Following an impressive win for Jason Kokrak at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the PGA TOUR heads north to Dublin, Ohio, for one of the big non-major events of the year.
The Memorial is Jack Nicklaus’ signature tournament every year, and the invitational always draws an elite field of players. This year is no different as only Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Tyrrell Hatton are missing from the top-10 players in the world. No. 3 Jon Rahm is the defending champion of the event and will look to build off of his recent eighth-place finish at the PGA Championship.
The top-tier field, which lacks only seven of the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings, will see a different course than the one they played just last summer. One of the lasting images of the Memorial last year was as the final group was moving through their round, the grounds crew was following along and tearing out the greens of the holes they had just finished. It was an effort to get everything they wanted to accomplish done, with this week in mind as Jack looked to revamp Muirfield Village.
Rather than trying to explain all of the changes, I will refer you to the renovation report provided to caddies this week. It provides a comprehensive breakdown of everything done by hole, which can help us understand how this will be a different course, especially on the greens. All of the green complexes were reconstructed with new bentgrass and sub-air to allow them to achieve the firm and fast conditions they desire regardless of the weather. That, for me, is the biggest highlight since I don’t see the 100 yards added overall to be overly impactful.
Now that we’ve gotten the renovation details out of the way, let’s dive into the breakdown of the course.
Course Preview
Muirfield Village Golf Club – Dublin, Ohio
7,543 yard Par 72 – Jack Nicklaus Design
- Four par 3s (180/200/200/210)
- 10 par 4s (360/392/417/455/455/459/472/480/485/490)
- Four par 5s (547/561/588/592)
- Average Green Size – 5,000 sq ft (smaller than average for PGA TOUR)
- Bentgrass tee to green, no stimpmeter reading provided, but they are typically some of the fastest on TOUR
- Mix of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and fescue grown to as juicy 4″
- 13 water hazards in play on 13 holes
- 68 sand bunkers many of which were reworked in the renovation
It’s hard to know on a hole-by-hole basis which will be changed in any drastic measure as to their difficulty this week. I will focus on how each has played in the past with the understanding that we may see some changes to the birdie and bogey figures this year.
In order to score well at Muirfield Village Golf Club, there are some very defined holes where players must take advantage. Included in those are all of the par 5s, and the short par-4 14th. Each of these five holes yield birdies or better at more than a 20% rate, and they are a requirement with the difficulty of the rest of the course.
Birdies and eagles are out there on each par 5, with the fifth being the easiest of the bunch. It yields a 40% birdie rate and eagle or better than 2% of the time. This hole was a target of the renovation as they shrunk the fairway, changed the angle of the tee box, went to a smaller green surface and even expanded the lakefront area. I would still expect it to be attacked at just 547 yards, but it may not allow players to get away with subpar shots as often and still offer birdie.
The 15th was the other par 5 impacted in a significant way, and it happens to be the second-easiest hole historically. They removed the creek in the fairway on this hole, adding a bunker complex and bringing the creek in front of the green closer to the putting surface. It’ll make things interesting for those considering going for it in two, creating the ideal risk reward for a hole that saw more than 42% birdie or better rates.
The teeth of this course have always been in the closing stretch of holes 16-18, and I wouldn’t expect that to change. The 16th is listed at 200 yards on the scorecard this year and annually ranks as the second-hardest hole on the course. It was the hole where Rahm infamously and accidentally changed the lie of his miraculous chip in on Sunday last year, resulting in a two-stroke penalty that impacted DFS more than it did the result of the tournament. This hole typically plays nearly one-quarter stroke over par.
Once players get through the test at 16, they’ll have to stare down two of the hardest par 4s on the course to get into the clubhouse. It sounds as though the changes to 17 will have some impact, though minimally with distance. The big change is added fairway bunkers and a tighter landing zone for players who want to try to carry the bunker. It’ll be interesting to see if a historically difficult hole at 17 gets even harder after the renovation.
Sunday at Muirfield Village often comes down to the 18th hole, which is part of what makes it one of the greatest events in golf. The final hole is also the toughest on the course every year and while birdies are rare with just about a 12% rate during the event, it’s the bogeys and worse that are the concern. A 30% rate of bogey or worse is high for the TOUR at any event, and with more than 5% of those coming on doubles or greater, it keeps just about everything in play down the stretch of the event.
In all this is a course where I will be focusing on some key statistics. Strokes Gained Tee to Green will be vital throughout the bag as the firm greens will bring the around the green game into play more than normal. There is a need for ball striking to be strong as distance and accuracy off the tee are big, but approach is really still king. We have seen that with players like Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods having enjoyed success on this course, and iron play is always the signature of Nicklaus tracks.
As I mentioned earlier par 5 scoring and par 5 birdie or better will be vital this week. There are also seven par 4s between 450-500 yards, which really rounds out what I will be looking for at Muirfield Village.
Course Horses
Patrick Cantlay (T31-1-4-T35)
No missed cuts and a couple of top-4 finishes, including a win, make Patrick Cantlay an easy first target for the course horses. He hasn’t had the best form of late, but he may have found something a couple of weeks ago at the PGA Championship and now turns to a course he clearly loves.
Kevin Streelman (T54-4-T44-T13-T8)
One player who likely doesn’t come immediately to mind when thinking about the Memorial is Kevin Streelman. However, he’s gone five straight years without missing a cut, and has three top-13 finishes in that stretch. He comes into the week in good form off of back-to-back top-20 results.
Adam Scott (DNP-2-35-31)
There are no missed cuts in any of Adam Scott’s six career trips to The Memorial, and two of those finishes were top-4s. He is a player that fits the mold of Nicklaus courses and he has found that to be the case in his appearances at Muirfield Village.
Pictured above: Patrick Cantlay
Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
