Memorial provides guide to US Open chances
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 the Memorial Tournament | Preview | 29 May 2007
The Memorial tournament has become the traditional warm up event to the US Open for many of the game’s leading players and despite the reshuffling of much of the PGA Tour’s schedule in 2007, the same will be the case this year. With only two weeks now until the Open is played at the Oakmont Golf Club near Pittsburgh, this week’s Memorial will provide a valuable insight into what might evolve a few hundred miles east of Dublin, Ohio, on June 17th.
In terms of design, Muirfield Village was originally a collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and the late Desmond Muirhead but this would be the end of their design partnership. The golf course is a brilliant combination of Muirhead’s land use skills and Nicklaus’ eye for strategic design.
The course was opened in 1974 and less than two years later it was staging the first edition of the Memorial, with the inaugural event won by Roger Maltbie. It opened as a 6978 yard course but has since been lengthened to 7265. As is the case with just about all courses with some age, it has undergone changes in addition to its length and in 2000, green modifications were undertaken.
Re-contouring figured prominently as part of this process and with the evolution of new more heat tolerant bent grasses. Three years ago Nicklaus made the move to strengthen the par four seventeenth. He added forty yards to its length, recontoured the green and redirected a creek alongside the new green. The last two holes at Muirfield Village now provide one of the strongest finishes on the PGA Tour.
As was the case last year, eight of the top ten players in world golf will line up on Thursday with only Henrik Stenson and Retief Goosen, of that elite group, missing.
The last two winners of the event have been a surprise, to say the least, with Carl Pettersson and Bart Bryant taking the title and it will be interesting to see if a player closer to the elite of the game can win this year.
Three time winner, Tiger Woods, heads the list and with three wins and one runner up placing to his name already this season then he is the favourite. His last start 37th at the Players Championship was hardly Tiger like but his record at this venue, even when not winning, speaks for itself. Woods did not play the event last year due to his time out after the passing of his father but he has been outside the top four only three times in nine starts in the event.
Jim Furyk refound his old form last week in Fort Worth and he does have an impressive record at this event, winning in 2002 and being in reasonable contention the last two years.
Phil Mickelson returns to tournament golf after a great run in recent weeks. He won the Players Championship and prior to that was third in consecutive events in Charlotte and Dallas. Mickelson has not played this event often in recent years but, when he has, he has done well and given the form he is in at present he must be a great chance to win the event for the first time.
Vijay Singh returns from a very good last day at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth when he did evrything but win. In his last three visits to Muirfield Village, Singh has struggled but his earlier form at this venue was very good winning in 1997 and finishing runner up in 1999.
Ernie Els’ game is a little hard to work out at present. There have been two or three very good finishes this season but some of his tournaments have been less than we have come to expect from the South African. He possesses a good record at this venue however, including when winning in 2004. If ever there was a time for Els to put his hand up this week is it.
Adam Scott was 4th in this event twelve months ago and his 6th place finish at the Players two weeks ago indicates he is not far away from a similar effort this year. He tends to mix his form a little but he is building consistency and could do well.
As was the case last week at the Colonial, the Australians have a very good chance of doing well this week. We have already mentioned Adam Scott but Geoff Ogilvy’s game appears to be coming to a peak at the right time as he looks to defend his US Open title. He might not necessarily contend this week but look for an improved effort on his recent starts.
Nick O’Hern showed glimpses of his capabilites last week at Colonial and again this week on a golf course that it would seem suits him, he has a chance to contend. O’Hern finished 6th in this event last year.
Peter Lonard gained the inspiration to play the USPGA Tour when he finished 15th in this event in 2001 and has continued to play well since. He was in contention last week at the Colonial before a poor final round but he is on the verge of a much better week.
Nathan Green had his first experience of Muirfield last year and likes the golf course but he struggled on debut. He played very well last week and is likely to do a lot better in in 2007 than was the case last year.
Stuart Appleby, Rod Pampling, Robert Allenby, Mark Hensby, Aaron Baddeley and John Senden all have claims to a good week.
