Memorial Tournament: Rory McIlroy comes up short as Viktor Hovland beats Denny McCarthy in play-off
Viktor Hovland won on the first extra hole at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament and was met by the icon as soon as he left the final green.
Viktor Hovland won on the first extra hole at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament and was met by the icon as soon as he left the final green.
Rory McIlroy came up short in the final round at the Memorial Tournament as Norwegian Viktor Hovland stormed to victory in dramatic fashion after a play-off at Muirfield Village.
Hovland’s final-round 70 was good enough to take him into a sudden death shootout with McCarthy, who looked on course for a maiden PGA Tour victory heading up the 18th only for the first bogey of his round to drop him back to seven under by after 72 holes.
The pair went back to the 18th tee, and a par for the world No 7 Hovland was enough to secure him a fourth PGA Tour title.
Memorial champion Viktor Hovland says he focused on ‘playing smart’ throughout the week while a clearly emotional Denny McCarthy says he’s heartbroken in playoff defeat.
McIlroy finishing tied seventh after a disappointing round of 75 on Sunday.
The Northern Irishman came into his final round tied for the lead on six unders by as he targeted his first tournament win since the Dubai Desert Hero Classic in January.
In windy conditions in Ohio, the world No 3 chipped in at the fourth to lead on his own, much to the delight of the crowd, but picked up bogeys in three of the following four holes to fall behind new leader McCarthy.
Rory McIlroy chips in his second shot on the fourth for a brilliant birdie at the Memorial Tournament.
A birdie at 11 gave McIlroy hope of clawing his way back into contention but followed that with a bogey at 12 to fall three off the pace.
Further problems with his putter at the 13th saw McIlroy drop another shot – effectively ending his challenge.
McCarthy got a huge slice of luck down the 14th as his tee shot headed straight into the trees but got a fortunate bounce right back out onto the fairway, enabling him to save par, while a beautiful putt at the next hole again kept him from dropping shot.
Jon Rahm holes out for a stunning eagle from 159 yards on the ninth hole to put himself back into contention at the Memorial Tournament.
Another important par putt on 16 McCarthy kept out in front, but a birdie from Hovland at 17 piled the pressure on the American, whose bogey at the last gave Hovland a lifeline.
Both then headed back up the 18th, with McCarthy missing one long putt for the win before Hovland holed his shorter attempt to take home the prize.
“I just played smart, played my game and came up clutch this time but yeah it feels even better after a few close calls in the last few months,” Hovland said.
“I didn’t really feel like I hit it my best the whole week. I just played really smart, playedly, really relied on my conservative short game which was awesome this week. So it’s fun to win one of these things without just ball – striking it to death. Now I can kind of rely on some other strengths as well.”
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