Cantlay closed with a one-under 71 to finish alongside Collin Morikawa at 13-under 275 after 72 holes, before securing his second win at the event in three years.

Only a day earlier, Cantlay walked off the 18th green at Muirfield Village six shots behind Jon Rahm, whose 64 ranked as one of the great rounds at the course Jack Nicklaus built and tied two Memorial records, including largest 54-hole lead.

But the Spanish World No.3 tested positive for the coronavirus – Rahm had been in the contact tracing protocol – and was withdrawn from the tournament.

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Just like that, Cantlay and Morikawa went from six shots behind to tied for the lead.

And for so much of the final round, it stayed that way.

Morikawa surged ahead with an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-5 15th, while Cantlay missed birdie putts from eight feet to tie him on the 15th, and then on the par-3 16th.

The round was halted for about five minutes because of a pop-up downpour while they were on the 17th green.

When it resumed, Cantlay holed a 25-foot birdie putt to tie, and Morikawa stayed in the game with a 12-foot par.

"It (Rahm's withdrawal) was such a weird situation, so unfortunate. Everyone, me included, knows it would be totally different today if that hadn't happened." – Patrick Cantlay

Cantlay had a 25-foot birdie putt for the win on the 18th in regulation that grazed the right side of the cup to leave him level with Morikawa (71).

Nicklaus figured the awkward situation for Cantlay and Morikawa, after Rahm's withdrawal, would be one more element for them to battle.

"It was such a weird situation, so unfortunate," Cantlay said.

"Everyone, me included, knows it would be totally different today if that hadn't happened.

"But there's nothing I could do about it. I tried as hard as I could to reset and refocus."

It led to the fourth victory of Cantlay's PGA Tour career, second this season and put him top of the season-long FedExCup standings.

Scottie Scheffler, who started the final round three shots behind, was tied for the lead with a birdie on the 15th but a 70 left him third at 11-under par.

South Africa's Brandon Grace (71, 10 under) was fourth while and Patrick Reed (69, eight under) rounded out the top five.

Adam Scott carded a 73 on Sunday to be the leading Australian in a tie for 16th at two under, one shot ahead of Lucas Herbert who slipped out of the top-10 with a 76 dropping him to a share of 18th.

- Doug Ferguson, Associated Press