Memorial Tournament 2016: Leaderboard Scores, Prize-Money Payouts

Rain delayed the 2016 Memorial Tournament for a second straight day, but at the conclusion of Sunday's final round, William McGirt emerged victorious at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.   

McGirt and Jon Curran were both pursuing their first career PGA Tour win and tied at 15 under par in regulation, but McGirt came away with the "W" thanks to a par on the second playoff hole.

Check out the top scores and payouts on what was otherwise a star-studded leaderboard, headlined by two unheralded players who partook in a third playoff in as many years at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event:

Pos.	Player	Scores	To Par	Prize Money
1	William McGirt (won in playoff)	70-68-64-71	-15	$1,530,000
2	Jon Curran	68-67-68-70	-15	$918,000
3	Dustin Johnson	64-71-68-71	-14	$578,000
T4	Rory McIlroy	71-66-70-68	-13	$334,688
T4	J.B. Holmes	71-68-67-69	-13	$334,688
T4	Gary Woodland	68-65-69-73	-13	$334,688
T4	Matt Kuchar	66-66-70-73	-13	$334,688
T8	Patrick Reed	68-71-69-68	-12	$246,500
T8	Keegan Bradley	68-69-70-69	-12	$246,500
T8	Kevin Streelman	67-68-69-72	-12	$246,500

It looked as though Curran had the advantage on the opening extra hole when his second shot to the 18th green found the back of the putting surface, but McGirt had a magnificent sand save to stay alive:

Both players missed the green left with their approaches to No. 18 on the second playoff hole; Curran was further off and didn't hit his chip close, whereas McGirt had only six feet left from below the hole for par following a fine chip:

Golf Channel's Will Gray noted the significance of McGirt's Memorial win:

Brian Wacker of the PGA Tour's official website indicated the 36-year-old McGirt was making his 165th career start and at long last tasted victory.

Per PGA Tour Media, play was suspended at 2:14 p.m. ET and resumed one hour and 27 minutes later. Despite the soft course conditions presumably setting the stage for lower scores, the pressure of the high-stakes tournament got to more than a few golfers at Muirfield.

Curran pulled off a clutch fairway bunker shot at the par-four 17th, hitting the 186-yard iron to approximately seven feet and draining the birdie to match McGirt at 15 under.

The Associated Press' Doug Ferguson applauded the effort from Curran:

Similarly unfazed by the career-changing possibility on the horizon, McGirt nearly holed out his greenside bunker shot at the 17th to maintain pace with Curran, who was playing in the group ahead.

Curran responded with a 320-yard drive and an approach to 15 feet at the difficult 72nd hole. He wasn't able to convert the birdie, though, leaving the door ajar for McGirt to birdie for the outright win. McGirt wound up needing to two-putt from over 60 feet to force extra holes and successfully did so.

Three separate displays of short-game prowess proved to be the difference for McGirt's victory.

Speaking of which, Dustin Johnson was in the Memorial hunt as well but took 18 putts on the last nine holes, including a two-putt birdie at the 15th and a five-foot birdie putt at the last to go with four bogeys. Had his putter been behaving, Johnson may well have emerged with the trophy.

Golf Channel's Justin Ray showed how Johnson was at least driving for some serious show in front of the Muirfield Village galleries as he tried to make up ground late:

Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland were tied with McGirt as overnight leaders, yet they had their fair share of difficulties as the lengthy last round wore on.

ESPN.com's Jason Sobel highlighted a sequence that plagued Woodland in the midst of three straight bogeys from Nos. 9 through 11:

But Woodland bounced back with a birdie putt of over 30 feet at the par-four 13th to get back to 14 under and hang tough until a dropped shot at the 17th ultimately cost him.

Kuchar was going strong until leaving a shot in the fairway bunker at the par-four 13th, leading to a double bogey to send him tumbling down the leaderboard. He then had 92 yards from the fairway for his third shot to the par-five 15th yet wound up making a bogey to dash his hopes of winning.

Rory McIlroy made a fine late charge to make things interesting, carding three consecutive birdies at Nos. 15 through 17 and saving par with a gutsy 11-foot putt on the 18th to post 13 under.

Although his rally fell a bit short, McIlroy can take solace in the fact that he was far better putting this week with an altered grip, which has to give him a big boost of confidence moving forward.

The PGA Tour highlighted how the flat iron has impeded McIlroy from having a better 2015-16 campaign:

Only the FedEx St. Jude Classic, which starts Thursday, stands between the second major of the season, the U.S. Open starting June 16 at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.

After collapsing in his defense of the Masters Tournament, Jordan Spieth has a chance to redeem himself on the major championship stage in guarding the U.S. Open trophy. Johnson three-putted the 72nd hole of last year's event to miss out on a playoff with Spieth by one stroke, so he has to be on the radar as a contender.

With McIlroy's strong finish to the Memorial on Sunday, he should be considered along with Spieth and world No. 1 Jason Day as the chief favorites at Oakmont as well.

Post-Round Reaction

Golf reporter Stephanie Wei logged some candid quotes from the Memorial champion.

"Even though I had the jitters over the golf swing, but I felt good over the putter...I can't remember much about today," said McGirt, evidently in relative disbelief over what had happened.

McGirt also spoke about his intended plans if he were to take home the hardware at the prestigious tournament, saying: "I told myself if I won two things: don't cry and don't make a fool out of yourself."

The golfing odyssey that led to McGirt's breakthrough on Sunday gave him some unique perspective, too, per Wei:

Curran received some encouragement from the Golden Bear himself afterwards, per Sobel:

Said Nicklaus of the two playoff adversaries, per Wei, "Guys kept self-destructing today except for two of them."

Salty as he may have been for missing out on the playoff by one stroke, Johnson was classy in defeat when he took to Twitter following Sunday's action.

"So close!! Great fans as always in Columbus. Congrats @WilliamMcGirt on the big win," Johnson tweeted.

Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.