McGirt makes memories at the Memorial

DUBLIN, Ohio — A few observations from Sunday’s final round at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, with William McGirt defeating Jon Curran on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. For more on Sunday's round, check out the Daily Wrap-up.

MCGIRT'S MEMORABLE MOMENT

During his post-round press conference on Sunday, the newly-minted TOUR winner was asked to reel off the names of the developmental mini-tours he played in his career.

"I don't have enough fingers and toes," he said.

McGirt went on to try and list them — Tar Heel Tour, Hooters Tour, Carolina Mountain Tour, All-Star Tour, Carolinas Pro Tour — and needed a hint from his wife, Sarah, to get the Gateway Tour.

Bottom line, McGirt has been around the block. One year, he drove to Boston to try and Monday qualify for the Deutsche Bank Championship. When he missed out, he drove back home to play a mini-tour event that same week.

Pushed to explain why he continued to keep playing, bouncing from mini-tour to mini-tour, McGirt gave an answer that likely would come out of the mouth of any diehard golfer.

"Because I'm crazy," McGirt said. "We're all nuts. We play this game. We chase a little ball around the grass and do it 18 times. We're all nuts.

"No, I kept doing it because this was my ultimate dream, to get on the PGA TOUR and try to win. The other thing was I didn't know what else I was going to do."

McGirt realized his dream on Sunday and ensured that he'll never have to worry about what that second career might be.

With a 7-foot par putt on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, McGirt earned his first TOUR win in his 165th start, securing a three-year exemption in the process.

In addition to being McGirt's first TOUR win, it also marked only the second time in the 36-year-old's career that he's hoisted the trophy. The last win came back in 2007 on the eGolf Professional Tour — it was called the Tar Heel Tour at the time — at Cabarrus Country Club in Concord, North Carolina.

McGirt still remembers the win.

"It feels a lifetime ago, and the first place check was $16,000, and I thought I hit it big," he said.

The winner's check on Sunday was slightly bigger at $1.53 million, and the 500 FedExCup points vaulted McGirt to 10th in the FedExCup standings.

Like most maiden TOUR wins, nothing came easy for McGirt during the final round. He arrived at the course and never felt comfortable with his swing, relying on a steady putter to post a bogey-free 71.

He was unflappable for much of the round, hitting 88 percent of the greens at Muirfield Village. The only nervy moment during regulation came on the 18th when he had to navigate a 60-foot par putt that he cozied to within 3 feet.

From there McGirt used his short game to secure his first win, getting up-and-down from a bunker on the first playoff hole. The next time around, he overshot the green and was forced to scramble for another par.

With Jon Curran looking at nearly 40 feet for par, McGirt landed his chip on the putting surface, rolling it to within 7 feet of the hole. More important was the fact that McGirt left himself with an uphill put.

"It was a solid 9 or 10," McGirt said of the shot. "The good news was it was uphill and it was right edge, hit it all you want."

McGirt hit a no-doubter putt that disappeared into the back of the cup for his first win — a win that left little doubt about his ability to close on a big stage.

"The few times I've been in this position, everything sped up, but I learned what my tendencies were," McGirt said. "So I knew starting today I needed to walk as slow as I possibly could all day long. And the same thing on my golf swing, I knew I needed to try to swing as slow as I possibly could. It's just been years and years of practice and getting your nose bloodied and learning from it."

After years of learning, McGirt finally figured it out on Sunday. With a new-found belief and a win finally under his belt, he's hoping this is the start of something special.

"I've had chances over the last few years," McGirt said. "I've really started to believe in what I do and my ability to play this game, and that's been the biggest difference in my game."

RORY TURNS ATTENTION TO OAKMONT

Less than 10 minutes had elapsed between Rory McIlroy's final putt and his arrival in the media center on Sunday when the first question was asked about the upcoming U.S. Open.

With the Memorial in the rearview, McIlroy immediately turned his attention to Oakmont and the year's second major championship.

Despite finishing two shots back of eventual winner William McGirt, McIlroy left Muirfield Village with plenty of positives. With the winds freshening in the afternoon, the four-time major winner closed in style, rolling in a 6-footer for birdie on the 15th before adding two more circles to his card on the 16th and 17th.

The 3-under stretch on the back nine featured a 21-foot birdie putt on 16 and a 382-yard drive on 17 that was only matched by Dustin Johnson.

Using a conventional putter grip for the first time in three months, McIlroy produced one of the best performances of the week, finishing third in the field in strokes gained: putting (plus 7.306) after ranking 122nd in the statistical category prior to the tournament.

"Off the tee I was really good this week, and I feel like my putting improved quite a lot," McIlroy said after a final-round 68 that left him 13 under. "I feel like, if you look at the stats from my putting this week, it's actually been really good.

"So all things considered, it's been a decent week. Time to get ready for Oakmont in a couple weeks' time."

McIlroy confirmed his plan is to head to Oakmont on Sunday night and then play Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. He even spent time looking at flyovers of the holes Saturday night, on the USGA's website, in advance of his recon trip.

"I don't really know a lot about it," McIlroy said of Oakmont. "I know there's a big road that goes through the middle of it. Yeah, that's really — I mean, it looks like an awesome golf course. It looks unbelievably hard, and it will reward very good ball striking. It's going to be tough."

Ball striking is the one thing McIlroy said needs work between now and the U.S. Open. He lost more than two strokes to the field with his approach shots (strokes gained: approach the green), and averaged 32 feet 1 inch in proximity to the hole.

"My iron plan hasn't been great," McIlroy admitted. "I'm just not hitting the ball close enough to the flag with my mid-irons. I need to work on that a little bit, try to shallow out the plan a little bit. Getting a little steep with my short irons."

As for McIlroy's driving? It was once again a major strength. He was tops in strokes gained: off the tee, and seventh in driving distance (307.1 yards).

"I don't know how much that's going to come into play at Oakmont," McIlroy said. "But I feel like I'm driving the ball well. That's always a good asset to have in your bag going into the U.S. Open."

CURRAN UPBEAT AFTER PLAYOFF LOSS

Sitting two shots back of the lead going into the final round, Jon Curran felt like he was in the perfect position to make a run at the leaders.

"I got nothing to lose," Curran said. "I like this golf course. I've been playing great. Yeah, just trying to go out and pretend like it's the first round of the tournament and just go as low as I can go."

On Sunday, Curran's plan nearly produced his first TOUR victory. But instead of hoisting the trophy, Curran was once again forced to watch someone else become a TOUR winner.

Last season, Curran fell to Alex Cejka in a five-man playoff at the Puerto Rico Open. This time around, it was William McGirt on the second hole of sudden-death at the Memorial.

"It's tough to be in a playoff," Curran said. "It's kind of all gravy to that point. I mean, you kind of look at it and say, oh, well, yeah, I've had a good week. It's tough to kind of keep really focused and into it, and I thought I did a great job."

Curran hit one of the shots of the tournament from a fairway bunker on the 17th, during regulation, to tie McGirt for the lead at 15 under. After returning to the course following a lengthy delay, Curran flighted the shot through the wind to 7 feet and then made the birdie putt.

"I hit a little 7 iron and (the ball) came out perfectly," Curran said. "I was actually fortunate to hold that green because we just played 16 and the green was rock hard. You couldn't hold the green from what we were hitting in. So I think I was pretty fortunate, maybe caught a soft spot there."

Curran went on to par the first hole of the playoff, hitting the fairway and green in regulation. The second hole wasn't nearly as clean. His drive landed in the fairway bunker on 18 and he proceeded to fly his approach over the green into the crowd.

When his 39-foot par putt failed to drop, Curran watched as McGirt buried his 7-footer for the win.

One of the first people to console Curran after his victory was Keegan Bradley, a former teammate at Hopkinton (Mass.) High School, where the two won a state championship together.

"It was the most nervous I've ever been," Bradley said. "My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding."

Curran felt the same way. It wasn't until he had a minute to compose himself after the playoff that he realized the magnitude of the moment.

"It's kind of surreal sometimes," Curran said. "It might not be for a lot of guys, but for me it was kind of surreal for me to be here at really the biggest stage I've been on and to be in a playoff. That, I think, it's kind of — you just kind of look back. I don't know. It was kind of gathering myself for the first time really."

The next time Curran has to gather himself on Sunday, he hopes it will be right before the trophy presentation.

KUCHAR RUES BUNKER MISTAKE

For 11 holes on Sunday, Matt Kuchar was in complete control of his game. With three birdies in his first seven holes, Kuchar moved to the top of the leaderboard and stayed there — even after a bogey on the 12th dropped him into a tie for the lead with McGirt.

Then came the tee shot on the 13th — which found a fairway bunker — and the air horn that put play on hold for nearly 90 minutes as a storm cell passed through the area.

When Kuchar returned to the course, he caught the lip of the bunker with his second shot and watched as the ball landed within a few feet of his original position. He managed to blast out with his third but had to settle for double bogey, dropping him two shots behind McGirt.

"It's a big lip," Kuchar said of the bunker. "I caught it thin. I was trying to really hoist it high, then tried to help it up, and that's never a smart thing to do."

While the double-bogey came immediately after the rain, Kuchar refused to blame the back-nine blunder on the weather delay.

"I was in a tough situation, and I turned it into a really bad situation there with what I did after the delay," Kuchar said. "Certainly, I don't blame that one (on) the delay. It was tough before or after the delay."

Kuchar would bogey the 15th and birdie the 16th to get back to 13 under, but when his birdie putt slid by on the 17th, he knew his fate was sealed for the week. Kuchar finished T4, the sixth top-10 in his last eight starts at Muirfield Village.

"When I look back ... certainly another nice finish, at some point, the nice finishes don't mean too much," Kuchar said. "You really look to put your name inside the clubhouse on the winner's trophy. And that's where I feel like I stand right now with my game, it's nice to finish fourth place, but that's not what I showed up here to do."

MICKELSON RUNS OUT OF GAS

Phil Mickelson knew it would take a low score to catch the leaders. A front-nine 33 put him within three as he made the turn, but the back nine wasn't nearly as kind to the five-time major winner.

Three straight bogeys on Nos. 10-12 moved him from on the cusp of contending to out of the mix. He would go on to shoot 72 and finish T20, his seventh top-20 finish at Muirfield Village in 16 career starts.

"I didn't putt well enough to win, but it was a fun week," Mickelson said. "I always enjoy this golf course. I don't have a good answer as to why I have not ever played very well here in the past because I think it's a course that does suit my game, but I just haven't."

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