Twenty years separated two images of Jack Nicklaus, both meaningful in their own way to K.J. Choi.
Nicklaus was the champion who filled every page of a pictorial instruction book that Choi studied religiously as a teenager in South Korea, a gift from his physical education teacher who encouraged him to pursue a career in golf.
“As I started reading it, I could understand why he was such a great golfer, because all the things that were written really started to make sense,” Choi said. “That’s how I really got into golf, by reading the book.”
Nicklaus was the tournament host at the Memorial who stood behind the 18th green Sunday afternoon in Dublin, Ohio, with a proud smile and hearty handshake for Choi, who closed with a 7-under-par 65 for a one-shot victory over Ryan Moore.
“Thank you, Jack,” Choi said to him.
Indeed, it was a textbook performance.
Choi finished off his string of four birdies on the front nine with a 7-iron he carved around the trees lining the right side of the ninth fairway into 8 feet.
“A cut shot, Jack-style,” Choi said with a laugh.
Then came a series of pars that were equally significant, all made with clutch putts. Choi took only 12 putts on the back nine, finishing with a 7-foot par save from a bunker on the 16th, a 15-foot par save from the gallery behind the 17th green, and a tricky 5-foot save from a bunker on the 18th hole that ultimately gave him his fifth career victory on the PGA Tour.
Considering the host and the history, it was by far his biggest.
“I just feel very honored and very happy to be living in the same time as Jack is living, and to win his tournament is so meaningful to me,” Choi said. “I can only think that this was meant to be.”
It certainly wasn’t for those trying to catch him.
Rod Pampling had a three- shot lead going into the final round, which was delayed an hour in the morning when rain pounded Muirfield Village. He made a late bid with a 30-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole to get within one shot, then promptly fired his approach on the 17th over the green and into the gallery, taking bogey.
“We were trying to guess the wind,” Pampling said. “That was a really solid shot I hit in there. It was just straight at the stick. Unfortunately, we picked the breeze right-to-left, and when we got down to the green, it was helping us.”
He wound up with a 72 and tied for third with Kenny Perry, who shot 63 and was among a half-dozen players in a wild chase.
Adam Scott overcame a blunder on the 11th when he couldn’t clear the creek out of the deep rough. He birdied the 15th and 16th holes to get within one shot, but he three-putted from the fringe on the 17th for bogey. He added a bogey from the edge of the bunker on the 18th that only cost him money, closing with a 70 to tie for fifth.
LPGA Tour: Nicole Castrale chased down the world’s No. 1 player for her first tour victory, beating Lorena Ochoa with a par on the first hole of a playoff in the Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Castrale closed with a 1-under 71 to match Ochoa (74) at 9-under 279.
Ochoa, 0-for-4 in playoffs, was up by six shots Saturday and was still ahead by two shots with three holes to play Sunday. However, bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes dropped the Mexican star into a tie, and a wayward tee shot into a marsh on the playoff hole, the 18th, cost her the title.
Castrale, who watched Ochoa’s bad drive, kept it simple and straight on the extra hole. She two-putted from 25 feet for par, then waited until Ochoa’s 18-foot try to extend the playoff slid left.
Champions Tour: Loren Roberts won the Boeing Championship in Destin, Fla., for his first tour victory of the year, closing with a 6-under 65 for a three- stroke victory over Argentina’s Eduardo Romero.
Roberts finished with a 16-under 197 for his sixth victory in three seasons on the 50-and- over tour. Romero finished with a 69.
Bob Gilder (65) and Tom Purtzer (71) tied for third at 12 under, and Jay Haas (73) and Dana Quigley (66) followed at 11 under.
