Woods 3rd at Memorial, fails to overtake Singh for No. 1 world ranking

DUBLIN, Ohio - Bart Bryant spent 20 years trying to prove he belonged among the best, often lying awake at night wondering if three surgeries and too many trips to qualifying school were a sign he was wasting his time.

Winning the Texas Open last fall was the first step.

Validation came Sunday at the Memorial. Bryant somehow salvaged par from inside a hazard on the edge of the creek on the 18th hole, held off crowd-favorite Fred Couples by one shot and had an audience with Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host who was duly impressed with what he saw at Muirfield Village.

"To win against a quality field like this ... to walk off the 18th green and have Mr. Nicklaus waiting to shake your hand and congratulate you is beyond comprehension at this point," Bryant said.

Tiger Woods was stopped early with a double bogey on the eighth hole, and he wound up tied for third with Bo Van Pelt and Jeff Sluman. Woods needed to finish alone in third to replace Vijay Singh at No. 1 in the world ranking.

Bryant emerged the winner on a steamy afternoon. The chase was so tight that 11 players were within three shots of the lead when the final group made the turn, and no one ever led by more than one shot.

It eventually became a duel, and Bryant didn't blink.

The raucous cheers behind him as Couples surged into the lead never rattled the 42-year-old Texan. Bryant stole the lead from Couples, not to mention the show, with an approach into 5 feet for birdie on the 17th.

The real drama came at the 18th, when his 3-wood took a hard bounce and stopped inches from the water.

Playing it safe, Bryant took a penalty drop and lashed a 6-iron into 15 feet, then holed the par putt for a 4-under 68.

He sat nervously in the scoring trailer waiting to see if his score would stand, and Couples' last chance ended with an approach that sailed over the green into deep rough.

"Bart deserved to win," Couples said after missing two putts inside 10 feet over the final four holes. "I can't really kick myself too hard."