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Patrick Cantlay defeated Australia's Adam Scott with a record final round 64 to win the Memorial Tournament after some sage advice from host Jack Nicklaus.
American Patrick Cantlay has credited some brutally honest advice from golf great Jack Nicklaus for his record-setting victory at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.
Cantlay defeated Australia's Adam Scott by two strokes at the Nicklaus-hosted event on Sunday - continuing his rise after his promising career was stalled by a crippling back injury and a friend's death in a hit-and-run accident.
The 27-year-old Cantlay started Sunday four strokes from the lead but fired an eight-under-par 64 for the lowest ever final round by a Memorial winner - beating the record Tiger Woods last equalled when he triumphed in 2009.
Cantlay finished at 19 under, while Scott's creditable 68 left him solo second at 17 under and 54-hole leader Martin Kaymer was third two strokes further behind.
Cantlay's US$1.64 million (A$2.36m) Memorial win capped an already superb US PGA Tour season featuring a runner-up and a third placing among seven top-10s.
He arrived at the Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village buoyed by a third placing at the recent US PGA Championship.
But 18-time major winner Nicklaus gave him a dressing down.
"I've been playing well all year but haven't been able to close out any tournaments," Cantlay said.
"Then I see Mr Nicklaus in the men's grill and he says, 'You've got to figure out how to play those last 30 minutes."
Added Nicklaus: "It was understanding how to finish a tournament and what kind of an attitude you need; I was trying to help him with that."
The Memorial win is Cantlay's second PGA Tour title and many have predicted the former amateur world No.1 to have a stellar career.
The Californian has taken longer than expected to reach his potential having gone through several traumatic years earlier in his career.
His amateur resume included low-amateur honours at the US Open and Masters, as well as the 2011 Jack Nicklaus Award - given to America's most best collegiate golfer.
But Cantlay suffered a back injury in 2013 and played just nine tournaments while trying to recover from a stress fracture in his L5 vertebrae.
In 2016, his best friend, high school teammate and caddie, Chris Roth, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while the two were crossing a street in Newport Beach, California.
"After the difficulties with my friend Chris dying and being out so long with my back, I'm definitely a different person than I was before I went through any of those troubles," Cantlay said.
"But I don't necessarily connect the struggles to golf. That stuff changed me as a person. It was so much bigger than golf."
Marc Leishman was next best of the Australians, carding a 69 to finish outright fifth at 12 under, while five-time Memorial champion Tiger Woods (67) tied ninth at nine under.
