The Memorial Tournament is the first major sporting event to allow fans back during the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers will be watched.
When the Memorial Tournament tees off July 16, the PGA Tour players will face less pressure to perform than tournament director Dan Sullivan and his team of organizers will.
Welcoming spectators onto the grounds of Muirfield Village Golf Club for the July 16-19 tournament carries risk. Not just for fans, who will be the first to attend a tour event since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the Players Championship after the first round on March 12.
Not just for tour pros, who will have had no interaction with fans over the past five tournaments. (Load up on hand sanitizer, boys.)
But the Memorial’s reputation also is at risk, especially among those who question why fans will be allowed in when other tournaments, both before and after, are keeping them out.
Which of these tour events does not belong with the others:
Colonial: No fans
RBC Heritage: No fans
Travelers: No fans
Rocket Mortgage: No fans
Workday Charity Open: No fans
Memorial: Fans
3M: No fans
PGA Championship: No fans
The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and Barracuda Classic could have fans in late July/early August, but spectator status remains unclear, making the Memorial the only event until at least mid-August guaranteed to have boots and flip-flops on the ground.
With that comes both opportunity and gamble. Or as Sullivan puts it: “Pressure and responsibility.”
Tiger Woods at the 2019 Memorial at Muirfield Village. (Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)
“Everyone is going to be watching,” Sullivan said this week. “We’re going to have a bunch of people coming here to pay attention to how we manage crowds getting around a golf course. Everyone on air is going to be talking about it. Everyone in print is going to be talking about it. And if we don’t do it right we can’t be 100 percent right but if we don’t do it right and have the right process in place then it may ruin it for others.”
Obviously, Sullivan sees it as a risk worth taking. Or at least Jack Nicklaus does. After all, the Memorial is Jack’s baby. Having grown up in Upper Arlington before moving to south Florida almost 50 years ago, the Golden Bear still has affection for Columbus, and undoubtedly wants to gift Ohio’s golf fans with actual in-person viewing. And the tour smartly likes to respect Jack’s wishes.
As a player, Nicklaus was not a big risk-taker. He and Tiger Woods rank 1-2 (or 2-1, if you prefer to get tossed out of Columbus) in thinking their way around 18 holes.
But Jack as tournament host is a different animal. Conducting the Memorial with spectators in the midst of a pandemic is like going for a 575-yard par-5 in two with a pond fronting the green. It can be done, but you better execute the shot perfectly.
Sullivan already noted that perfection is not possible, so he’s going to need a lucky bounce or two to pull things off without getting penalized too severely. In his favor, he will get some practice the week before the Memorial when Muirfield Village hosts the Workday Charity Open, which was a late add to the tour schedule as a replacement for the canceled John Deere Classic, which was to be held July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois.
But Workday won’t have spectators, so what Sullivan can glean from it will be limited to testing and processing the “competition bubble” of about 450 players, caddies and tour personnel on site.
More on the Workday one-time event, which is expected to move to San Francisco next year: 156 players will compete for a purse of $6.2 million in what Sullivan described as a “strong Korn Ferry event.” In other words, few big names outside the potential for a marquee players such as Phil Mickelson and/or Brandt Snedeker, who have endorsement deals with Workday. (Aside: Workday is contributing $1 million to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and also must pay a site fee to Muirfield Village; John Deere reportedly also is chipping in some money.)
Patrick Cantlay reacts after making a par putt during the final round of The Memorial Tournament at the 2019 Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. ( Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Sullivan stressed that the Memorial very much is the main event, but that doesn’t mean it will resemble the previous 44.
“None of us have ever experienced this. We have no clue what is going to happen, but it will be presumably less energy and very controlled,” Sullivan said.
Spectators must wear masks upon entry and will be reminded once inside the gates that masks should be removed only around family. Attendance will be limited to about 8,000 (tickets are sold out but a waiting list exists; call the course at 614-889-6700), but the maximum on each hole ranges from about 200 at No. 11 to 1,500 at No. 18. So pick a hole and get there early.
“Think Sunday afternoon, about what happens (with huge crowds) around 18. It can’t happen this year,” Sullivan said.
But fans will happen, which ups the ante. With no mulligan. Hope it clears the water.
George Floyd was honored as the PGA Tour returned with the Charles Schwab Challenge this week. Catch up on the week’s top golf stories.
The PGA Tour played its first event the age of coronavirus, the RBC Heritage boasts a stacked field despite Tiger Woods not playing, the LPGA loses a major and we recap what the Tour did to honor the memory of George Floyd during the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Take a look at the week’s top stories on the latest episode of Golfweek Rewind featured below.
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PGA Tour returns
The PGA Tour returns in dramatic fashion. Daniel Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in a playoff with Collin Morikawa. The event was the Tour’s first since the Players Championship was canceled in mid-March.
Patron precautions
The Memorial Tournament, the first event on the Tour’s revised schedule to allow fans, announced it sold out of its badge options for the July 16-19 tournament. Attendance is limited to 20 percent of its usual capacity and patrons must wear masks due to COVID-19 safety protocols. Other precautions to which patrons will be subject can be found on our website.
One less major
At least one of the LPGA’s five majors will not be played in 2020. The Evian Championship in France has been canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. The event was scheduled to be played Aug. 6-9. The LPGA plans to restart its season July 23 with the Marathon Classic in Toledo, Ohio.
For more on if Tiger Woods will play at the RBC Heritage, who won the 2020 Ben Hogan Award and how the PGA Tour honored George Floyd at the Charles Schwab Challenge, watch the latest edition of Golfweek Rewind featured above.
The Memorial Tournament sold out of badges for the July event and fans will be required to wear masks.
The Memorial Tournament announced Wednesday that it has sold out of its badge options for attending next month’s tournament.
Attendance is limited to 20% of its usual capacity because of safety protocols due to COVID-19. The Memorial will be the first PGA Tour event to allow spectators since the coronavirus pandemic brought a halt to almost all sporting events in March.
The Memorial was moved from this past weekend to the week of July 13-19 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The course also will hold an event without fans the week before.
Among the steps announced by the Memorial to promote safety are the following:
Before arrival, all badge-holders will be asked to take their temperature and review and answer six questions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone with a temperature 100 or higher or answering yes to any of the questions is asked to remain at home and seek medical advice.
Upon arrival, all staff, volunteers, competition community and fans will be asked the six CDC questions and be asked to leave and seek medical advice if answering yes to any of them. Each person’s temperature will be taken. If two tests register 100 or higher, that person will be asked to leave.
Non-surgical masks will be required upon entry for all attendees, other than those granted exemptions.
Designated one-way corridors will be established on the course with a predetermined number of attendees permitted at each hole. All bleachers have been eliminated for the tournament.
Sanitizers will be available and all concessions will be conducted with credit cards, not cash. All guests will park their own vehicles and walk to the course. There will not be general public shuttles for the tournament.
“Together with the PGA Tour, who we have worked jointly with throughout this process, we are looking forward to partnering with state, county and city leadership, along with the Memorial COVID-19 task force, to offer the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide as an example of how public gathering events can be developed and implemented with approved and accepted protocols in place,” tournament executive director Dan Sullivan said in a release.
Columbus could be in the mix to host a second PGA Tour event the week before the Memorial Tournament scheduled for July 16-19.
Columbus could be in the mix to host a second PGA Tour event the week before the Memorial Tournament scheduled for July 16-19, two sources confirmed to the USA Today Network on Friday.
The Columbus-based tournament would serve as a temporary fill-in for the John Deere Classic, which was scheduled to be held July 9-12 in Silvis, Illinois, but canceled on Thursday because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. It was to be the first tour event to include spectators.
“There are multiple options, more than a handful,” a PGA Tour player told Golfweek.
Another personal with extensive knowledge of the situation texted The Dispatch that Columbus appears to top the list of options.
Other leading alternative sites include Detroit and Akron, according to Golfweek, with Lexington, Kentucky, and Carmel, Indiana, also possibilities.
Columbus and Detroit make sense as a way to keep PGA Tour players stationed in one location for two consecutive weeks of tournaments. Detroit Golf Club is scheduled to host the Rocket Mortgage on July 2-5 without fans.
The Memorial, postponed from June 4-7 to the spot once occupied by the canceled British Open, hopes to have spectators at its event but has not been given clearance to do so.
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Akron’s Firestone County Club currently hosts the Senior Players Championship in August; Lexington was set to host the Barbasol Championship, a PGA Tour event held opposite the British Open, until it was canceled in April because of COVID-19; and Carmel is home to Crooked Stick, which held a national junior event this week.
Would Muirfield Village Golf Club host tour events back-to-back?
Memorial Tournament director Dan Sullivan dismissed Internet reports — including speculation that Muirfield Village would host an invitational event one week before the Memorial — as unfounded rumors, adding that he was focused on getting the Memorial ready to go.
The last time the same course hosted pro events in consecutive weeks was in 2014 when Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina was site of the U.S. Open followed the next week by the U.S. Women’s Open.
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Other than Muirfield Village, Ohio State’s Scarlet Course and Scioto Country Club each have experience holding professional tournaments. Scarlet already has the Nationwide Children’s Championship, a Korn Ferry Tour event held Aug. 20-23, while Scioto hosted the Senior U.S. Open in 2016.
As of Friday morning, Scarlet had not been contacted by tour officials as a potential one-year replacement, Scarlet head pro Brian Kelly said. The pro shop at Scioto also was unaware of any contact from the tour.
From 1 to 100 million, there is no shortage of numbers to mark the career of Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 major championships.
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As Jack Nicklaus turns 80 on Jan. 21, 2020, let’s look at his numerical footprint.
From the days he started blasting golf balls into the horizon in central Ohio, the Golden Bear has certainly been the gold standard for professional golf.
And he isn’t into doing hibernation. These days, he’s still leaving a profound mark with his golf course designs, his Memorial Tournament and charitable work.
1
Iron he used on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach in the final round of the 1972 U.S. Open to hit a shot from 219 yards that bounced once, struck the flagstick and settled six inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie that basically wrapped up his third victory in the nation’s championship
1
Plaque in the World Golf Hall of Fame (inducted into the Hall’s first class in 1974 along with Patty Berg, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Harry Vardon and Babe Zaharias)
Hall of Fame golfers posing at the World of Golf on March 26, 1997: Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, John Pemberton)
2
U.S. Amateur titles (1959, 1961). He also won the NCAA Championship in 1961.
2
U.S. Senior Open titles (1991, 1993)
3
British Open titles (1966, 1970 and 1978)
Jack Nicklaus hits from the rough at the 10th hole in the second round of the 1966 British Open at Muirfield. (AP Photo/File)
3
Decades in which he won the U.S. Open, the only player to win in three different decades
4
Record-tying U.S. Open titles (1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980). Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan also each won four.
4
Consecutive years winning a major championship (1970-73)
5
Children – Jack II, Steve, Nancy, Gary and Michael
5
Record-tying PGA Championship titles (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980). Walter Hagen also won five.
5
Years in which he won two major championships (1963, 1966, 1972, 1975, and 1980)
5
Players to win professional career Grand Slams – Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Tiger Woods
Nicklaus playfully peeks out from behind a golf flag made in the image of the five-pound note that the Bank of Scotland issued with Nicklaus’ picture on the back. (Photo by H. Darr Beiser/USA TODAY)
5
Pound note issued July 14, 2005, the first day of the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews in Scotland. It celebrated the career of Nicklaus, who won the Open twice at St. Andrews. It was the first British banknote to feature a living non-royal person.
6
Record Masters titles (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986)
In 2015, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus prepare to take their ceremonial tee shots before the first round of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo by Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports)
6
Australian Open titles (1963, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1978)
7
Record runner-up finishes in the British Open
8
Major championship victories when trailing after 54 holes
8
Major championships on the PGA Tour Champions
8
United States Golf Association championships (only Bob Jones and Tiger Woods won more)
Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus pose with the Memorial Trophy after Woods won the 2009 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports)
10
Major championship wins out of 12 opportunities when having a share or outright lead after 54 holes
10
Wins on the PGA Tour Champions
11
Record top-5 finishes in the U.S. Open
11
Record consecutive top-5 finishes in the British Open (1970-80)
12
Record top-3 finishes in the PGA Championship
13
Longest streak of top 10s in majors (which started in the 1973 Masters and came to an end when he tied for 11th in the 1976 U.S. Open)
14
Record top-5 finishes in the PGA Championship
15
Age when competing in first U.S. Amateur (1955)
15
Record top-5 finishes in the Masters
15
Record consecutive top-10 finishes in the British Open (1966-80)
In 2005, Jack Nicklaus acknowledges applause as he plays his last round at the British Open.(H. Darr Beiser/USA TODAY)
15
Record top-10 finishes in the PGA Championship
16
Record top-5 finishes in the British Open
17
Consecutive years he won at least two PGA Tour titles (from 1962-78)
17
Age when competing in first U.S. Open (1957)
18
Record major championship titles
American Jack Nicklaus, holding his trophy, hugs his wife Barbara after winning the British Open Championship at St. Andrews, Scotland, on July 7, 1970. Nicklaus beat Doug Sanders of the United States. (AP Photo)
18
Top-10 finishes in the British Open
19
Record runner-up finishes in major championships
22
Grandchildren
Jack Nicklaus helps his grandson, Nick O’Leary, line up a putt on No 9 during the Par 3 Contest before the 2011 Masters. (Photo by Michael Madrid/USA TODAY.)
22
Record top-10 finishes in the Masters
23
Sports Illustrated covers (only Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali have appeared on the cover more times)
24
Record eagles made in the Masters
Mike Weir, who won the 2003 Masters, walks down the 11th fairway with Jack Nicklaus and 1992 champion Fred Couples at the 2005 Masters. (Photo by Jack Gruber/USA TODAY)
24
Record consecutive years in which he had at least one top 10 in a major (from 1960 through 1983)
26
Age he completed the career Grand Slam
27
Record-tying cuts made in the PGA Championship (with Raymond Floyd)
29
Record scores in the 60s in the U.S. Open
30
Back-nine score in Sunday’s final round of the 1986 Masters when Nicklaus came from behind to win his sixth green jacket at 46. In besting Greg Norman and Tom Kite by one and Seve Ballesteros by two, Nicklaus made five birdies, an eagle at 15 and pars on the 14th and 18th to offset a bogey at 12.
33
Record rounds in the 60s in the British Open
33.33
Dollars and cents he made with his first cash as a professional at the 1962 Los Angeles Open, where he finished in a three-way tie for 50th
35
Record cuts made in the U.S. Open
In 2005, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus walk arm-in-arm as they walk up to the 18th green at St. Andrews. (Photo by H. Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)
37
Record cuts made in the Masters
37
Record sub-par rounds in the U.S. Open
39
Record consecutive cuts made in major championships from the 1969 Masters through the 1978 PGA Championship. During this span, he won eight times, finished runner-up seven times and had 33 top 10s. Tiger Woods also made 39 consecutive cuts in majors.
40
Majors played in the 1970s, missing just one cut. He had 35 top 10s in the decade.
40
States in which he has at least one golf course he designed
Jack Nicklaus shows off the nearly completed product at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, New York, where he collaborated with course designer Tom Doak (left) in 2005. (Todd Plitt, Special to USA TODAY)
41
Record rounds in the 60s in the PGA Championships
44
Consecutive record of U.S. Open starts (1957-2000)
Nicklaus raises his arms as a reaction to being cheered by the crowd at the 1994 U. S. Golf Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, in 1994. (Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
45
Countries in which he has at least one golf course he designed
46
Age he became the oldest player to win the Masters in 1986
46
Record top-3 finishes in major championships
56
Record top-5 finishes in major championships (that’s more than any other player has top-10 finishes)
58
Age he shot lowest 72-hole score in the Masters for a player 50 or older with a 5-under-par 283 in 1998
Barbara Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus address the media in a press conference during practice rounds on Tuesday at Chambers Bay before the 2015 U.S. Open. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
59
Years of marriage to Barbara Bash Nicklaus. They were married July 23, 1960
71.37
Lowest scoring average in the PGA Championship (minimum 75 rounds)
71.98
Lowest scoring average in Masters (minimum 100 rounds)
73
Record top-10 finishes in major championships
117
Holes Nicklaus has designed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Prior to his first design, the Palmilla Golf Club in 1993, there was one nine-hole course in Cabo.
154
Record consecutive starts in majors he was eligible to play, starting with the 1957 U.S. Open and ending at the 1998 U.S. Open
164
Record starts in major championships
Nicklaus shakes hands with Ben Crenshaw on the fourth green during the Par 3 Contest prior to the 2015 Masters. (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
167
Top-3 finishes in PGA Tour starts – 73 wins, 58 second-place finishes and 36 third-place finishes
218
Top-5 finishes on the PGA Tour
268
Solo golf course designs around the world
310
Top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour
506
Record birdies made in the Masters
1,358
Pounds of the Black Marlin he caught just days after winning the 1978 Australian Open. Nicklaus battled the 15-foot, 6-inch marlin for more than six hours without relief.
1966
Year he became first player to successfully defend his title at the Masters
1976
Year of The Memorial Tournament’s debut in Dublin, Ohio. Nicklaus founded the tournament and has hosted every year since. He won in 1977 and 1984.
2005
Year he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Speaker John Boehner, R- Ohio, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., applaud Jack Nicklaus at a ceremony where he was presented the Congressional Gold Medal. (H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
2015
Year he received the Congressional Gold Medal
1,220,000
Dollars his 18-karat gold, 1803 Day-Date Rolex watch brought at auction. He wore the watch for 50 years. Proceeds of the sale went to the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation.
2,650,000
Charitable dollars raised from the 44th playing of the Memorial Tournament in 2019. Since the tournament’s debut in 1976, more than $35 million has been raised for charity.
100,000,000
Dollars Nicklaus and Barbara hope to raise for children’s hospitals by end of 2024 in a campaign involving the global community called Play Yellow, which comes from the yellow golf shirts Nicklaus often wore in the final round of tournaments to honor Craig Smith, the son of a close family friend who was battling a rare bone cancer. Smith died in 1971 at the age of 13.
