Golf

The Memorial Will Have a Major Championship Feel to It With a Star-Studded Field That Includes a Returning Tiger Woods

Luke Norris Sports Editor

Published14 Jul 2020

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For the second time in as many weeks, Muirfield Village Golf Club will serve as the host for the PGA Tour. This past Sunday, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas treated golf fans to a phenomenal playoff to wrap up the Workday Charity Open, this year’s substitute for the canceled John Deere Classic, with Morikawa emerging victorious for his second career win.

But it’s now time for the tournament that Muirfield is used to hosting, the Memorial, which features a major championship-caliber field, including a returning Tiger Woods, who hasn’t played an official event since finishing dead last at the Genesis Invitational back in February.

While the PGA Tour had originally planned for the Memorial to be the first tournament contested with spectators, those plans were recently changed and fans will not be allowed at any tournament until at least September, which was the right move to make given the spike in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

But that doesn’t mean that we won’t still be treated to some great golf. All five events since the season restarted have come down to the wire and with this field in place, we’re essentially guaranteed the same kind of drama this week at Muirfield.

43 of the top 50 players in the world are in the field at the Memorial

The Memorial constantly brings a phenomenal field to Muirfield Village and this week is no different. Nine of the top 10 players in the world will tee it up this week with only No. 9 Adam Scott missing. Scott has yet to return to the PGA Tour since the season resumed last month but hopes to come back at the end of the month for the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, which takes place one week before the rescheduled PGA Championship.

Obviously including nine of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the Memorial will see 43 of the top 50 players in the world tee it up at Muirfield, which certainly makes this one of the best fields of the season.

Some amazing trios will tee it up together in the first two rounds

With a field this strong, there are naturally some amazing groupings over the first two days, none more star-studded than the trio of Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, and Tiger Woods. But those three certainly aren’t the only group with plenty of star power.

2018 Memorial champion Bryson DeChambeau, defending champion Patrick Cantlay, and last week’s winner, Collin Morikawa, will play alongside one another on Thursday and Friday, as will Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, and Xander Schauffele. In his 20th appearance at the Memorial, Phil Mickelson will play with former world No. 1 Justin Rose and defending Open champion Shane Lowery.