Tiger wins the Memorial with

vintage performance

The Tiger is back! Has he ever been away? Woods snapped a four-way logjam for the lead at the Memorial Tournament with birdies on his final two holes, the last one a 7-iron that stopped a foot away from the cup for a seven-under-par 65 and victory by one stroke from Jim Furyk.
The world No 1 hit every fairway in the final round, the first time he has done that in more than five years. He missed only five fairways all week, his most accurate tournament off the tee since the 1998 Masters.
Woods won the Memorial for a record fourth time, and tournament host Jack Nicklaus was there to greet him behind the 18th green. It was his second victory this year after missing eight months from knee surgery, and Woods figured he will only get better.
"I knew it was coming around," Woods said. "I just wasn't as consistent as I needed to be."
Furyk made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 69 to finish alone in second.
"I just didn't beat one guy," Furyk said. "It [stinks] finishing second. But he played better. A 7 under on those greens and with the conditions we dealt with, that's pretty spectacular. I just wish you all would just quit [ticking] him off ... so he has to come back and keep proving stuff. I think he answered a lot of questions today."
Woods finished at 12-under 276 and won for the 67th time in his career. The timing could not have been better with the US Open coming up.
On a firm, fast course under steamy sunshine at Muirfield Village, he was close to perfect.
Woods surged into contention with a chip-in for eagle out of rough behind the 11th green. He took the lead for the first time with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th.
After a bogey from the bunker on the 16th, Woods was tied with Furyk, Jonathan Byrd and Davis Love III. But not for long.
Woods hit his approach to 9 feet behind the hole on the 17th, and rolled it in for a birdie and the lead. After hitting the fairway with a 3-iron on the 18th, he hit 7-iron from 183 yards to within tap-in distance.
It was his best closing round to win since the Dubai Desert Classic last year.
Byrd holed out from 82 yards for eagle at No. 7 to take control of the tournament, only to give it away with a double bogey from the rough and bunker on the 14th. Still, he had the best chance to catch Woods.
Two shots behind, he hit his approach to 4 feet on the 17th, but missed the putt. Byrd finished with a meaningless double bogey for a 72 and tied for third with Mark Wilson (73).
Love, who could have avoided 36-hole U.S. Open qualifying Monday with a victory, got into contention with consecutive birdie putts of about 50 feet, only to miss an 8-foot birdie on the 15th.
He fell out of the hunt with a bogey from the fairway bunker on the 17th, then hitting his tee shot into the water on the 18th and closing with a triple bogey.
Matt Bettencourt, the PGA Tour rookie who started the final round tied with Wilson, held his own for seven holes until a three-putt bogey, followed by a chunked wedge into the water for a double bogey. He closed with a 75 and tied for fifth.
Woods played with Michael Letzig, who shot 75 but was treated to quite a show.
"I've never seen anyone hit irons like that," Letzig said. "I tried not to watch him, but some of those shots were unreal."
Woods' driving set up those iron shots. The fairways at Muirfield Village are among the most generous, but he wasn't close to missing them and often set himself up on the right side to attack the pins.
"I don't know why everyone talks about how bad he drives it," Letzig said. "Every drive I saw was perfect."
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
276 Tiger Woods 69 74 68 65
277 Jim Furyk 67 70 71 69
280 Jonathan Byrd 69 68 71 72, Mark Wilson 68 70 69 73
282 Davis Love III 72 68 69 73, Matt Kuchar 73 67 71 71, Matt Bettencourt 71 68 68 75
283 Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 70 71 72, Stewart Cink 68 72 72 71
284 Will MacKenzie 70 73 73 68, Mike Weir (Can) 69 69 75 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 74 63 75
285 K J Choi (Kor) 73 70 72 70
286 Michael Letzig 72 70 69 75, Nick Watney 73 71 74 68, Jerry Kelly 72 72 75 67, Chris DiMarco 73 67 73 73, Dustin Johnson 73 68 72 73, Hunter Mahan 74 69 70 73, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 69 73 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 69 74 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 64 76 72 74
287 Steve Marino 68 72 73 74, Bubba Watson 71 71 70 75, Kevin Sutherland 69 75 73 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 73 68 73 73
288 Steve Stricker 70 74 73 71, Kenny Perry 72 73 75 68, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 71 74 74, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73 73 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 68 77 71, Woody Austin 75 70 73 70, Jason Day (Aus) 67 73 75 73
289 Kevin Na 71 72 73 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 71 74 73 71
290 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 74 68 74, Jeff Overton 76 69 71 74, Ted Purdy 67 79 75 69, Troy Matteson 69 73 71 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 71 74 71
291 Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 76 68 75, Steve Flesch 73 75 74 69, Ben Curtis 71 71 72 77, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 73 72 74 72
292 Lucas Glover 75 69 72 76, Tom Lehman 71 74 74 73, Johnson Wagner 69 74 76 73
293 Charley Hoffman 71 72 76 74, Jeff Quinney 75 72 74 72, Lee Janzen 72 73 75 73, D.J. Trahan 73 74 69 77, Webb Simpson 73 71 73 76
294 John Senden (Aus) 71 74 74 75, Ian Poulter (Eng) 75 71 74 74, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 69 75 72 78, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 76 72 75, Tom Pernice jun 71 74 73 76
295 Zach Johnson 71 73 75 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 74 74 70 77, Steve Lowery 76 71 71 77, David Duval 71 74 74 76, Nicholas Thompson 69 75 78 73
296 Paul Casey (Eng) 73 70 75 78, George McNeill 76 69 75 76, Tim Herron 75 73 76 72, Brett Quigley 74 73 78 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 73 76 74, Chez Reavie 71 74 72 79
299 Jeff Klauk 76 71 79 73, Bill Haas 74 72 77 76, Mark Brooks 75 73 76 75
300 D.A. Points 75 70 75 80, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 72 74 76 78
301 Scott McCarron 74 74 82 71, Marc Turnesa 72 73 78 78
302 Erik Compton 72 75 74 81, Rocco Mediate 73 70 81 78