Swede Lingmerth wins golf’s Memorial

Australia’s Marc Leishman made a charge but fell short as unheralded Swede David Lingmerth claimed his first US PGA Tour title in a playoff victory over England’s Justin Rose.

Ranked world No.212, Lingmerth prevailed with a par at the third extra hole when world No.6 Rose faltered and failed to match him.

“I can’t believe it right now. I am so happy,” Lingmerth said.

He shot a closing three-under-69 to finish at 15-under-273, while Rose was forced to make a clutch par on the 72nd hole after hitting a spectator flush in the head on approach, posting a 72 to enter the playoff.

Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, led by three overnight and trailed the lead by the same margin through eight holes after a troubled start but clawed his way back on the back nine.

Masters champion Jordan Spieth shot an entertaining 65 to post the early clubhouse lead but tied third with Italian Francesco Molinari (71) at 13-under.

Leishman fired a 69 to finish at 12-under, good enough for a tie for fifth place with defending champion Hideki Matsuyama (70).

Despite being seven shots off the lead after an opening hole bogey, the Victorian pulled within two of the lead on the front nine after four birdies in a five-hole stretch and had opportunities to make further in-roads on the back side.

But a missed birdie chance from seven feet on the 11th hole and a bogey on the 12th were killer blows for his chances and two birdies in his last six holes weren’t enough to keep pace with the leaders.

Former world No.1 Tiger Woods shot a two-over-74, an 11-shot improvement on his career-worst 85 from Saturday.

The 39-year-old finished in last place at 14-over-302, the worst 72-hole total of his career, but was pleased with some aspects of Sundays play.

He will continue to work with his current swing changes and try to find his game ahead of the US Open.

“Today was a lot better ball-striking wise but I didn’t finish off very good,” said Woods.

Today was what I’ve been doing on the driving range, and that was finally nice to see.

“I got a solidness back, I was hitting the driver with both shapes, cuts and draws.

“The guys that have made tweaks, you have moments where you go backwards and then you make big, major strides down the road.

“That’s just the way it goes. You have to look at the big picture.

“You can’t be so myopic with your view and expect to have one magical day or one magical shot and change your whole game. It doesn’t work that way.”

Steven Bowditch imploded with an 81 on the final day to finish even par while fellow Australians Greg Chalmers (-4), Matt Jones (-2) and John Senden (+1) also finished well off the pace.

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