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Justin Thomas will join the star-studded field at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
FIELD NOTES
Thomas and Day also help give Muirfield Village 12 of the top 15 in the FedExCup standings, not to mention all four of the TOUR’s multiple winners this season. Bubba Watson and Patton Kizzire are the other two-time winners.
Rory McIlroy, Branden Grace and Ernie Els are among eight players coming to Muirfield Village following this week’s BMW PGA Championship in England.
Kenny Perry, a three-time champion, returns for his first PGA TOUR start since the 2015 Memorial.
Sam Burns, winner of the Nicklaus Award a year ago as the top golfer in NCAA Division I, makes his ninth start vs. PGA TOUR competition. He’s twice posted top-12 finishes in 2018, along with a win on the Web.com Tour.
Also part of this year’s youth showcase: Former world No. 1 amateur Joaquin Niemann and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman.
Field
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/the-memorial-tournament-presented-by-nationwide/field.html
FEDEXCUP
Winner receives 500 points.
STORYLINES
Thomas, fourth last year at Muirfield Village, seeks to continue to build on a season that has brought two wins, a playoff loss and five other top-15 finishes.
Woods tries to build on the momentum of a share of 11th at THE PLAYERS Championship. For all his success at Muirfield Village, he hasn’t finished in the top 60 since his 2012 win.
Day takes aim again at a first win in his adopted hometown, near where wife, Ellie, grew up. Even a top-10 would be his first at Muirfield Village, besting last year’s T15.
Six of the Memorial’s past 14 champions have been international players. Before that, just three of the first 27 came from outside the United States.
Hale Irwin, winner of three U.S. Opens and a record 45 PGA TOUR Champions titles, is this year’s Memorial honoree. Wednesday’s ceremony also will recognize journalist Larry Dorman, most noted for his work in the New York Times and Miami Herald.
COURSE
Muirfield Village Golf Club, 7,392 yards, par 72. Essentially a gift from Jack Nicklaus to his hometown of Columbus, the venue serves as a stage to both honor golf’s history and showcase its current talent. The Memorial’s home since its 1974 opening, Muirfield Village also has stepped up for other top events, making history as the only locale to host all three of U.S. pro golf’s team match-play showcases – Ryder Cup (1987), Solheim Cup (1998) and Presidents Cup (2013). The U.S. Amateur also paid a visit in 1992. Constant fine-tuning by Nicklaus and his design team keeps Muirfield Village perpetually among America’s top 20 courses and the world’s top 50.
72-HOLE RECORD
268, Tom Lehman (1994)
18-HOLE RECORD
61, John Huston (2nd round, 1996)
LAST YEAR
A rollercoaster weekend ended on a high for Dufner, who punctuated a rally from four shots back on the final day with a 33-foot par save that sealed a three-shot win. Dufner’s fifth PGA TOUR victory was anything but typical, building a five-shot lead through 36 holes and seeing it disappear five holes into his third round.
A Saturday 77 left him four shots off the pace, only to rebound with a closing 68 that endured two storm delays. The second came right after he and Rickie Fowler teed off at No. 18, with Dufner in thick rough near a fairway bunker while nursing a two-shot advantage. He only advanced his ball 75 yards from the wet rough, but found the middle of the green with his third before his clinching putt. Fowler (70) and Anirban Lahiri (65) shared second – for Fowler, it was his 10th career runner-up finish.
HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12:30-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, noon-2:15 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (CBS).
PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes).
RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).
Congratulations to last weeks winner @DFSNOLE
On the overall leader board, @NoleLizards keeps his lead
Good Luck to everyone this week
