On a Sunday that saw multiple weather delays, Jason Dufner won the Memorial and East Carolina product Harold Varner III had one of the biggest highlights with a hole-in-one.
Jack Nicklaus, right, hands Jason Dufner the trophy after Dufner won the Memorial golf tournament, Sunday, June 4, 2017, in Dublin, Ohio.
Dufner also had to battle Mother Nature. From there, he put an exclamation point on his victory, burying a 32-foot par-saving putt to finish 13-under for a three-shot victory. And then he played his best golf on the back nine, and kept his composure during two rain delays, to close with a 4-under 68 and win by three shots.
When play resumed, Dufner, trying to chip out, failed to do so, leaving his second shot still in the rough. The 33-year-old from Utah is in his seventh year.
Yesterday was not my best day, Dufner said of his 77. "It was good to be around those guys".
Dufner spent that week asking his teammates how they played the course.
"I was determined to get in contention (here)".
Dufner said he looks at golf as a job. Weather interrupted play in late afternoon; Fowler led at 12-under through 12 holes. More than his solid round was Dufner's collapse.
"We had a good winter", he said. He was down there a lot. He's a major champion and a multiple PGA Tour victor, he's going to be a tough guy to chase down. The 77 on Saturday dropped him four shots behind. We had some good matches.
"Majors are very hard to win, but I feel like I have the type of game to compete".
Dufner said a friend sent him an article that helped his putting situation.
"I feel like if I wanted to have a chance to win today that I needed to hit it close", he said.
"We've got two more rounds to go", said Dufner, the 2013 PGA Championship victor.
The American went into Sunday's final day with work to do after he carded a disastrous five-over-par round of 77 on Saturday to lose his place at the top of the leaderboard.
Dufner was still tied for the lead when his wedge on the par-5 11th spun back down the green and into the water, leading to double bogey.
Fowler, however, split the fairway with his drive up the 18th. Fowler was down two on the final hole but missed the green with his approach and was officially done when Dufner drained his par putt.
Fowler was thrilled for him. "So I kind of burned some steam off on the range and got it out of my system".
"Duf is obviously in full control of the ball tee to green, and you've got to be making some putts, too", Spieth said. However, Dufner ended up with a par on the hole, while Rickie couldn't find the bottom of the cup and ended with his bogey.
With his fifth career victory, Dufner moved back inside the top 50 in the world. He broke through at the CareerBuilder in January of a year ago for his first post-major win, but he hasn't represented the United States in a team event since the 2013 Presidents Cup played here at Muirfield Village.
He loves being on teams.