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 9.3 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.
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: 7,204 Yards – Par 70
Water Hazards: 13
Bunkers: 74
Weather Forecast
Past Winners
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’.