Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on Saturday on the 11th hole at Muirfield Village.
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Who will shake Jack Nicklaus’ hand? We’ll learn that late Sunday afternoon.
But who would like to?
We heard the answer this week. The gesture from the 18-time major champion is delivered on the 18th green to the winner of the Memorial, the tournament he hosts, and the greeting is treasured, the pros said.
“Yeah, this is a special place for me,” Scottie Scheffler said. “I remember when I was in college, I came here and played — I would play the U.S. Open qualifier over at the other courses here; I can’t remember what their names are right now. But yeah, we would always come over and watch the practice round and stay an extra day and watch a little bit. I always dreamed of coming here and playing in this tournament and it’s a dream come true just to be here in the field. So I’m excited. It would mean a lot to me to be able to shake his hand and win this golf tournament with all the history here and what Mr. Nicklaus has meant to the game.”
“Oh, it would be so special,” Collin Morikawa said. “Look, what Jack has done for this game, what his voice does, what he represents, it’s a lot. You can’t replace history, you can’t replace someone like that, so to have that chance hopefully come Sunday, it would mean the world. Like I said, talking about Tiger [Woods], it’s the same thing talking about Jack. Yes, you know, he was a little bit before I got into golf, but history is history. When you have someone like that, one of the greats, if not the great, right? It’s an absolute honor.”
“Yeah, it’s a dream,” Xander Schauffele said. “I think any Tour pro would tell you that if you’re looking at sort of the non-majors, this is definitely at the top of ’em. You know, you’re trying to win Jack’s, you’re trying to win Arnie’s [Arnold Palmer Invitational], you’re trying to win Tiger’s [Genesis Invitational], you throw the Players in there, but these are a little more unique obviously with — like you said, with what Jack has done for the game of golf and grown it and us just being a small part of it. So, it would be awesome.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” said Viktor Hovland, who won the Memorial last year. “Obviously, coming here for a couple years, I’ve gotten to see Jack and see him other places as well, so it wasn’t like the first time I met him. But, yeah, being around a guy like that who has accomplished so much, that’s pretty cool, and so to win his tournament here in Columbus, it’s pretty special.”
In best shape for the handshake is Scheffler, who leads Morikawa, Adam Hadwin and Sepp Straka by four after 54 holes. Scheffler and Morikawa will make up the final pairing, and Hadwin and Straka are part of the penultimate group.
Coverage of Sunday’s final round starts at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday on Golf Channel, and CBS picks it up starting at 2:30.
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Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
