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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

Muirfield Village Golf Club is hard. No, really it is. Someone forgot to tell some of the guys in the Memorial Tournament this week, though. Tiger got the memo as did all the other former champions of Jack's tournament. Two-time champion Kenny Perry and the 1989 winner, Bob Tway, got the memo but they threw it away on Friday night.

John Maginnes (WireImage)

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Rod Pampling has posted three rounds of four under-par or better to propel him to the top of the leaderboard heading into tomorrow's final round of the Memorial presented by Morgan Stanley. In only one other PGA TOUR event has Pampling posted scores of four or more under-par in each of the first three rounds. At the 2003 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Pampling posted rounds of 65-66-65.  • Stewart Cink has played the front nine at Muirfield Village to a cumulative 10 under par and has yet to record a score over-par on the front nine after three rounds of the Memorial presented by Morgan Stanley. Only one other player over the past 25 years at the Memorial has played the front nine 10 under-par or better while not recording a score over-par; John Cook in 1994 en route to a third-place finish.  • Richard S. Johnson has made four putts of more than 25 feet at this week’s Memorial presented by Morgan Stanley. Johnson is the first players in the SHOTLink era at the Memorial to make four putts of 25 feet or more in the first three rounds of play.  -- Elias Sports Bureau

You know by now that the course is one of the most beautiful on the PGA TOUR. Jack Nicklaus, host-designer-former champion-greatest player of all time (he is a quadruple hyphen) makes sure that each year Muirfield Village is in the best possible shape. Leading up to the tournament Mr. Nicklaus takes a hand's on approach to conditioning and set up.

Earlier in the week, Ernie Els said that this was the best-conditioned course the players had seen all year. High praise from the 'Big Easy," to be sure. Many of the players have used the word "perfect" to describe the conditions.

The problem is that someone forgot to tell the kids and the Aussies that this is a tough course. You would think that the Aussies would show Mr. Nicklaus' tournament a little more respect considering that Jack won the Australian Open six times. Or maybe they are still holding a grudge that their national trophy spent so much time in the U.S. back in the 1960's and 70's.

We don't know exactly what it was that set Adam Scott off in the second round. After opening with a 2-under-par 70, Adam came out Friday morning like he was shot out of a cannon. The dashing young Aussie made nine birdies in his first 12 holes. Although he missed the course record by a single shot, he still managed a spectacular 10-under-par 62. After the round, Adam admitted that the course record never entered his mind but he thought 59 may be in the cards. He was pretty sure that 59 would set a new single-round championship mark at the Memorial. Nothing gets by that kid.

The assault on Muirfield continued on Saturday. Honda Classic champion Mark Wilson made par on the first two holes but then it was off to the races. He hit his approach shot inside 6 feet at the par-4 third. That birdie would be the first of seven in a row -- the longest streak on the PGA TOUR this year. This course is not that easy. Someone must have told Mark that on his way to the 10th tee. He backed up his outward 29 with a 39 on the way to the house. He said afterward that he started thinking on the back nine. Let that be a lesson to you. Adam and Mark both said they were doing fine until they started thinking.

Perhaps the golf gods intervened a little on Saturday. At 1:29 p.m. ET the sirens blared -- alerting the players that there were hazardous conditions aloft and that they needed to vacate to course. At that point Adam and fellow Aussie, Rod Pampling, were warming up for their 1:50 tee time. The weather came in and the wind picked up but the rain stayed away. The golf gods didn't want to soften the ever-firming greens.

The lowest 72-hole total in Memorial history was authored by U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman back in 1994 when he won by five over runner-up Greg Norman. Norman returned the next year and won by four. Only Tiger Woods has equaled the margin of victory set by Tom 13 years ago but no one has posted 20-under par besides Tom in the history of this great event.

It certainly looked like we might see someone challenge the 72-hole record early in the week. Three players shot 65 in the opening round. Four players were double digits under par through 36 holes.

However, it looks as if Tom's record will be safe for another year. To maintain a certain level of play on this course requires near perfect course management and execution. Few courses reward the boldly and properly executed shot as much as Muirfield Village. The par 5s are well protected but reachable. "They murder the 15th", Jack said of today's players. He went on to say that he liked the fact that the last par 5 on the course presented opportunities for the players to make one last jump.

The last three holes are hard...no memo needed.