DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Jack Nicklaus is a gracious tournament host at the Memorial who doesn’t mince words, and it paid off for Patrick Cantlay.
When they bumped into each other earlier in the week in the grill room, Nicklaus told him he had to learn how to finish. And then when Cantlay saw him again at lunch going into the weekend, Nicklaus told him how.
Nicklaus said to have fun, to look around at all the fans having a great time, to relax and to go win the golf tournament.
Cantlay had a blast Sunday with the best closing round by a winner in the 44 years of the Memorial. He rallied from four shots behind with an 8-under 64, a round so under control that Cantlay’s longest putt for par was from 8 feet on the final hole, with Nicklaus watching behind the 18th green.
He poured it in to secure a two-shot victory over Adam Scott.
“I finished it,” Cantlay said to Nicklaus as he walked off the green.
Martin Kaymer, trying to end five years without a victory, started with a two-shot lead and never recovered from a four-hole stretch on the back nine when he made consecutive bogeys and failed to birdie the par-5 15th. He closed with a 72 and finished third.
Scott was the last player to have a chance and ran off three straight birdies until narrowly missing birdie putts on the last two holes. He shot 68.
“Being able to win on this golf course, in front of Jack, making that putt on the last hole, I can’t tell you how good it feels,” he said.
Engaging in private, Cantlay doesn’t smile much on the golf course and isn’t about to force one. But the advice from Nicklaus — Cantlay first met him when he won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s best college player in 2011 — stuck with him.
Look around, soak it up and enjoy it.
“I definitely said that to myself down the stretch today on the back nine,” said Cantlay, who finished at 19-under 269. “It put me a little more at ease, and I hit a lot of really nice, quality shots with the lead.”
Cantlay first caught Kaymer with a 3-wood to 10 feet for a two-putt birdie on the 11th. Kaymer, in the group behind him, matched the birdie. That was his last one. Cantlay followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 14 and a 5-iron that set up a long two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th.
By then, Kaymer was making bogeys and Scott was stuck in neutral until it was too late.
“I knew that you can’t really make any mistakes coming down the stretch,” said Kaymer, whose last victory was by eight shots in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. “But all credit to Patrick. He played a great round of golf. He deserved to win — 19-under par is amazing.”
Scott finished at 19 under at Torrey Pines and lost two by to Justin Rose. He was 17 under at the Memorial — only six players have done better at Muirfield Village, one of them being Cantlay on Sunday.
“It’s disappointing not to win, for sure,” Scott said. “I really played good golf this week, and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Cantlay’s only disappointment was that it took him 19 months to win for the second time on the PGA Tour. But then, he hasn’t been around as long as it seems. Cantlay was low amateur in the 2011 U.S. Open, and the next week shot a 60 at the Travelers Championship.
But his career took a severe turn on and off the golf course, first with a back injury that kept him out of golf entirely for two full years and left him wondering if he would ever make it back. Then, he was out of dinner one night with his best friend and caddie, Chris Roth, when Roth was stuck by a car and killed.
Cantlay says it changed him as a person, but he keeps that separate from his golf.
His golf has been good for a long time, and this was a big step.
There some atonement at Muirfield Village for Cantlay. A year ago, he took a two-shot lead to the back nine and didn’t make a birdie the rest of the way, missing a playoff by one shot. This time, he putted for birdie on every hole on the back nine until the 18th.
“I was looking for a little redemption this week,” Cantlay said. “And that has to do with me feeling really comfortable on the golf course and liking it a lot. Not to mention I’ve been playing really well, so it feels like a win has been coming. You always have to put yourself in contention. And you start winning a couple, and you figure out how to do it, and hopefully it keeps happening.”
Tiger Woods knew he had no chance to win the Memorial from 11 shots behind going into the final round, though he still put on a show and got what he needed out of his final event before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He went out in 31 and was 7 under for his round through 12 holes until a sloppy bogey on the 14th and a closing bogey for a 67. He wound up in a tie for ninth at 9-under 279.
“The goal today was to get to double digits (under par) and get something positive going into the Open,” he said. “I got to double digits, I just didn’t stay there.”

The Memorials
The Memorial Tournament Scores
Sunday
At Muirfield Village Golf Club
Dublin, Ohio
Purse: $9.1 million
Yardage: 7,392; Par 72
Final
Patrick Cantlay $1,638,000 68-69-68-64 — 269
Adam Scott $982,800 71-66-66-68 — 271
Martin Kaymer $618,800 67-68-66-72 — 273
Kevin Streelman $436,800 72-68-69-66 — 275
Marc Leishman $364,000 67-71-69-69 — 276
Hideki Matsuyama $327,600 71-70-64-72 — 277
Jason Dufner $293,475 72-69-68-69 — 278
Jordan Spieth $293,475 66-70-69-73 — 278
Bud Cauley $236,600 67-70-70-72 — 279
Emiliano Grillo $236,600 69-68-71-71 — 279
Billy Horschel $236,600 71-70-70-68 — 279
Tiger Woods $236,600 70-72-70-67 — 279
Justin Rose $191,100 75-63-71-71 — 280
Rickie Fowler $163,800 69-68-72-72 — 281
Xander Schauffele $163,800 69-70-72-70 — 281
Michael Thompson $163,800 71-71-71-68 — 281
Byeong Hun An $127,400 72-72-70-68 — 282
Kiradech Aphibarnrat $127,400 70-71-71-70 — 282
Peter Malnati $127,400 72-72-69-69 — 282
Troy Merritt $127,400 69-66-74-73 — 282
Andrew Putnam $127,400 68-70-74-70 — 282
Ryan Armour $87,360 71-71-71-70 — 283
Aaron Baddeley $87,360 72-70-68-73 — 283
Bryson DeChambeau $87,360 74-70-73-66 — 283
Steve Stricker $87,360 69-76-67-71 — 283
Nick Watney $87,360 74-68-69-72 — 283
Austin Cook $63,245 71-67-76-70 — 284
Brian Harman $63,245 71-69-71-73 — 284
Russell Knox $63,245 68-73-72-71 — 284
Joaquin Niemann $63,245 72-71-68-73 — 284
Rory Sabbatini $63,245 73-71-70-70 — 284
Danny Willett $63,245 69-69-72-74 — 284
Jim Furyk $50,278 72-69-75-69 — 285
Tyrrell Hatton $50,278 71-72-72-70 — 285
Ryan Moore $50,278 65-75-75-70 — 285
Brian Stuard $50,278 78-65-71-71 — 285
Max Homa $41,860 70-72-74-70 — 286
Kyoung-Hoon Lee $41,860 68-67-72-79 — 286
Haotong Li $41,860 69-72-74-71 — 286
Henrik Stenson $41,860 70-70-75-71 — 286
Rafa Cabrera Bello $31,850 72-71-74-70 — 287
Matt Jones $31,850 75-67-69-76 — 287
Si Woo Kim $31,850 69-70-76-72 — 287
Kevin Kisner $31,850 75-67-73-72 — 287
David Lingmerth $31,850 71-74-71-71 — 287
Alex Noren $31,850 73-70-69-75 — 287
Brendan Steele $31,850 71-73-75-68 — 287
David Lipsky $23,478 70-70-76-72 — 288
Keith Mitchell $23,478 73-69-70-76 — 288
Scott Stallings $23,478 69-74-73-72 — 288
Vaughn Taylor $23,478 67-72-72-77 — 288
Lucas Glover $21,221 72-72-69-76 — 289
Adam Hadwin $21,221 72-73-73-71 — 289
Anirban Lahiri $21,221 67-76-75-71 — 289
J.T. Poston $21,221 72-73-71-73 — 289
Gary Woodland $21,221 69-71-74-75 — 289
Luke Donald $20,202 72-73-65-80 — 290
Sungjae Im $20,202 72-70-75-73 — 290
Louis Oosthuizen $20,202 73-70-71-76 — 290
Pat Perez $20,202 75-70-71-74 — 290
Sam Ryder $20,202 69-71-74-76 — 290
Jason Kokrak $19,474 71-73-72-75 — 291
Joost Luiten $19,474 73-71-74-73 — 291
Shubhankar Sharma, $19,474 73-71-69-78 — 291
Abraham Ancer (4), $18,928 72-71-75-74 — 292
Corey Conners (4), $18,928 72-69-74-77 — 292
Adam Schenk (4), $18,928 71-74-72-75 — 292
Joel Dahmen (3), $18,382 72-70-77-74 — 293
Matthew Fitzpatrick, $18,382 73-71-74-75 — 293
Norman Xiong, $18,382 72-73-76-72 — 293
K.J. Choi (3), $17,927 76-67-77-77 — 297
Boo Weekley (3), $17,927 74-71-79-73 — 297
Ted Potter, Jr. (3), $17,654 70-73-77-80 — 300