The Five: Rickie on the rise, Horschel disappointed and the definitive Muirfield milkshake ranking

It’s Memorial week! Fresh off honoring Ben Hogan and the historic Colonial Country Club, the PGA TOUR returns to a familiar stop in Columbus, Ohio for the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village, affectionally known as “Jack’s Place.”

It’s among the players’ favorite stops of the year. That makes it a rousing week for The Five. Here are five things that caught my eye this week, whether it’s interesting storylines that have emerged around Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel, or a completely serious ranking of Muirfield Village’s milkshake offerings. Let’s get started.

Rickie’s Resurgence

To fully contextualize Fowler’s season so far – which includes 11 top-25 finishes in 16 events and a spot in the top 30 of the FedExCup race – it’s best to look back a year ago.

Fowler entered the 2022 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday 135th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was outside the top 100 of the FedExCup and had made only eight of 14 cuts. He had one eye on Muirfield Village and another on his U.S. Open Final Qualifier in Florida less than 24 hours after he finished his final round.

He figures to have a much calmer week at Jack’s Place this time around. There will be no rushing off after Sunday’s fourth round to participate in “Golf’s Longest Day,” like he’s done the last two years for a chance to play the U.S. Open – he already qualified off his world ranking.

He won’t be sweating a top finish as he hopes to keep his TOUR card. He’s already racked up 600 more FedExCup points this season than he did all of last year. His T6 finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge moved him inside the top 50 of the world ranking for the first time since November 2020, it also secured him a spot in The Open Championship later this summer.

A quick stat that summarizes the remarkable turnaround. Fowler finished inside the top 30 three times last year. This season he’s finished outside the top 30 only five times.

The issues Fowler has gone through go further back than just a year ago. It’s been a multi-year effort to rebuild his swing. It’s still a work in progress.

“Really haven't had everything yet,” Fowler said at the Wells Fargo Championship earlier this month. “But I'd say the state that I feel like I'm at in the last few years, that would be a missed cut or finishing in the back of the pack and now being able to manage and keep things moving forward, build momentum, that's turning those weeks into top-20s and top-10s.”

In 50 starts over the past three seasons, Fowler had just four top 10s and $3.1 million in earnings. In 15 starts this season: five top 10s, $4.2 million in earnings. Fowler missed out on the Masters but will end the year (barring an injury) playing in three of the four majors for the first time since 2020. Given his current form, Fowler is on track to qualify for the TOUR Championship and an exemption back to Augusta next year.

Compared to where he was after the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge, Fowler has risen 89 spots in the world ranking (he’s currently 46th). He was 112th in the FedExCup; now he’s 26th.

Here's a look at the statistical turnaround Fowler has made.

“It's been a tough few years and I feel like I've always had a good mindset as far as continuing to look forward or current situation trying to be as positive as possible knowing that good golf's not far off,” Fowler said.

The good golf has arrived for the five-time TOUR winner. In a year that has seen players like Jason Day and Justin Rose top off resurgent years with a win, is Fowler next in line?

Can Horschel find form at Muirfield Village?

Pretty abysmal.

Asked to characterize his season, that was Horschel’s response.

“It’s been the hardest year of my 14 years on the golf course,” he said.

Horschel revealed he broke down and cried after missing the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Then again after he missed the cut at the RBC Heritage.

On Wednesday he shared why.

Since winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday a year ago, Horschel has struggled to find much good in his game. He missed three of his next five cuts and headed into the offseason with swing changes in mind. He and his team identified a few issues they felt could help his consistency, but it did more harm than good.

“It was one of those things where we try to get better in the game of golf,” Horschel said. “There were certain things in my swing that led to a few issues and so we thought if we could make a little bit different loading pattern, sort of how we loaded in the back swing, it would fix some of the other issues. It worked at home, it worked in practice, it just didn't work in tournaments under the pressure.”

Horschel and team have since scrapped the idea and gone back to the swing feel that helped him card wins in back-to-back seasons and a spot on the Presidents Cup team. Horschel said they were smart to turn back when they did, but it’s still left consequences for the season.

After carding 11 top 25s in 22 events last year, Horschel’s had only three in 15 events this year. He ranks 108th in the FedExCup and on the outside of the new playoff structure. Horschel’s off-the-tee game, in particular, has suffered. Since he turned pro in 2009, he has never lost strokes off the tee over a full season. Through the Charles Schwab Challenge, Horschel ranks 176th in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee (-0.424).

“I've been playing from spots I'm not used to,” he said.

Now Horschel and his longtime coach Todd Anderson are working to get the swing back to where it was when he won at Jack’s Place last year and gained 13.5 strokes tee-to-green, the best statistical performance of his career. Particularly they are addressing his setup and working to make sure Horschel’s swing isn’t too narrow.

“We know what the pieces are, we're putting them together now, it's just sort of continuing to work on the right things and I think I'm about a week or two away from really being comfortable with the swing going forward,” Horschel said.

With 10 weeks left in the regular season, Horschel has time, but a strong title defense would go a long way to digging himself out of the early season hole.

Bennett returns to the spotlight

Sam Bennett has gotten plenty of his “firsts” out of the way already. He experienced the first tee nerves when he could “barely get my ball up on the tee” during his first TOUR start as an amateur at the 2021 Valero Texas Open. Then there was a second-round 85 at the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard that let him know there was still much to work on. He notched his first made cut, at a major no less, during the 2022 U.S. Open then followed that up with a magical run at the Masters this year, playing in the final group during the third round.

This week at Muirfield Village marks another first – his maiden start as a professional on TOUR. All those previous experiences have him believing there’s not much gravitas to the moment.

“I mean, it's cool, but this is right where I want to be,” Bennett said.

The Texas A&M grad has a busy few weeks ahead. He will play next week’s RBC Canadian Open before heading to Los Angeles Country Club for the U.S. Open as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion.

Bennett finished fifth in the PGA TOUR University rankings thus earning fully exempt status Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2023 as well as an exemption to the Final Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry – where the top five finishers and ties earn PGA TOUR cards. He also has the ability to accept unlimited PGA TOUR sponsor exemptions for the remainder of 2023 and 2024.

What the 23-year-old from Madisonville, Texas can do over the next several months and years will be a sight to see. He’s flashed the potential to be a top player on TOUR, now it is finally time to follow through on it. He tees off at 8:53 a.m. local time Thursday alongside Aaron Rai and Akshay Bhatia.

Scramble mode

Expect recovery shots to be particularly pivotal this week at the Memorial. Two statistics to this effect caught my eye. First, the greens at Muirfield Village were among the toughest to hit a year ago.

In an ideal world, the winner will be the ball striker who stands out among the rest and misses few greens. The reality is that everyone in the field is going to find themselves in spots of bother throughout the week. What will separate them is who can effectively get up and down.

Here’s a look at the best scramblers on TOUR this year (that are in the field this week), ranked by their up-and-down percentage.

Then add one more statistical layer. Muirfield Village is also one of the most difficult courses to make birdies when missing the fairway. The course had the fifth lowest birdie or better percentage of any course on TOUR last season.

So, here’s a look at who leads this season in good drive percentage, which measures the number of fairways hit plus the number of greens/fringes hit in regulation when the drive was not in the fairway (among the players in the field this week).

Scheffler, Kim and Harman all set up well for a strong finish at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

The definitive Muirfield milkshake ranking

Muirfield Village is known for many things: a premier venue on the TOUR schedule, the handshake on the 18th green with Jack Nicklaus. I’m interested in a different type of shake, though. Milkshakes.

The club is said to have the greatest milkshake in the Midwest. It’s among the highlights for players and staff alike as they head to Columbus, Ohio every spring.

My colleague Ben Everill gave us a preview of the flavor options for this year’s tournament.

Having never had a milkshake on site at Muirfield Village, I’m the perfect person to arbitrate this hot-button topic and give the people a decisive ranking. All decisions are final and, most importantly, correct.