Another week brings another top quality golf competition as some of the world’s best descend on the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio for The Memorial Tournament. Here, we’ll preview the latest PGA Tour event in the hope we can find you the winner who will take the lion’s share of the whopping $20 million prize.
History
This unique tournament is an invitational event, with only the top 75 in the PGA rankings guaranteed a spot. It was first held in 1976 and is the brainchild of the legendary Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors during his time on the tour. Who will etch their name in the history books in the 48th edition?
Patrick Cantlay is likely to attract plenty of attention in the betting. The Californian has already won this competition twice and has the opportunity to join an elite club containing just Tiger Woods and Kenny Perry as someone to have won it three times.
Reigning champion
Billy Horschel travels to Ohio as the defending champion. Prior to his success 12 months ago, he had three top-11 finishes at Muirfield, so something clearly agrees with the man from Florida when he visits this course. If he can turn up in the kind of form he was in last year, he could run away with this one again and win it comfortably.
A rather dismal performance from John Rahm in the PGA Championship last month will need to be forgotten if the Spaniard is to challenge here. Before that T50 finish at Oak Hill Country Club, the world number 2 was in fine form, coming second in the Mexico Open, T15 in the RBC Heritage and winning the Masters Tournament. If he’s in the mood, he could be a major player here.
Previous winners
Justin Rose won this all the way back in 2010 and came agonisingly close to winning it again seven years ago. Should things fall right for him, he will fancy his chances of landing a second title, as would 2014 champion Hideki Matsuyama. The Japanese was a big priced winner of the competition and with previous winners doing well here, he could attract some support too.
Jason Dufner landed the winning prize at Muirfield in 2017 and did so coming from four shots off the lead at the 54-hole mark. That was an incredibly brave performance from the American and will surely give him fond memories of this fantastic venue. If he’s hovering around the top 10 heading into the final day, he could have a huge chance.
Huge prize
Finding the winner may prove difficult here but one thing is for certain, we’re in for a fascinating few days of top quality golf. The statistics suggest picking out an American who has won the tournament before is the probably the best angle, but there have been some surprises over the years so tread carefully. We’ll soon find out who will win the huge prize of $3.6 million in Ohio thi week.