DUBLIN (Ohio), June 5: Sweden's Carl Pettersson held his nerve while the chasing pack faltered carding a final round one-under 71 to claim a two-shot victory at the Memorial tournament on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Swede's second career PGA Tour title comes with huge bonus, earning him an invitation to the US Open at Winged Foot in two weeks' time.
Pettersson started the final round with a two-shot cushion and despite another brief rain delay he could not be distracted posting a winning total of 12-under 276 for a two-shot victory over Americans Brett Wetterich (67) and Zach Johnson (70).
Plagued by weather delays the entire week at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, Pettersson turned in an unflappable performance particularly on a pressure packed final day.
Leading final round scores:
276 – Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 69, 67, 69, 71.
278 – Brett Wetterich (US) 69, 69, 73, 67; Zach Johnson (US) 70, 68, 70, 70.
279 – Brandt Jobe (US) 70, 68, 74, 67; Adam Scott (Australia) 71, 66, 73, 69; Phil Mickelson (US) 69, 70, 70, 70.
280 – Vaughn Taylor (US) 70, 72, 70, 68; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 72, 70, 69, 69; Woody Austin (US) 71, 69, 67, 73.
281 – Paul Azinger (US) 73, 71, 70, 67.
282 – Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 74, 69, 71, 68.
283 – Stewart Cink (US) 69, 74, 70, 70; Sean O'Hair (US) 67, 70, 74, 72.
284 – Tim Petrovic (US) 74, 68, 72, 70; Craig Parry (Australia) 69, 72, 73, 70; Justin Rose (Britain) 75, 71, 67, 71; Ted Purdy (US) 69, 75, 69, 71.
KARLSSON WRAPS UP WIN
NEWPORT (Wales)” Robert Karlsson wrapped up the Wales Open title on Sunday although a stumbling performance in the final round prevented the Swede breaking the 72-hole European Tour record.
Karlsson had broken the 36 and 54-hole records as he marched to a six-shot lead going into the final day.
But his closing two-over-par 71 for a 16-under-par 260 aggregate, three strokes better than Briton Paul Broadhurst, was two shots worse than the record four-round total.
Even with his less than convincing finale, Karlsson had plenty to be happy about in a $464,000 victory, his sixth on the European Tour.
It was his first success in nearly four years and his 364,352 points for winning hauled him into ninth place on Europe's Ryder Cup table, of which 10 qualify automatically in September.
Leading final round scores:
260 – Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 61, 63, 65, 71.
263 – Paul Broadhurst (Britain) 64, 64, 67, 68.
264 – Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 69, 61, 70, 64.
265 – Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 63, 66, 69, 67.
266 – Philip Archer (Britain) 60, 68, 71, 67; Johan Skoeld (Sweden) 65, 66, 67, 68.
267 – Bradley Dredge (Britain) 67, 70, 66, 64; Simon Dyson (Britain) 66, 62, 69, 70; Henrik Nystroem (Sweden) 66, 67, 64, 70; Gary Orr (Britain) 68, 63, 65, 71; Marcel Siem (Germany) 65, 66, 68, 68; Lee Slattery (Britain) 64, 67, 69, 67; Graeme Storm (Britain) 65, 67, 68, 67.
268 – Jyoti Randhawa (India) 67, 70, 66, 65; Anthony Wall (Britain) 72, 63, 63, 70.
269 – Stephen Dodd (Britain) 66, 68, 68, 67; Graeme McDowell (Britain) 68, 67, 64, 70; Matthew Millar (Australia) 69, 62, 67, 71; Simon Wakefield (Britain) 69, 66, 67, 67; Marc Warren (Britain) 67, 68, 67, 67.
270 – Francois Delamontagne (France) 63, 67, 70, 70; Michael Hoey (Britain) 64, 68, 68, 70; Paul Lawrie (Britain) 71, 66, 68, 65; Jeev Milkha Singh (India) 68, 69, 69, 64.—Reuters