Sports

Memorial win sets Kuchar up for U.S. Open

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DUBLIN, Ohio — Matt Kuchar’s greatest strength as a golfer is that he has no weaknesses.

It is as much a reason as any why he won the Memorial yesterday at Muirfield Village, staving off a late-charging Kevin Chappell to become only the second multiple-winner on the PGA Tour this year.

Kuchar joined Tiger Woods, who’s won four times in 2013 and whom he beat by a stunning 20 shots this week.

Kuchar’s trademark consistency, too, is the reason he has to be considered a favorite at the U.S. Open at Merion in two weeks.

After winning The Players Championship last year, the World Match Play earlier this year and now the prestigious Memorial, which had the strongest non-major field on Tour this year, a major championship is the natural next progression for Kuchar.

“Great golf breeds more great golf and winning tournaments breeds more winning tournaments,’’ Kuchar said after his win, with tournament host Jack Nicklaus sitting to his left. “Heading into Merion, I’ll have a lot of confidence. I’m looking forward to my chances at Merion.’’

Kuchar primed himself for this week’s win by learning from his runner-up finish at last week’s Colonial, where he took the 54-hole lead into the final round and failed to close.

Kuchar, who was the most consistent player in the field this week by miles, shooting 68-70-70-68 in challenging weather conditions, is perhaps the most consistent player on the PGA Tour, having posted 36 top-10 finishes since 2010 — more than anyone else.

He capped off the win by holding off Chappell, who birdied three of his last four holes and, trailing by two shots, stuffed his approach shot to two feet on the 18th green.

That left Kuchar needing to two-putt from 20 feet to clinch the win, but he took only one — draining the birdie putt as an exclamation point and moving to No. 4 in the world rankings.

Chappell, who began the day two shots behind Kuchar, knew making up ground on him would be difficult because of Kuchar’s consistency.

“His bad shots hit greens, first of all, and he’s really good with the putter,’’ Chappell said. “I think I heard [Nick] Faldo say on TV last week [Kuchar] is not a 10 in every category of his game, but he’s better than seven in all aspects of the game. He just doesn’t make very many mistakes.

“He’s not going to give you much. You’ve got to go get it.’’

Chappell, frustrated that he was unable to go get it from Kuchar, encapsulated his runner-up finish — despite it being the best of his career — as “whipped cream on dog do.’’

“It was a great day, but I came up short,’’ he said.

Kuchar’s pivotal moment came when he birdied No. 11 to go to 11-under while Kyle Stanley, his closest pursuer at the time, took bogey to drop him to 8-under. Kuchar, who had taken a one-shot lead over Stanley to the 11th tee, never allowed anyone to get closer than two shots the rest of the way.

“There are a couple of things I thought were missing from my pedigree, my golf history,’’ Kuhar said. “A major championship is on the list and a multiple-win season was on the list. Having a multiple-win season is nice to be able to check that one off the list.’’

Now for that major championship.

“Golf’s a fickle thing,’’ Kuchar said. “I certainly feel like I’m ready to show up [at a major] and play some really good golf. I’d love it if I could show up and play good enough golf to win a major. It’s something that is up there, No. 1 on the list. I want to do it and feel like I’m ready to do it.’’

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com