Stricker builds big lead to win at Memorial

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Steve Stricker, you might say, underpowers a golf course. He doesn't hit the ball long, but he does hit straight. And oh how he can putt.

Stricker was the only man in the field to break 70 in each round and Sunday, after a not unusual but still nerve-racking weather delay, hung on to win the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

After yet another brilliant front nine -- in succession Thursday through Sunday, he shot 33, 30, 31, 30 -- the 44-year-old Stricker finished with a 4-under-par 68. That gave him a 16-under total of 272 and a one-shot edge over Matt Kuchar and Brandt Jobe, each of whom finished with 65s.

"I don't know what was going on, on the front nine,'' Stricker said after his 10th tournament victory. He was 11 under in the four rounds combined on the seventh, eighth and ninth holes. "But I needed them all coming in. I went out after the rain delay and played tentatively at times. It's a tough way to play. You sit in the locker room for two hours thinking about a three-shot lead, and it's not easy.''

Stricker, who had a hole-in-one Friday and two eagles Saturday on the front, merely had six birdies Sunday. Heading to 10, he was a cumulative 18 under, and it appeared he could tie the tournament record of 20 under set by Tom Lehman.

But while he was playing the 13th at 4:22 p.m., the siren suspended play because of electrical storms in the area. Players started warming up again around 6:30, and the restart was at 6:56.

Stricker didn't make a birdie on the back nine but three times saved pars out of bunkers, relying on his marvelous short game and touch on the greens.

"This is one of the toughest tests in golf,'' Stricker said of the course Jack Nicklaus designed in the suburbs of Columbus. "One of the better courses we play. Over the years, I've watched the tournament and think when Jack is there with the trophy, some day it can be you. This year, it was you -- me.

"It's a very special feeling to walk off the last green.''

He did it after one of his two bogeys on the back nine but that was irrelevant. He also walked off that green No. 4 in the world golf rankings, the highest-ranked American and a place where more prominent golfers have resided.

On Saturday, asked if maybe he might step into the star roles of Tiger Woods, who didn't play here, and Phil Mickelson, who tied for 13th at 7-under 281, Stricker was hardly enthusiastic. "We just kind of live in their world.''

Stricker, Kuchar, Jobe and the others who were high on the leader board lived well, even though Stricker was the first winner since 1983 to play the back nine over par for the tournament.

"It's a situation where I'm not really familiar with having big leads,'' he said. "Both [Saturday] and today, I started aggressive but I just didn't play the way I'm capable on the back.

"I did have opportunities early on. If those putts had gone in, it would have freed up a little bit. But I made crucial putts when I had to.''

Any golfer will tell you that's the way to win tournaments. It certainly helped Steve Stricker win the Memorial.