the Memorial Tournament: Final-round notebook

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Jun. 1, 2008
By Joan Alexander, PGA TOUR Media Official

This is the highest cumulative scoring average for the Memorial Tournament since 1990 (which ended after three rounds -- 76.453) and the highest on the PGA TOUR this year (second is THE PLAYERS Championship -- 74.286).

SCORING AVERAGES
Round Front Nine Back Nine Total Cumulative
First 35.533 37.200 73.733 --
Second 37.398 38.458 75.856 74.786
Third 36.737 37.224 73.961 74.586
Fourth 36.553 37.066 73.618 74.397

This is only the second time in Memorial Tournament history that there have been four players finishing tied for second place (1982).

TOP FINISHERS
Top finishers at Muirfield Village Golf Club on the front/back nine
Position Player Front Back Total
1st Kenny Perry -6 -2 -8
T2 Jerry Kelly -5 -1 -6
T2 Justin Rose -7 +1 -6
T2 Mathew Goggin -5 -1 -6
T2 Mike Weir -10 +4 -6

KENNY PERRY
Kenny Perry is the oldest winner in Memorial Tournament history (47 years, 9 months, 22 days old on Sunday), more than a year older than Tom Watson was when he won in 1996 46 years, 8 months, 28 days. Perry is also the oldest winner on TOUR this year -- a mark formerly held by Steve Lowery, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at 47 years, 3 months, 29 days.

This is only the second of Perry's 10 career victories that has been a come-from-behind win (he was the second- and third-round leader in his previous two Memorial Tournament wins):

PERRY'S 10 TOUR WINS
Year Event Position Sunday score, Winning margin
1991 Memorial Tournament Tied with McCumber 71, Playoff over Irwin
1994 New England Classic 1 back of Feherty, Fiori 65, 1 over Feherty
1995 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic 2 up over Duval, Strange, H Taylor, Tolles 70, 1 over Duval
2001 Buick Open 5 up over Furyk, Harrington 69, 2 over DiMarco, Furyk
2003 Bank of America Colonial 8 up over Sabbatini 68, 6 over Leonard
2003 Memorial Tournament 2 up over Janzen 72, 2 over Janzen
2003 Greater Milwaukee Open 1 up over B Pappas, Slocum, Allan, Kelly 66, 3 over Allan, Slocum, Sheehan, Blake
2005 Bay Hill Invitational 3 up over Singh 70, 2 over McDowell, Singh
2005 Bank of America Colonial 7 up over Mayfair 69, 7 over Mayfair
2008 Memorial Tournament 3 back of Goggin 69, 2 over Kelly, Rose, Goggin, Weir

Perry's 8-under par win is the highest winning score at the Memorial Tournament since 1985, when Hale Irwin won at 281 (-7).

The winner's check of $1,080,000 makes Perry the all-time earnings leader for the Memorial Tournament with $3,092,542, moving him past Tiger Woods by $2,763,148.

Perry becomes the 18th active player with 10 or more PGA TOUR victories.

SORTED BY AGE
In their 50s No. of wins In their 40s No. of wins In their 30s No. of wins
Greg Norman 20 Vijay Singh 31 Tiger Woods 64
Nick Price 18 Davis Love III 19 Phil Mickelson 34
Mark OMeara 16 Fred Couples 15 Ernie Els 16
-- -- Cory Pavin 15 David Duval 13
-- -- Mark Calcavecchia 13 Jim Furyk 13
-- -- Paul Azinger 12 Justin Leonard 11
-- -- David Toms 12 -- --
-- -- Steve Elkington 10 -- --
-- -- Kenny Perry 10 -- --
There are no 10-time winners in their 20s.

MATHEW GOGGIN
Goggin was only the fourth player in Memorial Tournament history to hold the lead after the first, second and third rounds (none have gone on to win).

PLAYERS WHO HAVE LED THROUGH THREE ROUNDS
Year Player Final performance and finish
2008 Mathew Goggin Shot 74 on Sunday, T2
2005 Jeff Sluman Shot 72 on Sunday, T3
1989 Fuzzy Zoeller Shot 72 on Sunday, 2nd
1982 Roger Maltbie Shot 74 on Sunday, T2

Goggin was hoping to become the first player to win the Memorial Tournament in his first start. Not including the 1976 event (Roger Maltbie won, Hale Irwin finished second), Goggin becomes the second player to finish runner-up in his first start here, joining Curt Byrum, who finished second to Don Pooley in 1987.

Goggin ties his career-best PGA TOUR finish (a tie for second at the 2006 Western Open). He now has 10 career top-10 finishes since joining the TOUR in 2000. This is his second top-10 finish of the 2008 season (he tied for seventh at The Honda Classic).

MIKE WEIR
Mike Weir has nine starts at the Memorial Tournament and three top-five finishes. He finished fourth in 2000, while in 2003, he posted a third-place finish after closing with a 7-under 65, sharing low round of the day honors with Tiger Woods.

With eight victories, Weir remains tied with George Knudson as the winningest Canadian in PGA TOUR history. George Knudson, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, won eight times between 1961 and 1972.

Weir now has two top-10 finishes for the 2008 season. He finished fourth at the Mercedes-Benz Championship after holding the 36- and 54-hole leads. This is his best finish since winning last year's Fry's Electronics Open.

BOGEY-FREE ROUNDS
Day Player Score
Thursday Rod Pampling 67
Friday -- --
Saturday Mike Weir, Nick Watney 68, 68
Sunday John Mills 68
NO. OF PLAYERS TO FINISH UNDER PAR
Year No. of players
1976 0
1979 1
1978 3
1977 4
1981 6
1985 7
2008 9
1984 12
1989 15
1983 16

JUSTIN ROSE
In four career starts, this tie for second marks Justin Rose's best finish at Muirfield Village Golf Club and second top-five finish. In 2004, he shared the 36-hole lead, and, after 54-holes, he was two strokes back of eventual Champion Ernie Els. He posted weekend rounds of 69-71 to finish fourth.

Rose posts his first top-10 finish of the 2008 PGA TOUR season. His previous best finish was a a tie for 14th at the PODS Championship. He is still looking for his first PGA TOUR win.

JERRY KELLY
This marks the sixth runner-up finish of Jerry Kelly's career (he is a two-time tournament winner) and second of the season. He finished tied for second at the Puerto Rico Open, where he also finished two strokes off the winner.

Kelly has now posted two top-10 finishes in 12 starts at the Memorial Tournament (with a tie for ninth in 2002).

MISCELLANEOUS
The Memorial Tournament still has the distinction of having the longest active playoff drought on the PGA TOUR. THE PLAYERS Championship held that distinction until earlier this month when Sergio Garcia defeated Paul Goydos in a sudden-death playoff, breaking a no-playoff streak from 1987. The Memorial Tournament has not had a playoff since 1992, when David Edwards defeated Rick Fehr with a par on the second playoff hole. The Buick Open is next, which hasn't had a playoff since 1995.

The par-4 sixth hole played as the most difficult hole on Sunday with an average of 4.434, giving up only nine birdies. The hardest hole of the week was the par-4 17th hole, which averaged 4.359 for the week (47 birdies total).

This year marks the fewest players (nine) to finish the Memorial Tournament under par since 1985.

Rocco Mediate (70-73-74-69) finished tied for sixth and posted his first top-10 finish of the season and his best since a second place at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational. His previous best this year was a tie for 36th at the Verizon Heritage. Mediate's last top-10 finish was the 2007 AT&T National, where he tied for eighth.

Here's how the nine former champions in the field fared at this year's Memorial Tournament:

Year Player Rounds Finish
2007 K.J. Choi 76-74-74-72=296 (+8) T53
2006 Carl Pettersson 68-75-74-71=288 (E) T12
2005 Bart Bryant 76-74-71-74=295 (+7) T46
2003, 1991 Kenny Perry 66-71-74-69=280 (-8) 1
2002 Jim Furyk 71-74-73-75=293 (+5) T38
1998 Fred Couples 72-71-77-75=295 (+7) T46
1994 Tom Lehman 76-70-72-71=289 (+1) T20
2004 Ernie Els 73-78=151 (+7) MC
1993 Paul Azinger 80-78=158 (+14) MC
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