The Course Report
Muirfield Village
About Muirfield Village
Forever known as the a second shot course as fairway average has historically been near 70%, Muirfield Village presents a major like atmosphere with the PGA Tour pros that are a part of the Memorial field. Yet, history can play tricks on us as the 2020 rennovations turned a course that was criticized for being too easy off-the-tee into a course that was more simlar to tour average in the 2020 tournament. The fact is that this course was lengthened in 2020, and the greens were newly manicured for its members and with the modern player in mind. Taking these factors into account has turned Muirfield into a more modern challenge that produces a winner that is often thought of as one of the best players in the world.
This tournament sets itself up for a challenge. The rough is typically grown out on purpose to appeal to golfers who are preparing for the U.S. Open. In addition, the prize pool at the Memorial is significant as well as the purse is a high 12 million. Winning this tournament is no easy task. We see an up-and-down percentage around 50% that could create severe penalties for those who are struggling around the green. If a player’s ball striking is off, anticipate them to be headed home on Friday. Luckily, putting averages near the bottom 12 and creates one simple aspect for a player’s game this weekend.
Nicklaus built this course with Augusta in mind. The thing is that the challenges that players see at Augusta National are not as apparent. In a lot of ways, Nicklaus always envisioned this course being a much more difficult challenge forcing players to use every club in their bag to succeed. Modern golfers have just gotten so good, and when you partner that up with the equipment innovations, Muirfield lacks the difficulty that Jack was always wanting in his tournament.
Now rennovations have occured. They’ve lengthened the course and rebuilt the greens to feature true bent grass, and the hope is to really firm those up. Right now there is heavy rain in the forecast on Wednesday night and potentially Thursday morning that could delay the start of this tournament. Yet, even with a sub-air system, these greens will become much more responsive when they are wet.
The redesign did change the way that players attack this course. We see the changes in approach shot distribution below. With many of the approach shots gaining in length we could potentially look for players that are longer than average and accurate with distance approach shots.
Lastly, these greens are really small. With only 5,000 square feet to work with, it is only a matter of time before even the best players miss the green on approach. Around the green game will be massive to prevent bogey. One stat that you want to consider is up and down percentage as well as the ability to bounce back.
Be solid from tee-to-green and you’re going to have a great weekend. The tournament has seen success recently from bombers, but the indication of a strong course on PGA Tour shows winners of all sorts of ability and Muirfield has done that annually. Look at par-5 scoring this week as all 4 of them are often in the top-5 in terms of scoring on the entire course. Ironcially, the long par-3’s on the back 9 often find themsevles as more of the difficult holes that the goflers will face this weekend.
Architect: Jack Nicklaus
Greens: Bentgrass Greens
Green Size: 5,000 Sq. Feet, very small
Stimpmeter: 13-13+, greens will be fast
Length: 7,543 Yards – Par 72
Water Hazards: 13
Bunkers: 74
Weather Forecast
Nuggets and Tidbits
- 2020 was the first time we’ve seen over 15% of the approach shots from 250 yards or longer.
- In the past five years, the key to winning was having a solid tee to green game and being +SG on the greens. The lone exception was when DeChambeau won in 2018 where he gained 1.37 strokes on the dance floor.
- This tournament is an invitational, so the player field is reduced to only 120 golfers. Those of you loading up in DFS need to understand that 6/6 could be higher than normal. Of course, it is always nice when fade the chalk that misses.
- There is such a massive leverage if you’re able to hit fairways. This course is being utilized as a prep for next week’s US Open. Anticipate a rough that is going to create difficult approach shots.
- The par-3’s play really tough.
- The final five holes can break hearts on Sunday. Including the 16th par-3, which forces players to hit 200 yards over water. The 18th hole always plays as the most difficult hole in the tournament.
- As euipment improves, it is clear that more players are utilzing their distance to really attack these par-5’s.
- Around the green ability is massive, as compared to tour average, players are missing greens at a much more frequent rate causing them to depend on their short game.
- For many, course history will be very important. The truth is that over 11 courses on Tour have a higher correlation to success and course history.
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
Horchel’s win was impressive. He was scrabmling better than we had ever seen him, and thanks to that effort he was hitting greens at nearly 80%. For this course that is very impressive.
A playoff with Morikawa led to Cantlay’s victory. It was the second time in three years that Cantlay was able to dominate Muirfield Village and capture the tournament title.
The victory cemented how strong of a driver Cantlay is, and when nailing fairways is a must he was right on cue.
Rahm entered Sunday with a 4-shot lead and never looked back. The truth is that Muifield caused issues for every golfer in the field.
Rham, teeing off on the 9th was up 8-strokes. Only five holes later his lead was down to 3. Regardless of the difficulty, Rahm was still too good all weekend long and earned the victory.
Cantlay was bogey free on Sunday, and walked away with the victory by two strokes over Adam Scott.
Cantlay didn’t start in the final pairing on Sunday, but this did not deter him from dominating and curising to victory. The 64 at Muirfield was the lowest single round in tournament history.
This was DeChambeau’s second win tour, and it wasn’t easy. DeChambeau needed a playoff to overcome Benny An and Kyle Stanley.
It was the second the playoff hole where DeChambeau nailed a 13-footer for the win.
A common theme at Muirfield is how this course can quickly elminate big leads, and Jason Dufner almost became another victim.
Dufner lost a 5-shot lead in the thrid round, but overcame a 4-shot deficit on Sunday on the heels of two rain delays. This was Dufner’s 5th win on the PGA Tour, and he was the first Ohio naitive to win the tournament since Jack Nicklaus.
McGirt amazing bunker shot on 18 forced a playoff with Jon Curran. Was this the names that spectator’s expected to see at the end of the day? Obvioulsy not.
Yet, McGirt was solid all weekend long, and collected a win on the PGA Tour and realistically saved a few more years on his PGA Tour card thanks to the win.
Lingmerth held on against all odds. Justin Rose forced Lingmerth into a playoff and it really seemed as though Rose had luck on his side. Even in the playoff he nailed a 20-footer for par.
Lingmerth stayed positive and stayed consistant. He outlasted Rose on the thrid playoff hole with a par to lock up the win.
How Matsuyama won is still a mystery. His final 3-holes were so abysmal that he literally was only one mis-hit away from letting his lead slip away. In anger, Matsuyama even cracked the shaft of his driver.
Still, luck has a funny way of helping. A tree-struck ball landed in the fairway and it was a 7-iron that landed 5-feet away for birdie to lock up the victory in a playoff against Kevin Na.
Kuchar only missed one fairway in round 4, and ended up winning the tournament by 2-strokes.
There were plenty of demands, but Kuchar overcame all of them to add on to his impressive 2013 resume’.