Cantlay on top at Jack’s house

American Patrick Cantlay shot his lowest ever final round in his PGA Tour career to take a two-shot victory over Adam Scott at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday.

A bogey-free 64 saw the 27-year-old finally close out with a win after a series of top tens in recent weeks, including a T3 at the PGA Championship. Going five-under-par through the front nine on Sunday, it seemed the only way Cantlay could throw this one away would be to beat himself but after Jack Nicklaus advised him to “figure out how to play those last 30 minutes,” a blow-up was never a likely occurrence.

A further three birdies on the back-nine saw the American sweep past the returning-to-form Martin Kaymer and Adam Scott to claim his second PGA Tour title and move himself into the world’s top ten.

Quiz of the week

Patrick Cantlay’s 269 (19-under-par) is the second lowest ever total scored at the Memorial Tournament.

Who holds the record for the lowest total?
Bonus points - what was the year and score?

Answer below*.

Nice guys finish last – so do bad ones

Matt Kuchar’s ‘nice guy’ reputation took another hit at the Memorial Tournament after attempting to claim a free drop when his ball came to rest in an existing pitch mark on the 17th fairway. 

The Rules of Golf state that a player is allowed to move their ball out of a pitch mark without penalty IF it came from their ball. However, Kuchar was attempting to claim that his ball ‘broke new ground’ when it came to rest thus becoming his own pitch mark, but the rules officials were having none of it.

After being accused of short-changing a caddie back in February and his Sergio Garcia match-play controversy in Austin, it is safe to say Kuchar’s popularity has plummeted with this latest headline making incident yet again. This time it clearly affected Kuchar as a 73 and 74 resulted in the American failing to make the cut.

*Answer - Tom Leman – 1994 – 20-under-par, 268.