Jun 4, 2007 By Golf Roundup 4 min read

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) – K.J. Choi figured the best way to learn to play golf was to study books by Jack Nicklaus and spend hours watching video of golf’s greatest champion. It was only fitting Choi celebrated the biggest victory of his career at the Memorial on Sunday with a handshake from Nicklaus that was as meaningful as the trophy. Choi ran off four straight birdies on the front nine to take the lead, then finished with three clutch par saves from the bunkers and gallery to close with a 7-under 65, giving him a one-shot victory over Ryan Moore.

Rain that pounded Muirfield Village in the morning set up a shootout among a half-dozen players, all of them with a good chance to win until they either ran out of time, ran out of birdies or took themselves out of the tournament with untimely blunders.

Choi could have been on that list.

After a two-putt birdie on the 15th to reach 17 under, he saved par from the bunker on the 16th with a 7-foot putt, chipped out of the gallery to 15 feet and made that for par on the 17th, then blasted out of the sand on the final hole to 5 feet and made that one.

Nicklaus, the tournament founder, stood behind the 18th green and waited with open arms when Choi finished at 17-under 271.

Choi earned $1.08 million for his fifth PGA Tour title.

Ginn Tribute

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – Nicole Castrale chased down the world’s No. 1 player for her first LPGA Tour victory, beating Lorena Ochoa with a par on the first hole of a playoff in the Ginn Tribute.

Castrale closed with a 1-under 71 to match Ochoa (74) at 9-under 279 on the RiverTowne Country Club course. Castrale earned $390,000.

Ochoa, 0-for-4 in playoffs, was up by six shots Saturday and was still ahead by two shots with three holes to play Sunday. However, bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes dropped the Mexican star into a tie and a wayward tee shot into a marsh on the playoff hole, the 18th, cost her the title.

Castrale, who watched Ochoa’s bad drive, kept it simple and straight on the extra hole. She two-putted from 25 feet for par, then waited until Ochoa’s 18-foot try to extend the playoff slide left.

Boeing Championship

DESTIN, Fla. – Loren Roberts won The Boeing Championship for his first Champions Tour victory of the year, closing with a 6-under 65 for a three-stroke victory over Argentina’s Eduardo Romero.

Roberts finished with a 16-under 197. He earned $247,500 for his sixth victory in three seasons on the 50-and-over tour.

Romero finished with a 69.

Bob Gilder (65) and Tom Purtzer (71) tied for third at 12 under, and Jay Haas (73) and Dana Quigley (66) followed at 11 under.

Wales Open

NEWPORT, Wales – Richard Sterne of South Africa made a 7-foot putt on the final hole to win the Wales Open after Bradley Dredge missed a 5-footer that would have forced a playoff.

Sterne (65) finished at 13-under 263 at the Roman Road course.

Dredge birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to be on the verge of becoming the first Welshman to win the tournament in its eight-year history, but he bogeyed the last after driving into a bunker.

Dredge (67), Mardan Mamat (62), Soren Kjeldsen (65) and Mads Vibe-Hastrup (66) were a shot back.

Mikko Ilonen (63) and Gary Murphy (66) were next at 11 under.

The 25-year-old Sterne, whose only previous European Tour victory was at the 2004 Madrid Open, finished third at last week’s BMW PGA Championship and fifth at two tournaments before that.

“It’s always difficult when you are knocking on the door and don’t win. The breakthrough means a lot,” Sterne said. “It was really bunched up today and I was not looking forward to a playoff with four or five guys. I don’t think I could have handled that.”