Furyk’s a Tiger Down Stretch

Jim Furyk was plodding along Sunday when he noticed the Memorial tournament was up for grabs, a dozen players within two shots of the lead and three-time defending champion Tiger Woods long departed.

“I was caught off guard by that,” Furyk said.

Then, he delivered a few surprises of his own.

With a 30-foot birdie chip at No. 12 and a bunker shot that rattled the pin and dropped for eagle on No. 15, Furyk seized control with a back-nine charge that carried him to a seven-under-par 65 and a two-stroke victory at Dublin, Ohio.

He proved a worthy successor to Woods’ reign at Muirfield Village with a finish that even Woods could appreciate. Furyk’s 65 was the lowest final-round score by a winner in the 27-year history of the Memorial.

“I don’t know how he did it,” said John Cook, who joined David Peoples as the runner-up in a tournament that figured to go down to the wire.

Furyk finished at 14-under 274, winning for the seventh time in his career. He earned $810,000.

Woods, trying to become the first player in 75 years to win the same tournament four consecutive years, closed with a ho-hum 66 and was gone by the time the fireworks began, proving that there is life on the PGA Tour without him.

David Duval, one of seven players who had at least a share of the lead at one point, went through a rally-killing stretch of three holes, but still closed with a 66 and tied for fourth, his first top-10 finish of the year.

Furyk gave the Memorial its first champion other than Woods since 1998.

Woods never had a chance to win his fourth in a row, starting the final round 12 shots back. He tied for 22nd, eight strokes behind. Still, it was the 60th consecutive stroke-play event on the PGA Tour in which Woods has finished in the top 30, dating to a tie for 56th in the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.

Jack Nicklaus, playing in the group behind Woods, had three double bogeys in a round of 79, although his 295 was still two strokes better than Sergio Garcia.

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Laura Diaz became the first native New Yorker to win the Corning Classic, shooting a two-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Rosie Jones at Corning, N.Y.

Diaz, of Scotia, N.Y., finished at 14-under 274 and never lost the lead she held since the opening round. The victory was worth $150,000 and moved her into second place on the money list behind Annika Sorenstam with $459,699.

The 27-year-old Diaz, in her fourth full year on tour, notched her first tour victory in March in Tucson. She won her second by holding off Jones, who was seeking her third Corning title.

Diaz reeled off 11 consecutive pars after a six-foot birdie putt at No. 6 broke a tie with Jones, then birdied the final hole to close the door. Jones shot a 71 to finish at 276, one stroke ahead of New Zealand’s Marnie McGuire and Italy’s Silvia Cavalleri.

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Jay Sigel won for the first time since having surgery on both shoulders, shooting a five-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over Morris Hatalsky in the Farmers Charity Classic at Ada, Mich.

Sigel, who won for the first time in 94 starts since the 1998 EMC Kaanapali Classic, had two eagles in the final round en route to a 13-under 203 total on the Egypt Valley course.

The 58-year-old Sigel earned $225,000 for his seventh Senior PGA Tour title.