Scottie Scheffler booked a weekend spot at the 2026 Memorial Tournament, but getting there was anything but straightforward. Two rounds at Muirfield Village pushed him to the brink of his first missed cut in years. The course was demanding and will remain so, but Scheffler remains unfazed despite being ten shots back of the leader at the $20M event.

“I grind like that every day. That’s just part of the game,” he told the media. “This tournament was one that definitely could have gotten away from me, but right now I’m only nine shots back [right now] and still have a chance going into the weekend. With the conditions the way they are, you never really know what’s going to happen around this golf course, and just getting inside the cut line, you still have a chance.”

Friday brought high expectations for Scottie Scheffler, but it did not go as planned. From the start, he struggled to find the fairway. He also shanked a bunker shot on the fifth. At one point, it looked as though his historic streak—the longest-running active made-cut (77) on the PGA Tour—might just be over. But then he holed a 22-footer on the 15th and a 40-footer on the 16th to pick up two birdies. Scheffler closed out at even par on Friday. That has given him the confidence that he can catch the 36-hole leader J.T. Poston, and tournament host Jack Nicklaus also praised his mental fortitude.

“He’s not playing his best, that’s for sure,” said the 18-time major winner on Golf Channel’s live broadcast. “When you’re not playing the best, and you finish the way [he] finished to move himself back into a position, that’s pretty good. I give him a lot of credit for that, because he could have just said, ‘Bye-bye.'”

The World No. 1 is aiming to become just the second player to conquer Jack Nicklaus’s course three times in a row. Tiger Woods did it between 1999 and 2001. But in his title defense, Scheffler has been struggling because a key part of his game has betrayed him.

Over two rounds, the two-time defending champion has lost over two strokes in approach play. He has hit only 15 of 36 greens in regulation. In the first round, he managed to reach only seven greens, just one better than his career-worst in a PGA Tour round.

It’s perplexing because Scheffler has been one of the best iron players the Tour has seen in the last decade. He led the tour in Strokes Gained: Approach and Proximity to the Hole last year. But this week, he hasn’t been able to translate that, and while he oozed confidence after his second round, Scheffler also admitted Muirfield rattled him.

“I felt like I was going to shoot about 90 today. Around this golf course, with heavy rough and deep bunkers, you got to be hitting the ball in the right spots and for a long time today; that was definitely not the case for me,” added Scottie Scheffler, whose struggles at the Memorial were understandable.

The course demands precision. The landing areas are narrow and guarded with trees. Greens are small and heavily contoured, and some notoriously famous holes like the 16th just add to the plight. Like many players on the field, Scheffler could not escape the challenges across two days. On Thursday, he and his caddie, Ted Scott, misjudged the wind on the par-3 16th. Scheffler flushed a 7-iron, but the ball plunged into the water.

“I don’t think you understand how frustrating that is. Like, that was a good shot. It really was,” he said after incurring a penalty.

Now, the World No. 1 has 36 holes to turn things around. It surely isn’t unprecedented in golf history. In fact, he himself has done so at the very tournament.

Scottie Scheffler might still get his three-peat at the Memorial Tournament

Late turnarounds are nothing new for Scheffler. At last year’s Memorial, Scheffler was behind Ben Griffin heading into the third round. But he birdied four of his last five holes to take the lead on Sunday and eventually won by four shots.

At the 2025 BMW Championship, the World No. 1 erased a four-shot deficit and produced a stellar chip in the 17th hole in the final round to win the tournament. Back in 2024, Scheffler entered the final round of The Players Championship five shots behind. But he still managed to claim victory.

While ten shots back with two rounds to play might seem like a long way to go, Scheffler has made it clear he is not counting himself out. He is familiar with the course, and if he can fix his approach play and shoot a low round, he will threaten the players on top of the leaderboard. On a course where the weather changes and scores move quickly, that is not an unreasonable position to hold.