Bart Bryant outplayed a star-studded field to win the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial by one stroke over Fred Couples.

The 42-year-old journeyman made a brilliant par save at the final hole, getting up-and-down from 173 yards after driving into a hazard to clinch his second victory on the PGA Tour.

He finished at 16-under-par 272, while gallery favourite Couples shot 69 for second place on 15-under 273.

"It's a real honour to win here at Jack's tournament," said an emotional Bryant, who sank a 15-footer on the 18th for a four-under-par 68 in steamy heat at Muirfield Village.

Couples had to birdie the last to force a play-off, but missed the green with his second shot and had to settle for par.

Tiger Woods was not at his best, but still shot 68 to tie for third with Jeff Sluman and Bo Van Pelt, four shots off the pace.

Bryant, who started the final round in a four-way tie for the lead, enjoyed his first tour victory at last year's Texas Open, on the same day that Europe won the Ryder Cup, but this win was in a different league against a stellar field.

"At the beginning of the day I had high hopes it would come to this, but there were so many good players up there," he said.

England's Greg Owen tied for 17th on six-under 282 after a 71, while countryman Ian Poulter had seven fives - five of them bogeys - in a 72 for 285 and a share of 30th.

Welshman Phillip Price was two behind Poulter after a 73 and England's Justin Rose slumped to a second successive 75 for six-over 294.

Collated final-round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

272 Bart Bryant 69 69 66 68

273 Fred Couples 71 67 66 69

276 Bo Van Pelt 67 72 69 68, Tiger Woods 69 68 71 68, Jeff Sluman 65 71 68 72

277 Jonathan Kaye 67 70 68 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 70 70 70

278 David Toms 70 70 64 74, Richard Green (Aus) 67 72 69 70, Jim Furyk 73 73 64 68, Lucas Glover 67 70 73 68, KJ Choi (Kor) 69 72 69 68

279 Scott Verplank 75 66 67 71, Woody Austin 67 73 65 74

280 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 74 69 71, Jerry Kelly 70 71 69 70

282 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 73 65 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 71 66 75, Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 68 67 76, Greg Owen (Eng) 76 68 67 71

283 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 71 70 70 72, Brad Faxon 74 72 67 70, Jay Haas 69 70 71 73

284 Kenny Perry 69 72 71 72, Billy Andrade 69 71 71 73, Vaughn Taylor 72 70 70 72, Kirk Triplett 74 69 71 70, Tom Pernice Jnr. 72 72 72 68, Harrison Frazar 69 68 73 74

285 Joey Sindelar 72 70 71 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 72 73 72, Stephen Ames (Can) 70 73 68 74, Chad Campbell 74 70 68 73

286 Billy Mayfair 72 70 68 76, Zach Johnson 73 68 75 70, Steve Flesch 69 69 73 75, Duffy Waldorf 72 70 73 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 73 69 70 74

287 Craig Parry (Aus) 69 74 77 67, Phillip Price (Wal) 70 72 72 73, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 71 74 68 74, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 71 73 74, Briny Baird 71 73 73 70, Ryan Palmer 69 72 74 72

288 Sean O'Hair 69 73 69 77, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 74 71 73, Tim Herron 68 70 79 71, Stewart Cink 69 69 76 74, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 71 72 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 72 71 74, Kevin Na (Kr) 73 69 74 72

289 Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 74 70 74, Chris DiMarco 74 69 73 73, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 73 73 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 74 72 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 73 68 81

290 Bob Tway 72 73 71 74, Mark Hensby (Aus) 74 72 69 75, Dudley Hart 72 68 71 79, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 73 72 72 73

291 Patrick Sheehan 72 70 77 72, Corey Pavin 73 71 73 74, Joe Ogilvie 67 74 77 73, Charles Howell III 77 69 73 72, Scott McCarron 71 72 72 76, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 73 71 73 74

292 Tim Petrovic 72 74 73 73, Brandt Jobe 75 71 74 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 76 70 74 72, Bill Haas 70 76 66 80, Mark O'Meara 70 70 73 79, Peter Jacobsen 73 69 74 76

293 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 72 73 78, Euan Walters (Aus) 76 70 74 73

294 Justin Rose (Eng) 72 72 75 75, Thomas Levet (Fra) 74 70 76 74

295 Paul Azinger 72 72 71 80

296 Steve Lowery 70 75 74 77

297 Bob Sowards 73 73 74 77