Jack Nicklaus Throws Haymakers While Praising Scottie Scheffler's Dominant Win At The Memorial

Scottie Scheffler became just the second player ever to successfully defend his title at the Memorial on Sunday, and Jack Nicklaus could not have been less surprised to see the 28-year-old find the winner's circle.

Nicklaus, the tournament founder and host, reflected on the week that was while speaking with the media on Sunday evening. While sharing some high praise for Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, Nicklaus got brutally honest about the players chasing him on the leaderboard, and how none of them stood a chance of doing so in his eyes.

"I think that great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events," Nicklaus said after being asked what makes Scheffler an elite player. "Looking at the leaderboard today, he didn't have -- I mean, Ben Griffin's a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player. Those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch.

But he knows that those guys, you know, are not in his league. Now, if he would have had -- I don't know who else it might have been, but if he had somebody else at the top, if Xander or somebody like that would have been there, he might have said, Well, that might be a little tougher. I might have to do something different. He didn't have to."

Jack Nicklaus was pleased, and not surprise, to see Scottie Scheffler win the Memorial. Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images 

Straka and Griffin have each won twice in 2025, and Taylor picked up the fifth PGA Tour win of his career back in January, but as Nicklaus not-so-subtly put it, they aren't in the same league as Scheffler.

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Scheffler has won 10 times dating back to March 2024, which includes his second Masters title, his second Players Championship, a PGA Championship, and other signature event victories.

While it's fair to label Nicklaus' comments about Scheffler's chasers as harsh, Scheffler did run away with the tournament, winning by four shots and looking superhuman over the final two rounds of play.