Golfers to watch at the Memorial Tournament
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) — The Memorial Tournament is one day away from the opening round as 120 golfers vie for the $20 million purse—the largest in the invitational's 48-year history. Below are five golfers to watch at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club this week. Scottie Scheffler The list has to start with the world's [...]
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) — The Memorial Tournament is one day away from the opening round as 120 golfers vie for the $20 million purse—the largest in the invitational's 48-year history.
Below are five golfers to watch at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club this week.
Scottie Scheffler
The list has to start with the world's highest-ranked golfer. Scheffler took the PGA Tour by storm during the 2021-2022 season recording 11 top-10 finishes, including four runner-up efforts, four wins and his first major championship at the Masters Tournament.
Scheffler capped off his third season by winning the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour player of the year.
The 26-year-old Texan has continued his dominance this season with eight top-10 finishes, including two more victories: the Phoenix Open and the Players Championship.
Scheffler has spent a total of 36 weeks as the top-ranked golfer since first capturing the spot in March 2022.
His best finish at Muirfield Village Golf Club came in 2021 with a third-place effort.
Jon Rahm
Rahm is enjoying a banner season with eight top-10 finishes over 11 starts, including four victories, including his second major championship title at the Masters.
The world No. 2 golfer won the Memorial in 2020 and was on pace to defend his title in 2021 leading six strokes entering the final round. But the Spaniard was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.
Patrick Canlay
Two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay is a must watch at Muirfield.
The No. 4-ranked golfer picked up four of his eight career PGA Tour victories during the 2020-2021 season, including his second Memorial win. Cantlay’s career-best year culminated with the FedExCup title, the 2021 Jack Nicklaus Award as player of the year, and his first Ryder Cup appearance. He carried that momentum throughout last season with 12 top-10 finishes over 20 events, including two wins and three runner-up efforts. He ranks sixth in the FedEx Cup standings with six top-10 finishes but zero wins.
Cantlay’s Memorial earnings of $4,542,016 is second all-time to five-time winner Tiger Woods.
Jason Day
Day has 13 PGA Tour victories and is coming off a win three weeks ago at the Byron Nelson, his first PGA Tour win since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.
The 35-year-old Westerville resident has recorded seven top-10 finishes this season, his most since grabbing 10 during his three-win 2015-2016 campaign.
After enjoying a stretch of 10 wins from 2014 to 2018, including his first major in 2015 at the PGA Championship, Day has journeyed back from injury to find renewed success this season. The Australian native enters the Memorial Tournament ranked No. 5 in FedExCup points and 22nd in the world.
Rory McIlroy
McIlroy, the No. 3-ranked world golfer, is considered among the game’s greats and comes to central Ohio looking to win his first Memorial. The superstar from Northern Ireland burst onto the golf scene in the early 2010s as he spent over 100 weeks as the world No. 1 and won four major championships in a four-year timeframe.
With all four of the major wins coming before McIlroy turned 26, he joined Nicklaus and Woods as the only golfers to win four majors by age 25.
He has won 23 PGA Tour events but is without a major win since the 2014 PGA Championship. McIlroy is also a five-time Ryder Cup winner with Team Europe and looks poised for another appearance in the Ryder Cup this fall in Rome.
Additional golfers to watch
- Bo Hoag, Ohio State graduate
- Billy Horschel, 2022 Memorial Tournament winner
- Jordan Spieth
- Justin Thomas
- No. 5 Xander Schauffele
- No. 6 Viktor Hovland
- No. 9 Matt Fitzpatrick