Three-peat? Looking back at recent attempts to win three in a row on PGA TOUR

When Scottie Scheffler tees off this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, he’ll be looking to break a drought 15 years in the making on the PGA TOUR.

Scheffler is the two-time defending champ at Muirfield Village Golf Club, and he’ll join some rarified air should he shake tournament host Jack Nicklaus’ hand beside the 18th green for a third straight year. Yes, the world No. 1 will look to join Tiger Woods (1999-2001) as the only players to win the Memorial three straight years. But he’ll also look to become the first player to win three straight of any TOUR event since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Since then, there have been 20 three-peat attempts on TOUR by 18 different players – including two prior tries by Scheffler himself. Those attempts include 16 made cuts, 12 top 25s, seven top 10s and a pair of top-five finishes.

Here’s a look back at how each player has fared since Stricker pulled off three in a row at TPC Deere Run, 15 years ago:

2015

Ryan Moore: Moore won the now-defunct CIMB Classic in Malaysia in the fall of 2013, then successfully defended his title in 2014. He finished T10 the next year, as a young Justin Thomas earned his first career TOUR victory.

2016

Jimmy Walker: Walker won twice in both 2014 and 2015, including victories at the Sony Open in Hawaii in both years. Despite closing with rounds of 65-66 in 2016, he finished T13.

Matt Every: Every earned each of his two career TOUR victories at Bay Hill, capturing the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in 2014 and 2015. His dreams for three in a row ended when he missed the cut by a shot in 2016.

2017

Justin Thomas: Remember when Thomas interrupted Ryan Moore’s three-peat bid at the CIMB Classic? That proved to be the first of two in a row for Thomas in Malaysia, but that run ended with a T17 finish in 2017.

2018

Hideki Matsuyama: Matsuyama won the WM Phoenix Open in 2016 and 2017, winning a playoff on both occasions. His 2018 title defense lasted only one round, as he withdrew prior to the second round due to a wrist injury.

Jhonattan Vegas: Vegas won the RBC Canadian Open in consecutive years, taking the title at Glen Abbey in both 2016 and 2017. While the tournament stayed at Glen Abbey in 2018, he finished T29.

Daniel Berger: Berger earned each of his first two TOUR victories at TPC Southwind, pacing the field in both 2016 and 2017. He missed the cut the following year, the final time the Memphis TOUR stop was held in June.

Brendan Steele: Steele won two straight years in Napa, but his bid for three in a row at Silverado Resort ended with a T53 finish in the fall of 2018.

2019

Brooks Koepka: Koepka’s U.S. Open run is the stuff of legend, and it serves as the closest anyone has come to winning three in a row since Stricker. After winning his first two major titles at Erin Hills (2017) and Shinnecock Hills (2018), he finished as the solo runner-up to Gary Woodland at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

2020

Brooks Koepka: Koepka improbably had a second shot at winning the same major three years in a row. His PGA Championship wins in 2018 (Bellerive) and 2019 (Bethpage Black) were followed by a T29 finish when Collin Morikawa won the 2020 PGA at TPC Harding Park.

2021

Paul Casey: Casey won the Valspar Championship in both 2018 and 2019, and the 2020 edition was cancelled because of the pandemic. His run for three straight wins (across four years) at Innisbrook ended with a T14 finish in 2021.

2022

Viktor Hovland: Hovland won at Mayakoba in both 2020 and 2021, and his three-peat bid got off to a solid start with an opening 65. But he ultimately finished T10 in Mexico, seven shots behind Russell Henley.

2023

Sam Burns: Burns earned his first TOUR win at the 2021 Valspar Championship, then successfully defended his title in 2022 when the tournament returned to March. He rallied with a final-round 67 in 2023 to finish sixth.

K.H. Lee: Lee earned each of his two TOUR victories to date at TPC Craig Ranch, capturing THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson in both 2021 and 2022. He finished T50 as the two-time defending champ in 2023.

Rory McIlroy: McIlroy’s three-peat bid was the most circuitous, as he won the 2019 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton and then waited three years to win it again at St. George’s, with the tournament cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. When the tournament shifted to Oakdale in 2023, he finished T9.

Patrick Cantlay: Cantlay had a rare shot at three in a row across the same FedExCup Playoff event, having won the BMW Championship in 2021 at Caves Valley in a memorable playoff and successfully defending his title the following year in Delaware. He qualified for the 2023 edition but finished T15 at Olympia Fields.

Max Homa: Homa won in Napa in 2021, then added another title with an improbable chip-in on the 72nd hole in 2022. His run at three in a row ended with a T7 finish at Silverado.

2024

Scottie Scheffler: Scheffler earned his long-awaited maiden TOUR victory at the WM Phoenix Open in 2022, then held off Nick Taylor to defend the title in 2023. He’s one of two players to crack the top five in a three-peat bid, as he finished T3 in 2024 – three shots out of a playoff ultimately won by Taylor.

Tom Kim: Kim tied a tournament scoring record when he won at TPC Summerlin in the fall of 2022, then added another title the following year. His three-peat bid ended abruptly, as he missed the cut in the final edition of the Las Vegas tournament.

2025

Scottie Scheffler: Scheffler’s second and most recent attempt for a three-peat came at THE PLAYERS Championship, after he became the first player in tournament history to go back-to-back. He finished T20 in 2025, in what proved to be his last time finishing worse than T8 for the entire 2025 season, which included six wins.