Viktor Hovland was glad along with his three PGA Tour victories, even when they had been at resort programs that had been smooth and inclined to firing at flags. He wished a win on American soil, the place par was at a premium, and he bought each little bit of that Sunday on the Memorial.
Two photographs behind and going through the three hardest holes at Muirfield Village, Hovland set his sights on a rating as an alternative of the chief, Denny McCarthy, after which delivered his finest stuff of the day.
Hovland holed a 30-foot birdie putt — the one birdie of the day at No. 17 — round two par saves for a 2-under 70 that bought him right into a playoff, after which he beat the hard-luck McCarthy with a 7-foot par to win the Memorial.
His earlier three wins had been twice at Mayakoba on the Gulf coast of Mexico and as soon as in Puerto Rico. This victory got here on situations so tough that even Jack Nicklaus was shocked to really feel how agency the greens had been when he stepped on the 18th to congratulate Hovland.
“It feels really cool to get my first win on the U.S. soil, especially at a tournament like this where this the golf course is arguably harder than most major championship golf courses we play,” Hovland stated. “It felt like a major. So it was really cool that I was able to get it done at a place like this.”
It was a crushing loss for McCarthy, one of many purest putters on the PGA Tour. He confirmed his contact by saving essential pars and taking part in bogey-free on a day when the common rating was slightly below 75. His solely bogey got here on the 18th gap — twice.
McCarthy had a one-shot lead when he missed the 18th fairway to the left, pitched out to the green and narrowly missed a 25-foot par putt for the win. In the playoff, his shot from the suitable tough rolled again off the inexperienced some 50 yards away. He pitched to 12 ft and the putt caught the left edge and spun away.
“I’m heartbroken right now,” McCarthy stated, emotion in his voice after his closest name to win on the PGA Tour in his 156th try.
Hovland hit the entrance of the inexperienced, and his 60-foot putt stopped 7 ft quick, nonetheless uphill and with a lot much less break than his 5-footer in regulation to get within the playoff.
“I was shaking more in regulation,” Hovland stated.
The 25-year-old from Norway received $3.6 million and moved to No. 5 on this planet rating along with his fourth PGA Tour victory, and eighth worldwide since turning professional 4 years in the past out of Oklahoma State.
This was a closing day when so many went in reverse from the 22 gamers who had been separated by three photographs at first of the spherical.
Rory McIlroy chipped in from under the fourth inexperienced for birdie and had the lead on the entrance 9, however he gave away far too many photographs on the again — three bogeys in a row — for a 75 that took him out of the image.
Scottie Scheffler closed with a 67 and completed third and missed the playoff by one shot, exceptional contemplating he made the lower on the quantity. The No. 1 participant on this planet has not completed worse than twelfth in his 13 begins this 12 months.
But what every week to overlook with the putter.
Scheffler turned a statistically dominant efficiency from tee-to-green, choosing up 20.7 strokes on the sphere in that class. But he misplaced 8.5 strokes to the sphere in his placing. This is perhaps the very best context — it was almost a 20-shot differential in placing to McCarthy, and Scheffler completed one shot behind.
“I think a little bit of my struggles with the putting have probably helped me elevate my ball striking, just because if I’m trying to compete out here … with the putts not going in, I’ve got to hit it really good. And I’ve been able to do that,” Scheffler stated.
“Maybe people are asking me about my putting so much more because I’m hitting it so good,” he stated. “When you’re hitting a bunch of greens it’s not easy to make every putt. I mean, if I was putting the best this week, I would have won by a crazy amount of shots.”
That belonged to Hovland, who joined McCarthy (70) at 7-under 281.
Hovland didn’t really feel as if he did something particular. He has had higher weeks putting the ball. His lowest spherical was 69. But he was the one participant to interrupt par in all 4 rounds.
“I played smart. I played my game. And I came up clutch this time,” Hovland stated.
He was notably robust on the finish. The closing three had been the hardest at Muirfield Village all week. Hovland birdied two of the three on Saturday to get within the combine, and he performed them 1 below on Sunday to get right into a playoff.
Si Woo Kim, who performed within the final group with McIlroy, had a 73 to complete alone in fourth. Jordan Spieth was within the group one other shot again.