It's not often that you can shoot a round near 80 in a tournament and still win the event, but that's exactly what Jason Dufner did this week at the Memorial Tournament. After firing off dueling 65s on Thursday and Friday, Dufner posted a tilted 77 in Round 3. The good news about shooting back-to-back 65s, though, is that Dufner was still in the third-to-last group on Sunday. And he took advantage of that position.
Dufner shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday for a three-stroke win over Rickie Fowler and Anirban Lahiri. The highlight was a 32 on the back nine that included this 30-foot par at the last.
Get excited! @JasonDufner with an incredible par save on the 18th. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/Vl8UBD9hIK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 5, 2017
Muirfield Village is a ball-striker's paradise. The last five winners coming into the week were all top 10 in strokes gained on approach shots, and Dufner continued that trend by finishing No. 1 even with a negative strokes gained on Saturday. Jack Nicklaus said on the CBS Sports broadcast that he saw Dufner on Sunday morning and acknowledged his rough Round 3 but told him he still had a chance to win.
"[Saturday] wasn't my best day," Dufner told CBS Sports' Dottie Pepper after his win. "I was pretty disappointed especially how well I played the first two days. I had to get over it quick. It's a 72-hole tournament. There's a lot of things that can happen out there. I knew I was still in the mix. I just needed to get myself together. Making the turn at even was good, and I felt comfortable to get a little aggressive on the back."
If @JasonDufner goes on to win, he will have the second-highest third round (77) by an eventual winner (nonmajor, since 1983) on @PGATOUR
— PGA TOUR Media (@PGATOURmedia) June 4, 2017
Last player to shoot 77 or worse in 3rd round of #PGATour event and win: Nick Faldo, 1989 Masters. Dufner (77 Saturday) leads.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) June 4, 2017
Highest 3rd round score by a #MemorialGolf winner is 74, done twice. Jason Dufner (co-leader) shot 77 yesterday.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) June 4, 2017
Dufner's putter wobbled at times, as it is wont to do, but when you have 2- and 3-footers, even the shakiest of putters can close that out. And he made a big one at the end with some adversity staring him in the face. All of it added up to just his second PGA Tour victory since winning the 2013 PGA Championship.
Dufner interestingly talked for most of the week about a pre-shot breathing pattern he's been testing out, and it served him well on the weekend. Golfers will do anything short of committing a crime to get an edge, and Dufner said he swiped the rhythmic respiratory routine from reading about snipers. As if the chillest man on the PGA Tour needed to be more relaxed.
Sunday was stressful with multiple delays and plenty of star power atop the leaderboard, but Dufner kept hanging in even when he looked nice and buried. Spectacular iron shots will eventually be rewarded, and he made four birdies on the back nine (three from four feet or in and one from 11 feet).
Muirfield Village has a way of punishing slightly off-kilter shots, as Dufner found out on Saturday. But it can turn you around in a hurry if you're on point. It's a bit like Augusta in that way, and it's one of the reasons so many golfers speak so highly of it.
So on a week when Dufner was really, really good and also quite awful, he learned both lessons and came away with a new swing routine and trophy. They don't ask how you got there, only what your final score was. Dufner's was good enough by three for victory No. 5 in his PGA Tour career. Grade: A
Here are the rest of our grades for the Memorial.
Bubba Watson (T7): No matter how you feel about Watson, it's hard to argue that golf is not more interesting when he's in the mix. This was pretty easily Watson's best performance of the season (his only top 25 at a stroke play event), and it came at a place where he has a ton of history. Watson shot a combined 61 on the back nine on Friday and Saturday, and his Sunday was a complete roller coaster (which is exactly how I want Bubba's rounds to be). He bowed to a fan after rolling in his final putt in Round 3 then threw all kinds of colors on his card in Round 4. Is Bubba back? I don't know, but this week was a great one for him. Grade: A
Phil Mickelson (T22): It was a big week for Mickelson off the course where he announced that he will likely pull out of the U.S. Open in two weeks. Mickelson got a little sideways on the course, however, as he hit the ball pretty well all week but couldn't finish in the top 70 (!) in strokes gained with his putter where he is normally excellent. Grade: B
Jordan Spieth (T13): After a 66 in the first round on Thursday, Spieth just never could get it going the rest of the week. He played the next 54 holes in even par to finish just outside the top 10 . Spieth's issues don't really concern me. He had a couple of bad swings that resulted in double bogeys that took him out of the golf tournament, and he still finished top 15 in a loaded field in his last tune-up before the U.S. Open where he'll be one of the top four favorites. Grade: B+
Justin Thomas (T4): Who cares what he shot on Sunday (72), Thomas gets an A+ for this performance on a motorized vehicle. Also, I'm here for the Justin Thomas Experience -- the club twirls, the club tosses on follow-through swings on terrible shots, the 350-yard drives and the swagger. I want it all. Grade: A+
"Gonna go get grandma."@JustinThomas34 drops off a motorized cart for his grandmother before teeing off at @MemorialGolf. pic.twitter.com/HR7Ihfh2Oi
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 3, 2017