Dublin, OH – Matt Kuchar carded a 4-under 68 on Sunday and rolled to a 2-stroke victory at the Memorial Tournament.
Ahead by two entering the final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club, Kuchar never relented the advantage, pushing his lead to four shots on the back nine before sinking a 21-foot birdie putt on the last to finish at 12-under-par 276.
It is the sixth career PGA Tour win for Kuchar and his second of the season after February's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship triumph.
"This is such an amazing feeling. This never gets old," said Kuchar, who lost the 54-hole lead at Colonial last week and finished runner-up to Boo Weekley. "To have Jack Nicklaus congratulate me is a real treat. This is as special as it gets."
Kevin Chappell birdied four of his last six holes but couldn't overtake Kuchar, instead grabbing solo second at 10-under after a final-round 68. Kyle Stanley (71) placed third at 7-under, while Scott Stallings (67) and Bill Haas (71) tied for fourth at minus-6.
Rookie Russell Henley (69) and Australian Matt Jones (72) ended knotted in sixth at 5-under. First-round leader Charl Schwartzel (72) and Justin Rose (73) shared eighth with three others at 4-under.
Tiger Woods entered this tournament with four wins in seven starts on the season, but he never found his form at Muirfield Village. The defending champion posted four rounds in the 70s, including Saturday's 79, which matched his career-worst score in a non-major. He opened that round with an outward 44, the highest 9-hole score of his career, then shot even par on Sunday to finish tied for 65th at 8-over 296.
"I had bad speed all week," said the world No. 1, who had 119 putts for the week. "I thought the greens didn't look that fast, but they were putting fast. I could never get the speed of them.
"It happens. It happens to us all."
Kuchar opened with a birdie and a pair of pars before stumbling to a bogey at the fourth. He recovered with a birdie at No. 5 and added another at the seventh, two-putting for the gain and a 3-stroke advantage.
But Stanley, playing alongside Kuchar and Chappell, hung close with consecutive birdies from the fifth, then reduced the margin to a single stroke with another back-to-back birdie run from the eighth.
A pivotal swing occurred at the 11th, where Kuchar re-established his 3-shot lead with a 14-foot birdie make alongside Stanley's bogey. The latter failed to threaten again, closing with six pars and a dropped shot at the 17th.
After failing to sink short birdie putts on Nos. 13 and 14, Kuchar landed his second shot within 25 feet at the par-5 15th and got home in two for another gain and a 4-stroke lead.
Kuchar dropped a shot at the par-3 16th, missing the green and sending his chip 13 feet past the cup, and a hole later Chappell moved within two shots of the top spot with a 19-foot birdie make.
It took a tricky, 6-foot par save at No. 17 for Kuchar to maintain that advantage, and he carried the momentum onto the par-4 18th, where he found the fairway off the tee, dropped his approach to 21 feet and rolled home the slight bender for the victory.
"He's world class with that putter, and I figured it was over with," admitted Chappell.
NOTES: Kuchar and Woods are the only players with multiple PGA Tour wins this season ... Kuchar improved to 2-1 when owning the 54-hole lead ... He was a runner-up at this tournament in 2011 ... World No. 2 Rory McIlroy tied for 57th at 6-over ... The start of the final round was pushed to 10:40 a.m. (ET) as strong storms were in the forecast overnight.
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