Rose pipped by unknown Swede in The Memorial
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It was a great day for the Swedes.
After Alex Noren emerged a comfortable winner of the Nordea Masters in Malmo, virtually unknown Swede David Lingmerth clinched his first US PGA Tour win in dramatic fashion in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Ohio.
Lingmerth finished level-pegging on -15 with Justin Rose, seeking his second Memorial success, and eventually took the spoils on the demanding par-4 10th, the third play-off hole.
Rose, who closed with a 72 thanks to a superb par save on the 18th in regulation after his wildly shanked fairway bunker shot floored an unfortunate gallery member.
However, Rose kept his composure and looked like a winner when he made a bending 20ft par putt in the first playoff hole.
He admitted: “When I made that putt on the first extra hole, I thought, `Wow, I’m going to steal this one.’ But it wasn’t to be.”
On the third extra hole, Rose went from right rough to left gallery, chipped 18 feet by the hole and still had more than 4ft for bogey when the incredibly calm and collected Lingmerth settled it.
Masters champion Jordan Spieth closed with a 65 and ended two shots behind in a tie for third with Francesco Molinari (71) – tied for the lead until hitting into the water on the par 3 16th for a double bogey.
It was a disastrous tournament for Tiger Woods who signed off with a respectable 74 (he shot a shocking career-worst 85 the day before!) but finished last, 29 shots behind, with his worst 72-hole score (302) in his PGA Tour career.
Woods needs a miracle to turn things around for the US Open in two weeks though he remains optimistic. “Hopefully things will be a lot better and I’ll be ready to try to win a US Open.”
