Ilonen three clear for first win in six years
a NErVELESS final-day performance saw Matt kuchar retain his two-shot overnight lead to win the Memorial tournament at Muirfield Village.
The ryder cup star led by two strokes at the start of the day and after holding off an early charge from Scott Stallings, he pulled clear with six birdies on the day.
The 34-year-old birdied the first and also all four par 5s at the Dublin, Ohio resort as he closed with a four-under-par round of 68 for a 12-under total of 276. Playing partners kevin chappell and kyle Stanley were second and third on ten under and seven under respectively.
“it’s such an amazing feeling, this stuff never gets old,” kuchar said after being congratulated by tournament host Jack Nicklaus. “To win this and have Jack Nicklaus congratulate me is a real treat.”
kuchar extended his lead over playing partners kyle Stanley and kevin chappell at the first opportunity and it soon appeared the challenge would come from a surprising source.
Stallings, who looked to have dropped well out of contention MikkO ilonen reflected on a “pretty special” day after winning his first European Tour trophy in six years at the Nordea Masters in Stockholm.
The Finn had carded rounds of 70, 63 and 65 heading into the final day and continued to make his mark, sinking birdies on the second, third, 11th and 13th holes to go round in threeunder 69 and win by three shots from Jonas Blixt. His only blemish came with a bogey six on the 12th but he still ended the tournament on 21-under.
ilonen’s last success came at the Scandinavian Masters in 2007 and he relished his return to the winner’s circle. “it’s pretty with a round of 75 on Saturday, played the front nine in five under par with a run of five successive birdies from the fourth hole. and when another followed at the 10th he was alone in second on seven under par, two shots behind kuchar.
That was as good as it got, though, and another birdie at the 17th was sandwiched by bogeys. kuchar gave his opening birdie back at the par-three fourth but was on in two at the par-five next. His eagle putt ran just through but he tapped in for birdie to go to nine under.
The long seventh and 11th brought further birdies and he repeated the trick at the 15th.
He bogeyed the 16th and found a fairway bunker at the next, but escaped safely to the middle of the green and birdied the last with no alarms, rolling in a nice right-to-left putt from 21 feet. The first prize of $1,116,000(£734,000) adds to significant paydays for his wins over the past three years – The Barclays in 2010, last year’s Players championship and the World Golf championships-accenture Match Play championship earlier this season.
The latter means only he and Tiger Woods have more than special. i could feel a lot of support from Finland, especially today. Playing with alex [Sweden’s alexander Noren] in the last group in front of the local fans, it feels pretty special.”
Not even a lapse in concentra- one event on tour this season. World No 1 Woods was a long way off the pace here, eight over after a level-par closing round to follow his nightmare 79 on Saturday. chappell was steady through the first 12 holes but failed to make a move, notably at the friendly par fives which served kuchar so well.
He birdied the 13th and 15th, the latter after a tee-shot sent tion on the 12th green, where he fluffed a short putt, could knock the 33-year-old out of his stride.
He said: “i just got ahead of myself a little bit with the first putt. i’ve said it for weeks now, it doesn’t really bother me if i make a bogey, a birdie or par. as long as i have holes to play i know i can make it up and i did.”
Blixt tried his hardest to catch ilonen, carding an eagle on the par-five ninth, but dropped shots on the 11th and 14th, and then a double bogey on the 13th saw him come up short with a four-under-par 68.
a six-under 66 from Bernd Wiesberger ensured the austrian rounded off the top three, flush over the pin, to keep himself in contention.
Stanley’s challenge sputtered out at the 17th as he hit his second shot from one bunker to another, was unable to splash out on to the green and then underhit his chip, before holing a good putt to escape with bogey.
chappell holed a good 19foot birdie putt to go down the last hole two strokes behind a further shot adrift, while Thomas Bjorn was among the Nordic contingent on the leaderboard following his round of 67.
The Dane carded six birdies to one bogey to finish in a four-way tie for fourth on 16-under, alongside Swedes rikard karlberg and Noren plus italian Matteo Manassero, who had been looking to add to his success at last weekend’s BMW PGa championship.
England’s ross Fisher also made tremendous strides on the final day to finish on the leaderboard, albeit six shots off the pace.
The 32-year-old sank eight birdies in a flawless round for a score of 64 and 15-under overall. the leader, hit his approach just a couple of feet short of the pin and made birdied but to no avail.
Stallings shared fourth place with Bill Haas on six under, with australia’s Matt Jones the leading non-american in a share of sixth. English pair Justin rose, the 2010 champion, and Brian Davis were four under along with 2011 Masters champion charl Schwartzel.