Choi wins Memorial, coveted handshake

K.J. Choi figured the best way to learn to play golf was to study books by Jack Nicklaus and spend hours watching video of golf's greatest champion. It was only fitting Choi celebrate the biggest victory of his career at the Memorial on Sunday with a handshake from Nicklaus that was as meaningful as the trophy.

Choi ran off four straight birdies on the front nine to take the lead, then finished with three clutch par saves from the bunkers and gallery to close with a 7-under 65, giving him a one-shot victory over Ryan Moore.

A morning rain that pounded Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, set up a shootout among a half-dozen players, all of them with a good chance to win until they either ran out of time, ran out of birdies or took themselves out of the tournament with untimely blunders.

Choi could have been on that list.

After a two-putt birdie on the 15th to reach 17 under, he saved par from the bunker on the 16th with a 7-foot putt, chipped out of the gallery to 15 feet and made that for par on the 17th, then blasted out of the sand on the final hole to 5 feet and made that one.

Nicklaus, the tournament founder, stood behind the 18th green and waited with open arms when Choi finished at 17-under 271.

Moore ran off five straight birdies until he had to settle for par on the 18th for a 66. All he could do then was wait for Choi to make a mistake, but the South Korean was strong to the end.

"I left it in his hands," Moore said. "He had control of the tournament. It was up to him, and he played well all week and all day."

Rod Pampling, who had a three-shot lead to start the final round, gave himself a chance with a 30-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole to get within one shot of Choi. But on the 17th, Pampling went long and into the gallery, stubbed a chip and was lucky to escape with bogey. He closed with a 72 and tied for third with Kenny Perry, who shot 63 despite finishing with three straight pars.

Adam Scott also left with a bitter taste. Despite a bogey on the par-5 11th that stalled his momentum, he birdied the 15th and 16th to get within one shot, but three-putted from the fringe on the 17th, badly missing a 6-footer for par.

LPGA Tour

Nicole Castrale chased down the world's No. 1 player for her first LPGA Tour victory, beating Lorena Ochoa with a par on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the Ginn Tribute.

Castrale closed with a 1-under 71 to match Ochoa (74) at 9-under 279 on the RiverTowne Country Club course in Mount Pleasant, S.C. Ochoa, 0-for-4 in playoffs, was up by six shots Saturday and was still ahead by two shots with three holes to play Sunday. However, bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes dropped the Mexican star into a tie and a wayward tee shot into a marsh on the playoff hole, the 18th, cost her the title.

Champions Tour

Loren Roberts won The Boeing Championship for his first Champions Tour victory of the year, closing with a 6-under 65 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory over Argentina's Eduardo Romero.

Roberts finished with a 16-under 197 total on the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort's Raven Golf Club in Destin, Fla., for his sixth victory in three seasons on the 50-and-over tour. Romero finished with a 69.

-- The Associated Press

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