2023 Recap & Results

Memorial Tournament Winner - Viktor Hovland

Dates

June 1 - 4

Purse

$20,000,000

Par

36-36=72

Yardage

7,571

Hovland delivers clutch putts and wins Memorial in playoff

By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press


DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Viktor Hovland was happy with his three PGA Tour victories, even if they were at resort courses that were soft and susceptible to firing at flags. He wanted a win on American soil, where par was at a premium, and he got every bit of that Sunday at the Memorial.

Two shots behind and facing the three hardest holes at Muirfield Village, Hovland set his sights on a score instead of the leader, Denny McCarthy, and then delivered his best stuff of the day.

Hovland holed a 30-foot birdie putt — the only birdie of the day at No. 17 — around two par saves for a 2-under 70 that got him into a playoff, and then he beat the hard-luck McCarthy with a 7-foot par to win the Memorial.

His previous three wins were twice at Mayakoba on the Gulf coast of Mexico and once in Puerto Rico. This victory came on conditions so difficult that even Jack Nicklaus was stunned to feel how firm the greens were when he stepped on the 18th to congratulate Hovland.

“It feels really cool to get my first win on the U.S. soil, especially at a tournament like this where this the golf course is arguably harder than most major championship golf courses we play,” Hovland said. “It felt like a major. So it was really cool that I was able to get it done at a place like this.”

It was a crushing loss for McCarthy, one of the purest putters on the PGA Tour. He showed his touch by saving crucial pars and playing bogey-free on a day when the average score was just under 75. His only bogey came on the 18th hole — twice.

McCarthy had a one-shot lead when he missed the 18th fairway to the left, pitched out to the fairway and narrowly missed a 25-foot par putt for the win. In the playoff, his shot from the right rough rolled back off the green some 50 yards away. He pitched to 12 feet and the putt caught the left edge and spun away.

“I’m heartbroken right now,” McCarthy said, emotion in his voice after his closest call to win on the PGA Tour in his 156th attempt.

Hovland hit the front of the green, and his 60-foot putt stopped 7 feet short, still uphill and with much less break than his 5-footer in regulation to get in the playoff.

“I was shaking more in regulation,” Hovland said.

The 25-year-old from Norway won $3.6 million and moved to No. 5 in the world ranking with his fourth PGA Tour victory, and eighth worldwide since turning pro four years ago out of Oklahoma State.

This was a final day when so many went in reverse from the 22 players who had been separated by three shots at the start of the round.

Rory McIlroy chipped in from below the fourth green for birdie and had the lead on the front nine, but he gave away far too many shots on the back — three bogeys in a row — for a 75 that took him out of the picture.

Scottie Scheffler closed with a 67 and finished third and missed the playoff by one shot, remarkable considering he made the cut on the number. The No. 1 player in the world has not finished worse than 12th in his 13 starts this year.

But what a week to forget with the putter.

Scheffler turned a statistically dominant performance from tee-to-green, picking up 20.7 strokes on the field in that category. But he lost 8.5 strokes to the field in his putting. This might be the best context — it was nearly a 20-shot differential in putting to McCarthy, and Scheffler finished one shot behind.

“I think a little bit of my struggles with the putting have probably helped me elevate my ball striking, just because if I’m trying to compete out here ... with the putts not going in, I’ve got to hit it really good. And I’ve been able to do that,” Scheffler said.

“Maybe people are asking me about my putting so much more because I’m hitting it so good,” he said. “When you’re hitting a bunch of greens it’s not easy to make every putt. I mean, if I was putting the best this week, I would have won by a crazy amount of shots.”

That belonged to Hovland, who joined McCarthy (70) at 7-under 281.

Hovland didn’t feel as though he did anything special. He has had better weeks striking the ball. His lowest round was 69. But he was the only player to break par in all four rounds.

“I played smart. I played my game. And I came up clutch this time,” Hovland said.

He was particularly strong at the end. The final three were the toughest at Muirfield Village all week. Hovland birdied two of the three on Saturday to get in the mix, and he played them 1 under on Sunday to get into a playoff.

Si Woo Kim, who played in the last group with McIlroy, had a 73 to finish alone in fourth. Jordan Spieth was in the group another shot back.

# Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Total Purse
1 Viktor Hovland 71 71 69 70 281 $3,600,000
2 Denny McCarthy 71 72 68 70 281 $2,180,000
3 Scottie Scheffler 74 73 68 67 282 $1,380,000
4 Si Woo Kim 71 68 71 73 283 $980,000
5 Andrew Putnam 71 72 71 70 284 $772,500
Jordan Spieth 69 72 72 71 284 $772,500
7 Adam Schenk 75 71 68 71 285 $650,000
Rory McIlroy 72 68 70 75 285 $650,000
9 Matt Fitzpatrick 76 68 70 72 286 $545,000
Rickie Fowler 72 68 74 72 286 $545,000
Adam Scott 70 75 70 71 286 $545,000
12 Tyrrell Hatton 71 71 73 72 287 $410,000
Lee Hodges 72 69 70 76 287 $410,000
Wyndham Clark 70 71 70 76 287 $410,000
David Lipsky 69 69 72 77 287 $410,000
16 Hideki Matsuyama 72 65 75 76 288 $275,500
Russell Henley 74 71 68 75 288 $275,500
Joseph Bramlett 73 70 70 75 288 $275,500
Sepp Straka 71 69 73 75 288 $275,500
Jon Rahm 70 70 74 74 288 $275,500
Shane Lowry 69 76 70 73 288 $275,500
Sam Burns 71 71 73 73 288 $275,500
Luke List 73 74 71 70 288 $275,500
24 Stephan Jaeger 72 70 71 76 289 $163,000
Gary Woodland 75 68 71 75 289 $163,000
Xander Schauffele 77 66 72 74 289 $163,000
Beau Hossler 72 71 74 72 289 $163,000
Byeong Hun An 72 71 74 72 289 $163,000
30 Mark Hubbard 69 70 72 79 290 $117,250
Keegan Bradley 74 73 65 78 290 $117,250
Patrick Cantlay 71 67 74 78 290 $117,250
Patrick Rodgers 70 70 72 78 290 $117,250
J.J. Spaun 72 71 70 77 290 $117,250
Austin Eckroat 69 72 72 77 290 $117,250
Garrick Higgo 71 73 71 75 290 $117,250
Ryan Fox 77 70 73 70 290 $117,250
38 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 73 70 71 77 291 $91,000
Luke Donald 72 69 74 76 291 $91,000
J.T. Poston 76 70 72 73 291 $91,000
41 Sungjae Im 70 76 67 79 292 $71,000
Justin Suh 70 66 77 79 292 $71,000
S.H. Kim 75 71 70 76 292 $71,000
Sam Stevens 72 72 72 76 292 $71,000
Seamus Power 70 73 75 74 292 $71,000
Taylor Mongtomery 71 73 76 72 292 $71,000
48 Keith Mitchell 71 74 69 79 293 $52,600
Emiliano Grillo 71 73 73 76 293 $52,600
Matt Wallace 68 74 75 76 293 $52,600
Thomas Detry 73 72 77 71 293 $52,600
52 Harris English 71 73 76 74 294 $48,600
Alex Noren 72 74 71 77 294 $48,600
54 Davis Riley 67 78 78 72 295 $47,200
Danny Willett 69 76 69 81 295 $47,200
56 Sam Ryder 71 72 77 76 296 $46,400
Davis Thompson 72 75 76 73 296 $46,400
58 Sahith Theegala 76 70 75 76 297 $45,600
Chez Reavie 72 72 76 77 297 $45,600
60 Stewart Cink 73 71 78 76 298 $44,800
Taylor Pendrith 77 69 76 76 298 $44,800
62 Matt Kuchar 79 67 69 84 299 $44,200
63 Sam Bennett 71 73 72 84 300 $43,800
64 Lanto Griffin 73 74 78 76 301 $43,400
65 Tom Hoge 74 69 77 85 305 $43,000
888 Ben Taylor 73 80 153
David Micheluzzi 75 78 153
Thriston Lawrence 81 72 153
Alex Smalley 80 73 153
Nicolai Hojgaard 77 75 152
Corey Conners 77 75 152
Adam Long 81 71 152
Akshay Bhatia 73 78 151
Brian Harman 77 74 151
Lucas Glover 74 77 151
Brandon Wu 74 77 151
Cam Davis 74 79 153
Jason Dufner 76 77 153
Aaron Rai 74 79 153
Peter Malnati 78 84 162
Chad Ramey 88 74 162
Hayden Buckley 80 77 157
Billy Horschel 84 72 156
K.J. Choi 81 75 156
Kurt Kitayama 76 79 155
Francesco Molinari 81 74 155
Bo Hoag 76 78 154
Kevin Kisner 75 79 154
Tom Kim 79 75 154
Troy Merritt 76 78 154
Justin Lower 77 74 151
K.H. Lee 75 76 151
Matt NeSmith 73 76 149
Will Gordon 78 71 149
Zach Johnson 73 75 148
Jason Day 76 72 148
Adam Hadwin 69 79 148
Kazuki Higa 72 76 148
Chris Kirk 74 74 148
Trey Mullinax 74 74 148
Joel Dahmen 76 72 148
Mackenzie Hughes 75 73 148
Ben Griffin 72 76 148
Kevin Streelman 79 70 149
Cameron Young 74 75 149
Nick Hardy 74 75 149
Adam Svensson 77 74 151
William McGirt 77 74 151
David Lingmerth 78 73 151
Chris Gotterup 77 73 150
Robby Shelton 75 75 150
Aldrich Potgieter (a) 74 76 150
MJ Daffue 77 73 150
Scott Stallings 76 74 150
Lucas Herbert 76 74 150
Justin Thomas 75 75 150
Nico Echavarria 78 72 150
999 Collin Morikawa 71 73 68 212
Brendon Todd 79 79
Dylan Frittelli 0