Billy Horschel took control of the Memorial Tournament with a sensational seven-under-par 65 on Saturday and he never really looked like losing the event on Sunday.
Matched at a high of 110.0109/1 before the off but generally a 90.089/1 chance, Horschel was trading at 1.558/15 on Sunday morning with a five-stroke lead and he was never headed - although Dave Tindall's 50/1 each-way selection, Aaron Wise, who played in the final two-ball alongside Horschel, gave it a good go.
After back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11, Wise was matched at a low of 3.412/5 when he got to within two of the lead when Horschel bogeyed the par three 12th but Wise bogeyed the very next hole and the result was never in doubt after Horschel did this on the par five 15th.
Billy's impressive victory was his seventh on the PGA Tour and it moves him up to 11th in the Official World Rankings.
In addition to this, his latest prestigious title, Horschel's worldwide victories include two Fed-Ex Cup playoff event's, a World Golf Championship, and a BMW PGA Championship so he knows how to rise to the occasion, and he's been backed into 75.074/1 to win the US Open in a fortnight's time.
Kalle defies the odds in Germany
As impressive as Horschel's win was, it wasn't anywhere near as dramatic or as unexpected as Kalle Samooja's win on the DP World Tour had been earlier in the day.
The pre-event 200.0199/1 shot was a 500/1 chance with the Sportsbook on Sunday morning and he was matched at 1000.0999/1 on the exchange as he began the final round trailing the 54-hole leader, Victor Perez, by seven strokes but he finished up winning quite comfortably in the end after a quite remarkable bogey-free eight-under-par 64 in round four.
Having parred the first five holes, he exploded into life with five birdies in six holes from the sixth and he finished his round with birdies at 15, 17 and 18. And he missed a five footer for birdie at the par five 16th too!
Germany's Marcel Schneider shot a 67 and Thorbjorn Olesen signed off the tournament with a 68 but they were the only two players in the field to shoot within five of Samooja so it really was a remarkable finish.
Will Besseling finished alone in second on four-under-par with Richard Mansell and Perez tying for third on -3 but it had looked like Perez may still win after he'd recorded back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11.
The Frenchman, who had won the Dutch Open the week before, was matched at a low of 1.814/5 as he stood on the 12th tee tied with the Finn but his challenge soon wilted with bogeys at 12, 13 and 15.
This was Samooja's first DP World Tour win, but he wasn't winning out of turn. The 34-year-old was beaten in a playoff at both the Omega European Masters in 2019 and the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open in 2020 so it was nice to see him finally get across the line.
Boring Green Eagle a great place for trading
I can't pretend to have enjoyed the European Open much, it felt like quite a grind but it looks like it's going to be a great course to trade at going forward.
Marcus Armitage won the 2021 edition from off the pace and the combination of a really tough track and nervy pros, playing for an awful lot, and very often their first wins, makes for plenty of drama.
The big early prices were soon gobbled up as Samooja made his move but he was still available at a double-figure price when on -3 and within one of the lead after he'd turned for home so the opportunity to get him onside were there and it will be well worth looking for closers in-play again next year if we come back to Green Eagle.
Look to Florida for Memorial clues
Over at the Memorial Tournament, in addition to some useful course form, Horschel had finished second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and he was far from the first Memorial Tournament winner to have played well on the Florida Swing a couple of months previous.
I wrote this in the Find Me a 100 Winner column on Wednesday...
The Memorial Tournament has been a decent event for outsiders over the years, so I started by looking at what a few of them had been up to before they won at Muirfield Village. It turned out there was a bit of a pattern.
Bart Bryant (2005), Carl Pettersson (2006), David Lingmerth (2015), William McGirt (2016) and Jason Dufner (2017), who all went off at huge prices, had all shown up earlier in the year with some decent form before they won here.
All five had bits and pieces of form on the Florida Swing at events like the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Honda Classic and the even the Players Championship.
Most players weave in and out of form and it's not unusual to see someone win a couple of months after being in form so that's an angle in to consider next year.
With the US Open looming on the horizon, the PGA Tour pops over the border for the Canadian Open and the DP World Tour travels to Sweden for the Scandinavian Mixed and I'll be back tomorrow with the previews.
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