The Memorial Preview 2021

The Memorial Preview 2021

2021 the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

• May 31-June 6, 2021
• Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
• Par 72 • 7,543 yards
• Purse $9.3 million
• Winner $1,674,000 + 550 FedExCup pts.
• Field: 121 players
• Format: 72-hole stroke-play
• Defending champion Jon Rahm
• TV
  • Thursday GC
  • Friday GC
  • Saturday GC, CBS
  • Sunday GC, CBS

Third of three elevated events: The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide is one of three elevated events on the PGA TOUR schedule, following The Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Each one offers a heightened purse ($9.3 million), 50 more FedExCup points for the winner (550 total) than a standard event and a three-year PGA TOUR exemption.

New and improved Muirfield Village: Muirfield Village Golf Club has undergone comprehensive renovations since the conclusion of the 2020 Memorial Tournament, including significant modifications to 12 of the 18 putting surfaces. “This will probably be my last bite at the apple,” said Jack Nicklaus at the renovation announcement. “I’ve done little tweaks on the golf course throughout the years, and some significant changes, like the par-3 16th. This time, we are going through the golf course, A to Z, and making sure we do everything at one time.”

Rahm attempts to go back-to-back: Spain’s Jon Rahm, who enters the week No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, will look to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Memorial Tournament in consecutive years. Rahm leads the PGA TOUR in top-10s this season with 10 and is in search of his first victory of the season.

Winning the Memorial and THE PLAYERS or a major: Four different players (six instances) have won the Memorial Tournament and THE PLAYERS or a major championship in the same season, and Bryson DeChambeau (2020 U.S. Open), Justin Thomas (THE PLAYERS) and Hideki Matsuyama (2021 Masters Tournament) can join them with a win this week (Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson are not in the field). The other players to accomplish the feat are Raymond Floyd (1982), Curtis Strange (1988), Paul Azinger (1993) and Tiger Woods (1999, 2000, 2001).

Difficult test around the greens: The two tournaments with the lowest Scrambling percentage during the 2019-20 season were both played at Muirfield Village: 48.4% at the Memorial Tournament and 52.3% at the Workday Charity Open.

Last week on TOUR: Jason Kokrak won his second title of the season, defeating Jordan Spieth by two strokes to win the Charles Schwab Challenge and become the third player with multiple wins on the season (others: Stewart Cink, Bryson DeChambeau). Spieth collected his eighth top-10 of the season, one more than he achieved in the previous two seasons combined.

FedExCup race heating up: With only 12 events remaining until the start of the FedExCup Playoffs, the top four players – who are all in the field – are separated by just 58 points. Bryson DeChambeau leads No. 2 Jordan Spieth by 28 points, with No. 3 Justin Thomas trailing by 29 points and No. 4 Viktor Hovland by 58 points.

Few first-time winners: There have been just five first-time PGA TOUR winners this season: Carlos Ortiz, Vivint Houston Open; Jason Kokrak, THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK; Joel Dahmen, Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship; Sam Burns, Valspar Championship; K.H. Lee, AT&T Byron Nelson. The last time there were fewer than 10 in a season: 2012 (9). Fewest in a season: 4 (1992).

Winning droughts snapped in back-to-back weeks: On August 6, 2017, Hideki Matsuyama won his fifth PGA TOUR title. At that time, Jordan Spieth was No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking and Matsuyama was No. 3. Neither won on the PGA TOUR over the next 1,300 days, before back-to-back at the Valero Texas Open (Spieth) and Masters Tournament (Matsuyama).

Thomas joins elite company: Justin Thomas won THE PLAYERS Championship by one stroke, earning his 14th PGA TOUR title in his 165th career start at the age of 27 years, 10 months, 13 days. Thomas became the fourth player since 1960 to win 14 times on TOUR before turning 28, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

Youth in the FedExCup standings: Eight of the top 10 players in the FedExCup standings are in their 20s, led by No. 1 Bryson DeChambeau. The only players 30 or older in the top 10 are Jason Kokrak (5) and Stewart Cink (8).

A Look At The 2021 Memorial Field

Justin Thomas

• Two top-10s in seven starts at the Memorial Tournament (T4/2017, T8/2018)
• Most career PGA TOUR wins among players younger than 30 (14)
• Top three in both the FedExCup standings (3) and Official World Golf Ranking (2)
• Won: THE PLAYERS Championship
• T2: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD
• 3rd: Sentry Tournament of Champions
• 4th: (2020) Masters Tournament

John Rahm

• Earned his fourth of five career PGA TOUR titles at the 2020 Memorial Tournament
• Third past Nicklaus Award winner to win the Memorial (others: P. Cantlay, T. Woods)
• Leads the PGA TOUR in top-10s this season (10)
• T2: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD
• T5: (2021) Masters Tournament
• T5: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
• T5: The Genesis Invitational

Bryson DeChambeau

• Winner of the 2018 Memorial Tournament
• One of three players with multiple wins this season (others: S. Cink, J. Kokrak)
• Leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, SG: Total and Driving Distance
• Won: Arnold Palmer Invitational
• Won: (2020) U.S. Open
• T3: THE PLAYERS Championship
• T7: Sentry Tournament of Champions

Colin Morikawa

• Won the 2020 Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village (T48/2020 Memorial)
• Three of his four TOUR titles have come at Nicklaus-designed courses
• Leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and SG: Tee to Green
• Won: WGC-Workday Championship
• T7: RBC Heritage
• T7: Sony Open in Hawaii
• T7: Sentry Tournament of Champions

Hideki Matsuyama

• Won the 2014 Memorial Tournament at age 22 (youngest in tournament history)
• Largest final-round comeback in tournament history (7 strokes/2014)
• Tiger Woods (2001) is the only player to win the Masters and Memorial in same year
• Won: (2021) Masters Tournament
• T2: Vivint Houston Open
• T13: (2020) Masters Tournament
• T15: WGC-Workday Championship

One of the many success stories from the First Tee – Greater Akron is Chase Johnson, who will be competing at the Memorial Tournament on a sponsor exemption. As a Korn Ferry Tour rookie in 2020, Johnson finished second at the TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes to Will Zalatoris in just his second career start on Tour. He is currently No. 94 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List.

Bo Hoag, a former Ohio State player, played this event in 2012 (MC) and again in 2020 when he made the cut (T62). His grandfather, Robert Hoag, was involved with Mr. Nicklaus in establishing Muirfield Village Golf Club.

2020 Memorial Leaderboard

POS	PLAYER	TO PAR	R1	R2	R3	R4	TOT
1	Jon Rahm	-9	69	67	68	75	279
2	Ryan Palmer	-6	67	68	73	74	282
3	Matthew Fitzpatrick	-5	75	66	74	68	283
T4	Matt Wallace	-4	72	70	70	72	284
T4	Jason Day	-4	73	66	72	73	284
T6	Mackenzie Hughes	-3	74	66	73	72	285
T6	Henrik Norlander	-3	74	66	71	74	285
8	Tony Finau	-2	66	69	73	78	286
9	Kevin Na	-1	74	69	71	73	287
T10	Luke List	E	70	68	79	71	288
T10	Patrick Reed	E	71	76	70	71	288
T10	Xin-Jun Zhang	E	72	73	70	73	288

The Memorial Preview 2021 is via PGA TOUR