Week 22 Approach Shots: the Memorial Tournament
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
AN IMPRESSIVE STREAK: Defending champion Kenny Perry will be making his 21st appearance at the Memorial Tournament, where he has three wins, six top-10 finishes and only three missed cuts. Perry has made 15 straight cuts, last not making it to the weekend in 1992 the year after winning his first Memorial Tournament title. He also missed the cut the first two times he played the event, in 1987 and 1989. Tournament host Jack Nicklaus made 30 appearances at the Memorial Tournament, with two wins and six top-10 finishes.
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TOUGH TRACK: Muirfield Village Golf Club was the 5th toughest course on the PGA TOUR in 2008 (average score was 74.397/2.397 over par). The second-round scoring average of 75.856 at the Memorial last year was the second highest single-round scoring average on the PGA TOUR. It came in a close second to the first-round at the British Open (75.877). Sergio Garcia, the 2008 Vardon Trophy winner for the lowest scoring average on TOUR, had a 73.5 scoring average at the Memorial while finishing 45th.
MEMORIAL NOTES: Columbus, Ohio native Ben Curtis will make his seventh start at the Memorial Tournament. His best finish is a tie for eighth in 2004. In 20 careers rounds at the event, Curtis only has five rounds under par. Curtis played the last two weeks on the European Tour, tying for sixth at the BMW PGA Championship and tying for eighth at the European Open. At the BMW event at Wentworth Club, Curtis ended his final round with a flourish, finishing birdie-birdie-eagle-eagle. ...
New Zealand's Danny Lee will play in the Memorial Tournament this week as the previous year's U.S. Amateur champion. Before turning pro, Lee won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia on the European Tour. Since turning pro, Lee missed the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and tied for 38th at the Quail Hollow Championship. His best performance was a tie for 13th at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. ...
Chris Wilson, a 2003 graduate of Dublin Coffman High School, accepted a sponsor's exemption this week allowing him to make his PGA TOUR debut. In 2005 Wilson won the 99th Ohio Amateur Championship, and in 2006, playing for Northwestern University, won the individual Big Ten title while leading his team to the conference championship. Wilson has been competing on the NGA Hooters Tour since turning professional in 2007. ...
Kenny Perry won the 2008 Memorial Tournament with an 8-under 280, the highest winning score since 1985, when Hale Irwin won with a 7-under 281. Even though he only finished 8-under, Perry rattled off six consecutive birdies in the first round on Nos. 11 to 16. ...
The Memorial Tournament has the longest active playoff drought on the PGA TOUR. The last playoff at the Memorial was in 1992 when David Edwards defeated Rick Fehr. The Buick Open has not had a playoff since 1995. ...
Kenny Perry (1991, 2003 and 2008) and Tiger Woods (1999-2001) are the only three-time winners of the Memorial Tournament. Besides his three victories, Perry also became the oldest winner in tournament history. He was 47 years, 9 months, 22 days in 2008. Tom Watson held the previous mark at 46 years, 8 months, 28 days. ...
ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Doug Bell is on the scene in Dublio, Ohio for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Bell:
On Wednesday the weather in Dublin, Ohio was similar to what you might expect in Dublin, Ireland. The temperatures were in the low 50s and rain pelted down on the golf course. Despite those conditions, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods played together for the first time in nine years at the Memorial's Skins Game. In talking with Jack, he said that, while it's not an official event, he was genuinely excited to be playing with Tiger. And vice versa, Tiger was truly excited to play with Jack.
Some people thought that Jack might tee it up again and play in the actual tournament, but he scoffed at that notion. He said he put a radar gun on his swing recently and his swing speed is right at 100 miles per hour. If you put the same machine on Tiger, Jack said, his would be 130 miles per hour. Jack laughed and said he couldn't even keep up with young guys in the Skins Game, much less participate in the Memorial. He did play on Monday and Tuesday from the member's tees, and the Golden Bear shot 77 each day.
The real fun begins when the tournament starts. It looks like the rainy weather will leave for the rest of the week and we'll have beautiful conditions, like the ones we had in the early part of the week. Wednesday's wet weather will not be a factor at Muirfield Village, a course that drains better than almost any TOUR because of an underground suction system on the greens.
As for the favorites this week, we first have to look at Zach Johnson. He's having an incredible year, having won twice on TOUR already and coming off a top 10 last week. Like so many players on TOUR, Zach has tons of respect for Jack and said he would dearly love to add a win at Jack's place to his resume. Last week's winner Steve Stricker is putting extremely well, which will help him on these Augusta-like greens. They are very fast and the holes were cut in very sharp, which means we'll probably see a lot of lip-outs. Players will have to putt in the middle of the cup, which is something that Stricker did well last week.
Brian Davis continues to be the TOUR's ironman having played for eight straight weeks. His teachers and friends have told him to take a week off, but he said he will when he quits playing well.
Finally, we need to go back to Tiger if we are talking about players to watch. We haven't seen him since the final group at THE PLAYERS Championship, which he admitted was one of the most frustrating days he's had as a professional. Over his past three weeks at home, he went back to the basics. Tiger said he always goes back to something that his dad taught him as a kid with both his putting stroke and his swing. Remember Tiger didn't play here a year ago because of his injury -- he would like nothing more than to play with Jack on Wednesday, then have Jack give him the trophy on Sunday.
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