Dublin, Ohio – Bart Bryant spent 20 years trying to prove he belonged among the best, often laying awake at night wondering if three surgeries and too many trips to Q-school were a sign he was wasting his time.
Winning the Texas Open last fall was the first step.
Validation came Sunday at the Memorial. Bryant somehow salvaged par from inside a hazard on the edge of the creek on the 18th hole, held off crowd-favorite Fred Couples by one shot and had an audience with Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host who was duly impressed with what he saw at Muirfield Village.
“To win against a quality field like this … to walk off the 18th green and have Mr. Nicklaus waiting to shake your hand and congratulate you is beyond comprehension at this point,” Bryant said.
Tiger Woods was stopped early with a double bogey on the eighth hole, and he wound up tied for third with Bo Van Pelt and Jeff Sluman. Woods needed to finish alone in third to replace Vijay Singh at No. 1 in the world ranking.
Bryant emerged the winner on a steamy afternoon at Muirfield Village, where the chase was so tight that 11 players were within three shots of the lead when the final group made the turn, and no one led by more than one shot.
The raucous cheers behind him as Couples surged into the lead never rattled the 42-year- old Texan. Bryant stole the lead from Couples, not to mention the show, with an approach to within 5 feet for birdie on the 17th.
The real drama came at the 18th, when his 3-wood took a hard bounce and stopped inches from the water.
Playing it safe, Bryant took a penalty drop and lashed a 6-iron to within 15 feet, then holed the par putt for a 4-under-par 68. He sat nervously in the scoring trailer waiting to see if his score would stand, and Couples’ last chance ended with an approach that sailed over the green into deep rough.
Bryant finished at 16-under 272 and won $990,000. His victory got him out of his Tuesday appointment for a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier.
Champions Tour: Tom Jenkins rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat D.A. Weibring and win the Allianz Championship in Polk City, Iowa.
Jenkins and Weibring, the defending champion, finished 54 holes at 9-under 204, Jenkins closing with a 67 and Weibring a 66.
Mike Reid, coming off a dramatic victory in the Senior PGA Championship, closed with a 71 to finish at 7-under. Mike McCullough (69), Dave Barr (66), Dana Quigley (68) and Bob Gilder (70) finished at 6-under.
European PGA: Miguel Angel Jimenez eagled the 16th hole from 40 feet and finished with a 7-under 62 to win the Wales Open in Newport, by four strokes.
