DUBLIN, Ohio — Jason Dufner still hasn’t put together four good rounds at Muirfield Village.
However, it hardly mattered Sunday as Dufner captured the Memorial Tournament with a bogey-free back nine to cap off a final-round 4-under 68. His 13-under 275 total bested India’s Anirban Lahiri (65) and Rickie Fowler (70) by three shots.
The victory was the fifth of Dufner’s career and the first since the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge. The strong Sunday round provided a stark difference from Dufner’s 77 on Saturday that erased his five-shot lead and sent him into the fourth round trailing Daniel Summerhays by four strokes.
Dufner didn’t make it easy on himself at the end Sunday. Holding a two-shot lead on the par-4 18th, Dufner found the deep rough right of the fairway off the tee. He could only advance the ball 75 yards on his second shot and did not get back to the fairway.
Staring at a pressure-packed 32-foot, 7-inch par putt, Dufner put the ball in the center of the cup. And it even elicited an emphatic fist bump from the tranquil Dufner, who became the first golfer to win a PGA Tour event with a round of 77 or worse since the 1989 Masters when Nick Faldo also shot 77 in the third round.
Fowler wound up making bogey on the last hole to drop him into a tie with Lahiri and extend Dufner’s winning margin.
Justin Thomas (72) and Matt Kuchar (73) finished tied for fourth at 279. Kyle Stanley (68), James Hahn (69), Bubba Watson (73) and Kevin Kisner (71), who won last week’s Dean & Deluca Invitational, were at 280. Canada’s Graham DeLaet (68), Jamie Lovemark (73) and Summerhays (78) tied for 10th at 281.
It wouldn’t be the Memorial Tournament without a weather delay. Rain has been practically an annual tradition since 1976 when Jack Nicklaus founded the event. Along with a slew of challengers, Dufner also had to fend off Mother Nature.
Mickelson to skip US Open
Phil Mickelson was set to make his fourth attempt to complete the career Grand Slam in two weeks at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, but told The New York Times on Saturday he will withdraw from the tournament in order to attend the high school graduation of his daughter, Amanda.
Mickelson has finished second in the U.S. Open six times, but it is the only major he has never won.
“As I look back on life, this is a moment I’ll always cherish and be glad I was present,” Mickelson told the Times. “There’s no greater joy as a parent.”
Mickelson is a five-time major champion who claimed the third leg of the Grand Slam when he captured the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield in Scotland, but he has not won since.
The first round of the 2017 U.S. Open is scheduled for June 15, the same day as Amanda Mickelson’s graduation from Pacific Ridge High School in Carlsbad, California.
Kim wins ShopRite title
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, New Jersey — When In-Kyung Kim tapped in her final putt on Sunday at the ShopRite LPGA Classic, it marked the conclusion of an event that was as much an endurance test as it was a golf tournament.
When play began Sunday, a half-dozen players had a legitimate chance to win. But one by one, they fell by the wayside, and at day’s end, it was Kim who claimed the victory after a final round that took the leaders just under five hours to complete.
The South Korean finished with a 2-under-par 69 on the Bay Course at Stockton Seaview Resort and Golf Club to complete 54 holes at 11-under 202. It was the fifth LPGA victory for Kim, who turns 29 on June 13. Her last win came in China in October 2016.
Two-time defending champion Anna Nordqvist of Sweden also closed with a 69 to finish alone in second place at 204.
Michelle Wie shot up the leaderboard early in the day with a 65 to finish at 206 and share third place with Jenny Shin of South Korea, American Jacqui Concolino and Jeong Eun Lee of South Korea. They posted rounds of 69, 70, and 71, respectively.
American Paula Creamer, who started the day tied for the lead with Kim, shot a 74 and wound up tied for seventh at 207 with Gabby Lopez of Mexico, who shot a 67; Moriya Jutanugarn from Thailand, who signed for a 72; and Americans Jaye Marie Green and Mo Martin, who shot 66 and 69, respectively.
Kim, who played with Creamer and Juntanugarn in the final group, completed a steady final round over a golf course that played to 6,217 yards.
She took the lead by herself for the first time with a birdie at No. 4 before making the turn at 10 under. She birdied the 10th to open a two-shot lead. But after the group hit their tee shots at the par-3 11th, they were informed that they were being put on the clock. They remained on the clock for four holes.
“We were a little slow,” Kim said. “We were on the clock on the tricky holes. I had to rush one time. The (yardage) I had was 150, and I hit 170 club. My caddie was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I was rushing. My caddie helped a lot. I just asked him how much to carry after that.”
Nordqvist, who was trying to become the first player to win this event three years in succession, started two shots off the pace and played her first nine at 1 under. Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 brought her to 10 under and within one shot of the lead.
However, Kim extended the margin when she birdied the par-4 12th. Although Kim lost a shot with a bogey at 14, Nordqvist never shared the lead again. She faltered at the 15th when she hit a 5-iron over the green to the 198-yard par 3, then hit a bad chip shot that led to a bogey and dropped her two shots behind. She also failed to convert a series of makeable birdie putts down the stretch.
“Fifteen kind of killed us,” Nordqvist said. “Hitting way too much club and being over the green and not the best of lies. They’ve all been coming out bad, and came jumping forward.
“Feel like I had a good putt on … 16 and 17, but just got a little mucky. Got in between yardages on both 16 and 18, but I was in contention and I’m happy.”
Creamer, who almost won this tournament 13 years ago as an amateur, was one shot off the lead when she made the turn. Back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12 and a third at the 14th took her out of contention.
“You just can’t shoot over par on Sundays,” she said, “that’s for sure.”
Creamer said being on the clock was distracting.
“We just couldn’t get a rhythm, especially with some of these pins and the wind and everything,” she said. “It’s all happening so fast and you kind of can’t regroup and I didn’t do a very good job of that. But I fought hard, I kept grinding away out there.”