DUBLIN, Ohio -- A few years back William McGirt took to heart some advice from Tiger Woods. On Sunday he grabbed hold of his first championship hardware from Jack Nicklaus.
McGirt knocked in a 6-footer for par on the second playoff hole to defeat Jon Curran to win The Memorial at Muirfield Village. With a bogey-free, 1-under-par 71 and then two pars in the playoff, McGirt won his first PGA Tour title in his 165th start.
He and Curran, who shot 70 and was trying to win his first Tour title in 55 starts, ended regulation play at 15 under. It was the third consecutive year a first-time winner won at Jack’s place, as McGirt joins Hideki Matsuyama (2014) and David Lingmerth (2015) in that span.
McGirt, who said he’s played so many different mini tours throughout his years that he can’t recall all of them, said it was “pretty darn cool to get win No. 1” on the PGA Tour.
“It’s been year after year of practice and getting your nose bloodied and learning from it,” said McGirt, 36, who earned a three-year exemption and trips to the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and the 2017 Masters with his victory. “I wondered for years if I’d ever get to the PGA Tour. Then when I got out here I wondered if I’d ever win.
“I kind of had the jitters with the golf swing, but felt great with the putter. The putter saved me this week.”
It was the second playoff loss on the Tour for Curran, who fell in the 2015 Puerto Rico Open to Alex Cejka. While disappointed that he lost, he gathered more experience that will guide him going forward.
“It’s tough to be in a playoff,” said Curran, who was Keegan Bradley’s high school teammate on the golf team. “It’s kind of surreal sometimes. 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.”
Dustin Johnson (71) finished one shot out of the playoff and in third at 14 under. At 13 under were world No. 3 Rory McIlroy (68), J.B. Holmes (69), Gary Woodland (73) and Matt Kuchar (73).
McGirt began the day one shot out of the lead and one of 20 players within four shots of the lead. He was one of six who held at least a share of the lead in the final round, which was delayed 90 minutes by foul weather.
While he only made one birdie — coming on the par-5 5th — he made two clutch par saves in the playoff, the first from a greenside bunker, the second from nasty rough to the left of the green.
Some advice from Woods has helped McGirt. When he lost the 2012 RBC Canadian Open by one shot, he admitted to Woods that he had not looked at the scoreboards during the final round.
Woods, in so many words, got his point across and punctuated his counsel by telling McGirt he was an idiot.
“After the discussion I’ve looked every chance I’ve had,” said McGirt, who added that since he spoke with Woods he’s always wanted to know where he stood when he was on the golf course.
The so-called Big Three — world No. 1 Jason Day, No. 2 Jordan Spieth and McIlroy — were the talk of the tournament before it began but had varying degrees of success. Day finished with a 74 and in a tie for 27th. Spieth shot 73 and fell to a tie for 57th. All are making their next starts in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in two weeks.
“It would have been nice to compete and play well here and get in contention, which for the most part I did, just didn’t have a good Sunday,” Day said. “I’ve got to start prepping for the U.S. Open obviously. I’ve just got to tidy a few things up with the long game.”
Spieth will look to defend his title at Oakmont.
“Didn’t have my best stuff this week,” Spieth said. “Didn’t make great decisions when I needed to give respect to the golf course, and that’s something I’m certainly going to have to do at Oakmont. So I recognize that.
“I drove the ball well at periods of time this week, but for the most part, driving accuracy has got to really improve, especially going into Oakmont.”
McIlroy changed his putting grip this week – and liked the move.
“I feel like my putting improved quite a lot,” said McIlroy, who said he would concentrate on his iron game heading into the U.S. Open.
