Memorial Tournament wrap-up final round: Who won, highlights, stats, shot of the day
Billy Horschel’s kids couldn’t wait to say hi to dad.
Daughters Skylar and Colbie and son Axel were released by their mom, Brittany, who was waiting just off the 18th green as Horschel tapped-in a par putt to finish 13-under and win the 2022 Memorial Tournament.
With a five-shot lead before he teed off and the course getting more and more difficult throughout the day, it would have taken a minor miracle for anyone to catch Horschel. His own minor miracle on the 15th green all but guaranteed the least dramatic of victories in recent history at Muirfield Village.
It was the largest win since Ernie Els beat Fred Couples in 2004 by the same margin. Aaron Wise finished 9-under with a bogey on 18.
"I didn’t have to do anything special out there,” Horschel said. “I’ve got a five-shot lead. I’ve played great the last few days. I’ve just gotta go out there and continue to execute golf shots, try not to do anything special, try not to do anything stupid that would allow guys to come back into the fold. I felt like I played a really great round of golf today.”
Here’s all that happened on the final day of the Memorial Tournament.
Best rounds
Max Homa had an electric front nine with five birdies to shoot a 31 and make the turn at 8-under after starting the day 3-under. A double-bogey on No. 18 was an anticlimactic way to end in front of a gallery that had steadily grown throughout the day, but the odds are a witty tweet will make up for it. He finished the tournament 6-under in a tie for fifth.
Corey Conners shot a 69 to jump 29 spots up the leaderboard, from T42 to T13 at 3-under for the tournament. His final round included an eagle on No. 10, a double-bogey on No. 12, a bogey on No. 2 and four birdies.
Jon Rahm matched Homa, Conners and Sungjae Im with a 69, which proved to be the best score of the day. Rahm opened his round with back-to-back bogeys but recovered to birdie Nos. 4-7 and No. 15 without another bogey the rest of the way. He finished the tournament 4-under in a tie for 10th.
Worst rounds
Cameron Young started the day in a respectable T12 at 5-under, but it didn’t take long for things to go south. He bogeyed the first hole, though he recovered back to 5-under with a birdie on the par-3 No. 4 after a 226-yard tee shot that left him with a birdie putt of just over five feet. Then the wheels started to fall off.
Young double-bogeyed No. 5, bogeyed No. 6, recovered for par on Nos. 7-8, before running into major trouble on No. 9. He hit his second shot into the water, took the drop, and sent the next shot … into the water again. His sixth shot finally landed on the green, and he two-putted from there to finish with a quadruple-bogey.
On the back nine, he bogeyed Nos. 10, 12 and 18, with a double-bogey on No. 11 to finish the round with a 12-over 84 and finish the tournament 7-over, tied for 60th place. He cost himself over $225,000 with his Sunday slide. Oof.
Brandon Wu was tied for 13th through 36 holes at 4-under, then shot back-to-back 80s Saturday and Sunday to finish 12-over.
Other notable finishers:
Patrick Cantlay: 1-under 71, finished 7-under in a tie for third
Will Zalatoris: 2-under 70, finished 6-under in a tie for fifth
Xander Schauffele: 2-under 70, finished 2-under in a tie for 18th
Jordan Spieth: 1-over 73, finished 2-under in a tie for 18th
Rory McIlroy: 2-over 74, finished 2-under in a tie for 18th
Ohio’s own Jason Day: 3-over 75, finished even in 31st
Matt Kuchar: 2-over 74, finished 3-over in a tie for 45th
Weather report
For once, you could break out a new pair of shoes for the Memorial Tournament and not worry about having to demote them to lawn-moving attire immediately thereafter because you ruined them in the muddy, rain-soaked grass.
After some precipitation throughout the night Wednesday and Thursday morning, the wet weather cleared for cool but pleasant, overcast skies, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s. By Friday, the sky cleared and the sun didn’t stop shining as the temperature gradually went from a high in the low-70s to the high-70s by the end of Sunday.
It was the first time since 2019 that there were no suspensions of play. Last year, there were four delays, including one for five minutes. Bet that made a difference.
Seriously, has anyone ever seen such a beautiful week for the Memorial Tournament?
Shots of the day
Viewers of the Memorial Tournament will surely see Horschel’s 53-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole for years to come.
Though not as iconic as Tiger Woods’ chip-in on No. 16 in 2012, Horschel’s eagle locked up his first win in a stroke-play event since March 2018.
For EAGLE 🦅 pic.twitter.com/3c6m5J4pVk
— GOLF on CBS ⛳ (@GOLFonCBS) June 5, 2022
And we’d be remiss if we didn't mention Mito Pereira’s double-eagle on No. 7.
Though it wasn’t captured by any of the PGA Tour’s broadcasting partners, Pereira holed out from 273 yards out in the middle of the fairway with a 3-wood. It was his first-ever albatross.
"I was just trying to get a 3-wood landing on the front and just roll it back,” Pereira said. “Hit it perfectly, a little fade, and just it kicked the right way towards the hole, but I thought it was going to go long. Suddenly everybody just went nuts.”
Following his near-win at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in his major championship debut as a professional, Pereira shot a very respectable 2-under, 70, to finish the Memorial in a tie for 13th at 3-under.
Hole of the tournament: No. 15
Jack Nicklaus said about the 15th hole, with the renovations, there would be lots of birdies and eagles, but also plenty of bogeys and double-bogeys.
He was right about the former.
Patrons at the 15th hole saw more birdies and eagles than any other hole at this edition of the tournament. Playing at 561 yards, players made 11 eagles and 164 birdies through the four rounds. Despite the creek in front, only 19 times out of 377 approach shots went into the water.
Quotable
“It’s sort of a running joke in our family that my wife and my kids have never been at a victory. My wife has never wanted to fly in on a Saturday night when I’ve had a chance to win. She feels like she may bring bad luck or something. … I’ve just always wanted that one moment where my family runs out, the kids run out, that I can always look back for many years to come and they can look back at for their entire lives, being on the green congratulating their father for a victory.”
- Horschel on his kids cheering for him as he walked up the 18th green
Stats to know
26: Horschel’s number of strokes improved from the 2021 Memorial Tournament.
$1,460,536: The difference in Horschel’s winnings on Sunday and his career winnings at Muirfield Village. In eight previous starts at the Memorial Tournament, Horschel had made nearly $700,000 combined. His total winnings on Sunday were $2.16 million.
2: Number of snowmen on the scorecard. Rickie Fowler had a quadruple-bogey on the par-4 6th hole. Cameron Young had his quadruple-bogey on No. 9.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Memorial Tournament Day 4: Who won, highlights, stats, shot of the day
