Memorial Tournament: Memorable moments
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1. 2012: Catching Jack with a fabulous flop
Tiger Woods rallied from two strokes behind by making birdies on three of his last four holes – including a stunning flop shot from behind the green at No. 16 that Jack Nicklaus called “one of the most incredible golf shots I think you’ll ever see played” – to win his fifth Memorial title. It was Woods’ 73rd PGA Tour victory, tying Nicklaus for second on the all-time list behind Sam Snead.
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2 / 10
2. 1993: A ’Zinger of a finish
Paul Azinger trailed Payne Stewart by one shot when they came to the par-4 18th hole. Both found the left-hand greenside bunker with their approach shots, and Stewart, hitting first, blasted out to 8 feet. Azinger followed, and his bunker blast found the bottom of the cup, causing him to fall to his knees. Stewart still had a chance to force a playoff, but he missed his par putt, making Azinger the winner. Azinger won twice more that year, taking the New England Classic and the PGA Championship, before he was diagnosed with cancer that December. He successfully battled the disease and in 2000 made the Sony Open in Hawaii the last of his 12 PGA Tour wins.
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3 / 10
3. 2009: A Memorial slam
It had been eight years since Tiger Woods had won the Memorial Tournament. He emerged from a four-way tie for the lead with two holes to play by finishing birdie-birdie to capture his fourth Memorial. Michael Letzig, who played the final round with Woods, was left awestruck. "I've never seen anyone hit irons like that," Letzig said. "I tried not to watch him, but some of those shots were unreal."
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4 / 10
4. 2015: Hitting rock bottom
The 2014-15 season for Tiger Woods was memorable not for great shots and thrilling wins, but for catch-phrases and incidents. There were the chipping yips (Hero World Challenge, Phoenix Open), which Woods attributed to being “caught between patterns”; deactivated glutes (Farmers Insurance Open) and a bone in his hand “popping out” (Masters). He shot a career-worst 82 at Phoenix, But that wouldn’t be the end of his troubles. In the third round of the Memorial he shot a new career-worst 85. He made back-to-back double bogeys to shoot 42 on the front, then closed with a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th.
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5 / 10
5. 1977: The host with the most
As tournament host, Jack Nicklaus had the duty of presenting the winner’s trophy. In the second playing of his Memorial Tournament, he presented the trophy to … himself. It wasn’t as momentous an occasion as you might think, though, as Sunday thunderstorms forced a Monday finish. Still, Nicklaus called it “my biggest thrill in golf.”
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6 / 10
6. 2000: Tiger the defender
The second of Tiger Woods’ five Memorial victories was a flat-out tour de force. After an opening 71, he blew the tournament open with rounds of 63-65 to reach 17 under and take a six-shot lead into the finale. Playing his entire final round on Monday, Woods cruised to a 70 and a five-shot victory. It was the first successful title defense of his career. It wouldn’t be the last.
Associated Press
7 / 10
7. 1999: Getting in Vijay’s head
Vijay Singh began the final round in second place, two shots behind Tiger Woods. Despite Singh hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation, Singh was unable to make up any ground on Woods, losing by two shots. The difference? Woods’ short game. He got up and down for par on Nos. 1, 2, 6, 14 and 16. "I thought I was going to win," Singh said. "I played better golf than Tiger did today and he won. He scored when he needed to. I hit better shots from tee to green, but he was better on the greens. So that's the end of that."
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8 / 10
8. 1988: An Open preview
Had it not been for the 1987 Ryder Cup, Curtis Strange might not have played in the 1988 Memorial Tournament. Strange had rarely played well at Muirfield Village, but in the Ryder Cup he saw a different course than he was used to – firmer and faster. Those were also the conditions in play for the 1988 Memorial, and Strange wanted another pre-U.S. Open event under his belt after having withdrawn from Colonial with back spasms. He did not regret his decision. He won the Memorial by two shots over David Frost and Hale Irwin, then went on to win the first of his back-to-back U.S. Open titles.
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9 / 10
9. 2001: Tiger’s triple play
Tiger Woods led Paul Azinger by only one shot after 54 holes. But after a fourth-round 66 by Woods (equaling the lowest closing round by a Memorial champion), the final margin was a tournament-record seven. Woods became the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win the same PGA Tour event three consecutive times.
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10 / 10
10. 2013: Starting to spiral
Tiger Woods looked like anything but a defending champion, especially during the third round, where he shot his highest nine-hole score as a pro – 44 – on his opening nine. He recovered to shoot 35—79, but his four-round total of 8-over 296 – including two triple bogeys - was the second-highest tournament score of his career. He finished 20 shots behind winner Matt Kuchar.
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