The Memorial Tournament Wrapup
KJ Choi played his final round at The Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley just as the player who runs the tournament did so many times in his career.
Jack Nicklaus was known as one of the greatest final round golfers of all-time. Choi must have taken note of that before his final round.
Choi did not have an easy road ahead to a victory at Jack’s place; he started the final round five strokes off the pace of 3rd round leader Rod Pampling.
Before Choi could even get out on the course, Muirfield Village received early morning rain which softened out the Nicklaus designed golf course. The result: firm fairways, no wind, immaculate greens and a course in prime condition to score.
Choi took an early advantage of the tremendous scoring conditions. He birdied the first hole and reeled off another five to end his front nine at 6-under par 30 and took the lead from Pampling who struggled on his front nine.
Entering the final round, Pampling played the first nine holes at Muirfield Village a combined 7-under par. On Sunday, Pampling could not take advantage of the front nine like Choi did. He bogeyed the second hole then only produced one birdie on the par-5 8th to go out in even par.
Eventually, the birdie well dried up a bit for Choi. He only made two birdies on the back nine, but it was not his birdie-making ability that kept him atop the leaderboard. Choi made clutch save after clutch save late in his back nine.
Stuck in the rough on the left side of the green, Choi managed to save par when his chip settled to about a couple of feet on the par-4 14th.
On both the 16th and 17th holes Choi made lengthy putts to save par.
Choi walked up to the 18th green and realized he was in the lead with several players within shooting distance of him. His approach shot found the greenside bunker on 18 and he pulled off another precise short game shot as his bunker escape ended up a few feet away to end his round. He shot a final round 65 and was the clubhouse leader at 17-under par.
Fueled by Choi’s early assault on the course, the rest of the field played catch-up.
Pampling never got his motor running all day. Even with a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15 that got him within one shot of Choi, he bogeyed the 17th hole to finish in a tie for third place.
Also within shooting distance of Choi, Adam Scott started off well, with birdies on four of his first seven holes, but, like Pampling, struggled down the stretch. On the 17th hole, Scott’s bid to save par and stay within one shot of Choi sailed a good 6 inches above his intended line resulting in a bogey.
Ryan Moore challenged Choi with a string of late birdies. He started the day five shots out of the lead and made his way up the leaderboard with consecutive birdies on holes 13 through 17. Moore finished one birdie away from tying Choi and, by doing so, recorded his fourth career runner-up finish on the PGA Tour.
Kenny Perry started even further out of the lead. The 1991 and 2003 champion, Perry began the final day nine shots behind the leader and shot a bogey-free final round 63 to finish tied for third with 54-hole leader Pampling.
After learning how to play golf by reading Jack Nicklaus instructional books, it looks like Choi ripped out one of the chapters about how to play a final round.
Check-in with hookedongolf.com all this week for updates and results when the PGA Tour travels to Memphis, Tennessee for the Stanford St. Jude Championship.
