Bhatia rallies on back nine to finish T-16; Scheffler wins yet again

Dublin [US], June 3 (ANI): Akshay Bhatia rebounded from a disappointing third round and then a tough start in the final round to recover to 2-under and a Tied-16th finish at the Memorial Tournament.

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Indian-American Bhatia, who was third at the halfway mark before slipping in the third round, carded 70-69-80-70 to total 1-over 289 and finished T-16.

That should see him rise to 31st in the FedExCup rankings, from where the Top-30 play the Tour Championships at the end of the season.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler never lost the lead he started with in the final round. He also gave no one any chance to catch up, and by the time he was finished, he was four shots ahead of his nearest rival, Ben Griffin (73).

With a round of 2-under 70 and rounds of 70-70-68-70, Scheffler was a picture of consistency and totalled 10-under 278 and was four clear of Griffin, who was 6-under.

Bhatia had a tough start with three bogeys in the first four holes before he found his rhythm. He birdied the seventh, ninth and the 11th to make up for those early losses and then proceeded to pick three more birdies in a row from the 14th to the 16th. A closing bogey on the 18th robbed him of a better finish.

Next, Bhatia will play the US Open, along with Sahith Theegala, who missed the cut this week, and Aaron Rai.

Scheffler joined Tiger Woods as the only repeat winners of the Memorial Tournament. After being affected by a hand surgery at the start of the year, Scheffler is now in full flow with one Major and one signature event in the bag besides another regular win. Two more Majors remain, and the next one is the US Open.

"It's always a hard week," said Scheffler, who finished at 10-under 278. "We battled really hard on the weekend. Overall, it was a great week."

Scheffler made one bogey over the final 40 holes at Muirfield Village and the legend, and the tournament host Jack Nicklaus was present to congratulate him once again.

Griffin came within two shots at one stage, but Scheffler did not flinch. Then Scheffler made no mistakes, and Griffin made a double bogey on the 17th.

Sepp Straka (70) finished another shot back.

Scheffler has now won three times in his last four starts--the exception was Colonial, which tied for fourth the week after winning the PGA Championship.

Rickie Fowler had his first top 10 of the year at just the right time. He parred on the 18th to tie for seventh, earning him a spot in The Open Championship.

Fowler tied with Brandt Snedeker at 1-under 287, but got the one Open exemption available based on a higher world ranking -- Fowler at No. 124, Snedeker at No. 430.

For Scheffler, it was his fifth victory in a USD20 million Signature Event in the last two years. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)