Holding off a typically strong field, and battling through some difficult playing conditions, Matt Kuchar rode his standard brand of highly consistent golf to victory at the Memorial Tournament with a 12-under-par 276 total.  Beginning Sunday’s final round two strokes ahead of both Kevin Chappell and Kyle Stanley, Kuchar never missed a fairway until the 17th as he posted five birdies and a single bogey over the first 15 holes, building a seemingly commanding lead.  But an ill-timed bogey at the par-3 16th left the door slightly ajar, and the 26-year-old Chappell, who birdied the 13th, 15th, 17th and, via a stiffed approach, the demanding 18th, did everything he could to crash through it.  The 34-year-old Kuchar held himself together, however, and needing a par at the last to win, calmly played his approach to 20 feet, then holed the putt to raise the trophy in style.  Chappell’s exciting run home allowed him to claim solo second while Stanley, who was right in the thick of things before bogeying the par-5 11th, carded a 71 to finish third.  Also briefly in the hunt was Scott Stallings, who tied for the day’s low round with a 67 that included five straight birdies from the 4th through the 8th, then one more at the par-4 10th.  Late bogeys at the 16th and 18th would derail him, however, leaving Stallings in a tie for fourth.  Less stellar were the performances of world number two Rory McIlroy (who opened with 78 and ultimately tied for 57th) and world number one Tiger Woods, whose Saturday 79 included a career-worst 44 on the back nine, and who logged a shocking three double bogeys and two triple bogeys – all without a single penalty stroke – en route to tying for 65th…………… Finland’s Mikko Ilonen ended a six-year, 126-start European tour victory drought at the Nordea Masters in Stockholm, his 21-under-par 267 total proving good enough to beat PGA Tour regular Jonas Blixt of Sweden by three.  The 33-year-old Ilonen’s last victory came in this same event in 2007 (when it was played at the Arlandastad Golf Club) and while his fortunes slipped somewhat in the ensuing five years, he arrived at Bro Hof Slott having logged a pair of seconds (at the Trophée Hassan II and the Volvo China Open) and a T12 (at the BMW PGA) in his last four starts.  After opening with a 70, he posted middle rounds of 63-65 to take a two-stroke 54-hole lead over the event’s 2011 champion Alexander Noren, then moved further ahead with birdies at the second and third holes on Sunday, building a lead that would prove insurmountable.  What challenges there were began with Blixt, who started the day four back and briefly pulled within two when an eagle at the par-5 9th saw him out in 32.  But two bogeys and a double bogey from the 11th through the 14th set him back, and it was only late birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th that lifted him into second place.  Noren also briefly challenged after birdieing the 4th, but an incoming 37 ultimately placed him in a tie for third.  Also notable were the performances of last week’s BMW PGA champion Matteo Manassero (who shot 66-65 to lead at the halfway mark before weekend rounds of 71-70 left him tied for fourth) and Australian Andrew Dodt, who managed the staggeringly rare feat of carding two holes-in-one in the same round, acing both the 208-yard 7th and the 175-yard 11th en route to a memorable Friday 65…………… The rise to Japan Tour superstardom of Hideki Matsuyama took another step forward at this week’s Diamond Cup where the 20-year-old rookie strung together steady rounds of 71-69-68-71 to claim his second victory of the young season.  Though tied for the lead going into the final round, Matsuyama was far outshined by his 54-hole co-leader, 58-year-old J Tour legend Tommy Nakajima, whose middle rounds of 68-66 had placed him in position to potentially claim a 49th career win, and his first since 2006.  But after turning in even par on Sunday, Nakajima faded with bogeys at the 15th, 17th and 18th, leaving Matsuyama to coast home two strokes ahead  of Koreans Hyung-Sung Kim (winner of the recent Japan PGA Championship) and Sung-Joon Park, as well as Australian Brad Kennedy.  For Matsuyama, the win marked his fifth top-10 finish in as many 2013 starts, with his last four outings including two wins and two seconds, the latter each finding him only one shot off the winning score.  The victory solidified Matsuyama's place atop the Order of Merit, where he has thus far nearly doubled the earnings of his nearest pursuer, Hyung-Sung Kim…………… Twenty-seven-year-old Merrick Bremner claimed his third career Sunshine Tour victory at the Lombard Insurance Classic, winning, in wire-to-wire fashion, by two strokes over P.H. “Powerhouse” McIntyre at the Royal Swazi Sun Country Club.  The big-hitting Bremner began the event with a sterling nine-under-par 63, then backed it up with a stellar 65 to hold a four-stroke lead after 36 holes.  He began his final round with two straight bogeys, however, opening the door both for McIntyre (in pursuit of his maiden professional victory) and 13-time tour winner Jean Hugo, who’d thrown himself into the mix with a 63 of his own in round two.  Bremner would soon right the ship, however, reeling off seven straight pars on the outward half before coming  home in 33 (including a birdie at the par-3 finisher) to clinch the title.  McIntyre, something of a mercurial player in the past, posted a flawless five-birdie 67 to claim second while Hugo, who began the final round six shots in arrears, carded four front nine birdies to get into the mix before a inward 38 buried his hopes.