie really changed the complexion of this tournament and shortened the list of potential winners (possibly to one). If you’re willing to bet -200 on the best player in the world, feel free, but I think there’s still a chance – albeit a small one – that Scheffler isn’t successful this weekend. Finau at 65-1 looks a lot after posting a second round 70 during some of the tougher conditions, and he has the firepower to make up the margin if the stars align.