Tag: muirfield village

How much money each PGA Tour golfer won at the Workday Charity Open

Here’s how much money was won at the Workday Charity Open by each golfer.

It was a playoff to remember between Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa at the inaugural Workday Charity Open.

Collin Morikawa earned his second PGA Tour title Sunday after defeating Justin Thomas in a three-hole playoff at Muirfield Village.

Thomas and Morikawa each finished 72 holes at 19 under overall. Thomas finished Sunday’s final round with a 69 while Morikawa carded a 66. Morikawa, who won the 2019 Barracuda Championship, previously lost in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge to Daniel Berger.

Viktor Hovland finished third at 15 under followed by Chase Seiffert in fourth at 14 under and Gary Woodland and Ian Poulter finished T-5 at 12 under.

 Photos | Scores | Collin Morikawa victorious at Workday

Prize money

Position Player Score Money
1 Collin Morikawa -19 $1,116,000
2 Justin Thomas -19 $675,800
3 Viktor Hovland -15 $427,800
4 Chase Seiffert -14 $303,800
T5 Gary Woodland -12 $239,475
T5 Ian Poulter -12 $239,475
T7 Patrick Cantlay -11 $169,392
T7 Billy Horschel -11 $169,392
T7 Jason Day -11 $169,392
T7 Charley Hoffman -11 $169,392
T7 Russell Henley -11 $169,392
T7 Sam Ryder -11 $169,392
T7 Kevin Streelman -11 $169,392
T14 Xander Schauffele -10 $113,150
T14 Matt Jones -10 $113,150
T14 Sepp Straka -10 $113,150
T17 Chez Reavie -9 $88,350
T17 Talor Gooch -9 $88,350
T17 Stewart Cink -9 $88,350
T17 Rory Sabbatini -9 $88,350
T17 Sam Burns -9 $88,350
T22 Jerry Kelly -8 $59,830
T22 Troy Merritt -8 $59,830
T22 Hideki Matsuyama -8 $59,830
T22 M.J. Daffue -8 $59,830
T22 Rickie Fowler -8 $59,830
T27 Roger Sloan -7 $45,260
T27 Matthew Fitzpatrick -7 $45,260
T27 Brian Gay -7 $45,260
T27 Jon Rahm -7 $45,260
T31 Tim Wilkinson -6 $37,897
T31 Henrik Norlander -6 $37,897
T31 Joaquin Niemann -6 $37,897
T31 Zach Johnson -6 $37,897
T35 Richy Werenski -5 $31,542
T35 Graeme McDowell -5 $31,542
T35 Adam Hadwin -5 $31,542
T35 Kyoung-Hoon Lee -5 $31,542
T39 Pat Perez -4 $23,250
T39 Matt Kuchar -4 $23,250
T39 Adam Schenk -4 $23,250
T39 Corey Conners -4 $23,250
T39 Keegan Bradley -4 $23,250
T39 Patrick Reed -4 $23,250
T39 Shane Lowry -4 $23,250
T39 Austin Cook -4 $23,250
T39 Matt Wallace -4 $23,250
T48 Chris Stroud -3 $16,306
T48 Mackenzie Hughes -3 $16,306
T48 Nick Taylor -3 $16,306
T48 C.T. Pan -3 $16,306
T52 Adam Long -2 $14,849
T52 Chesson Hadley -2 $14,849
T52 Brendan Steele -2 $14,849
T52 J.J. Spaun -2 $14,849
T56 Steve Stricker -1 $14,384
T56 Jason Dufner -1 $14,384
T58 Scott Stallings E $14,074
T58 Phil Mickelson E $14,074
T58 Andrew Putnam E $14,074
T61 Bronson Burgoon 1 $13,764
T61 Carlos Ortiz 1 $13,764
63 Sungjae Im 2 $13,578
64 Si Woo Kim 3 $13,454
T65 Louis Oosthuizen 4 $13,268
T65 Peter Malnati 4 $13,268
67 Cameron Champ 7 $13,082

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Viktor Hovland finds himself in final group on Sunday at Workday

After the first 10 holes on Thursday, Viktor Hovland was 3 over par, so he’s as surprised as anybody that he’s in the final group on Sunday.

After the first 10 holes of the Workday Charity Open on Thursday, Viktor Hovland was 3 over par.

It seemed more likely that he’d miss the cut than work into in contention at Muirfield Village Golf Club. So he’s as surprised as anybody that he’s in the final group on Sunday.

Hovland shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday to put himself only two shots behind leader Justin Thomas at 14-under.

“It’s really cool to be in this position after that bad start,” Hovland said. “Because the past couple weeks I’ve had good first rounds and been up by the lead early on, but I’ve been kind of falling off. I’m really proud of how I was able to turn it around and play better and better every single day.”

Updates | Photos | Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times

The 22-year-old has had an impressive start to his pro career.

Last year, Hovland had 19 consecutive rounds in the 60s – the first PGA Tour player to have at least 18 straight sub-70 rounds since 1983. In February, he became the first player from Norway to win on the tour when he was victorious at the Puerto Rico Open.

But Hovland said self-confidence has been an issue for him. He took up golf at age 11 when his father brought him clubs from the United State after working in St. Louis as an engineer. Hovland practiced mostly at an indoor driving range in Oslo.

Even as he had success as a junior, he didn’t envision greatness in himself. He became a three-time All-American at Oklahoma State.

“I’ve kind of always naturally doubted myself a little bit,” Hovland said. “When I won the U.S. Amateur (in 2018 at Pebble Beach), that really kind of gave me the belief that I have something to do in this game.”

That has served as a springboard.

“I’ve been pretty happy with the spot that I’m in,” he said. “If you would have asked me just a year ago – I had my first pro start at Travelers last year – to already have a win and my tour card is pretty awesome.”

On Sunday, he has a chance for his second victory.

“You’ve just got to keep it simple,” Hovland said. “Don’t try and do anything that I don’t think I can do. Just hit the shots that I’m comfortable with. It’s a little bit of luck, as well. You’ve got to get the putts to go your way, and some bounces need to go your way. But if I can just hit good shots, that’s going to put me in a good position.”

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Justin Thomas looks to keep mistakes at bay for one more round at Muirfield Village

Justin Thomas is hoping to be the second person to ever go bogey-free at Muirfield Village during the Workday Charity Open.

With all due respect to Jim Furyk, Justin Thomas wants more than simply to become the second player to go bogey-free over an entire PGA Tour event held at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Thomas wants to become the first player to win at Muirfield Village in a Tour event not named the Memorial Tournament; doing so without a bogey would simply be a bonus.

“Last time I was bogey-free? I’ve done that many times,” Thomas said. “But I’ve never won the tournament. I’d rather win the tournament than go bogey-free.”

He is on his way to doing both. The No. 5 player in the world leads the Workday Charity Open by two shots over Viktor Hovland entering Sunday’s final round. Another 18 holes without a bogey – and a handful of birdies and eagle tossed in for good measure – and the 27-year-old could become the first three-time winner on Tour this year, as well as the first player to win at Muirfield Village with a clean scorecard.

Only Furyk has finished an entire tournament at Muirfield without a bogey, in 1997. But he failed to win, tying Greg Norman for second, two shots behind Vijay Singh. And if asterisks are your thing, Furyk accomplished the relatively rare feat over a rain-soaked Memorial that was shortened to 54 holes.

Updates | Photos | Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times

How hard is to complete 72 holes without triggering at least one bogey booby trap? Tiger Woods has never done it.

Bogey-free finishes have happened twice this season: Tyler Duncan at the RSM Classic and Troy Merritt at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. Neither won. J.T. Poston was the last to win without a bogey, at the 2019 Wyndham.

It takes some luck to avoid fours on par-3s, fives on par-4s and sixes on par-5s. But it also helps to have challenging course conditions, like the windy weather that descended on Muirfield Village for most of Saturday.

“Sometimes, like when you play out in Palm Springs or Phoenix, it’s so still that you know that the shot is going to do exactly what it’s going to do,” Thomas said after finishing a third-round 66 that included six birdies. “Having a little bit of breeze kind of makes a shot-maker … focus more on the shot that I’m hitting and the yardage I’m trying to hit because you do have to pay attention.”

Even though he began the day three shots behind 36-hole leader Collin Morikawa, Thomas never had a number in mind that he would need to shoot to move into the lead. Instead, he used knowledge gained from playing the Memorial the past six years to work on not being overly aggressive. The trick in taming Muirfield is play smart and let the birdies come to you.

Thomas mentioned how even missing the fairway by a little, and having to hit approach shots from the first cut, means there is no going for the pin.

Morikawa, 23, and Hovland, 22 are still learning that lesson. But doing so quickly.

“You’ve got to keep it simple, don’t try and do anything that I don’t think I can do,” said Hovland, who matched Thomas with a 66. “Just hit the shots that I’m comfortable with.”

Morikawa struggled – if shooting even-par 72 can be considered a struggle – in part because it is his first time playing Muirfield, which meant that adjusting to the breezy conditions proved challenging.

“First time I saw it with actual wind,” he said. “A few holes with some front pins played a little tougher today, just not being able to stop it right there on the front edge of the green.”

Weather has messed with the Workday schedule twice in three days. After Friday thunderstorms forced 33 players to finish their second rounds on Saturday morning, the threat of more inclement weather bumped Sunday’s tee times earlier – 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. – with players going off both tees.

Sounds a lot like the Memorial, which begins on Thursday. Speaking of which, if Thomas finishes bogey-free, Furyk won’t cry that he has to share his spot as a Muirfield Village footnote.

He won the 2002 Memorial by two shots – enough cushion to bogey the 71st hole and win.

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Monday qualifier MJ Daffue playing for biggest paycheck of his career at Workday

It’s been a long round for MJ Daffue. He makes his second PGA Tour start at the Workday Charity Open as a Monday qualifier and made the cut.

One player on the Workday Charity Open leaderboard isn’t like the others.

You’d have to scroll until your fingers got tired to find MJ Daffue’s world ranking: 1,373.

Daffue (pronounced Duffy) is a 31-year-old South African who has played in only one previous PGA event. He finished tied for 52nd  in this year’s Puerto Rico Open. He has made only $41,088 in 10 career events on the Korn Ferry Tour.

He got into the Workday tournament through Monday qualifying and began Saturday looking likely to miss the cut. It became the most memorable day of his career.

After shooting a 72 on Thursday, Daffue couldn’t finish his second round on Friday because of the weather delays. When Daffue got to his final hole – No. 9 – he knew he needed a birdie to get to 2 under and make the cut. Daffue knocked a pitching wedge two feet from the cup and made the putt for a 69 to ensure a weekend paycheck.

Updates | Photos | Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times

That was just a prelude to his third round later in the day. He shot a bogey-free 65, including an eagle on the par-5 No. 7 hole, to climb to a tie for eighth place at 9 under.

“I think I got everything out of my round I could,” Daffue said. “I had a chip-in (after hitting in the water on No. 5 to save par) and made some par putts, but I’ve been seeing the lines very good.”

It’s been a long time coming. Daffue graduated from Lamar University in 2012 and has played on the Hooters tour as well as in South Africa and Europe. He said his career went south after a tragic accident to his mother-in-law. Daffue said she died after she tripped over a manhole and was then hit by a car.

“I wouldn’t say that it was caused by her death, but obviously I was struggling with a few problems like depression and stuff like that,” he said. “It affected my game, especially when you start playing bad. You just go deeper into the hole.

“Obviously it’s been a long journey — not what I thought it was going to be coming out of college. But I’ll take where I’m standing right now even though all this stuff happened. It happens for a reason, and I feel like I just needed to do a better job of learning and understanding what happens in life so I could translate it better to the golf course.”

It happened on Saturday.

“It’s great,” Daffue said. “I’m pretty tired. Our wave (of golfers), we had to sit around the whole day yesterday and played all the holes until 9, go home, sleep, wake up, finish and get back at it. So it will be nice to be able to grab a decent dinner and relax.”

On Sunday, he’ll be in line for the biggest paycheck of his career.

“I haven’t really thought about the money, to be honest,” Daffue said. “I’m trying to get top 10 so I can go play in Minnesota (at the 3M Open in two weeks). All I can do is just hit a lot of greens in regulation and see where I end up.”

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Justin Thomas teases Tiger: ‘He’s scared to come out and play against all of us’

Justin Thomas is excited to see his friend Tiger Woods committed to the Memorial Tournament. Thomas leads the Workday Charity Open.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Justin Thomas took the 54-hole lead Saturday in the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Then he took a shot at Tiger Woods.

“I’m glad that he’s finally coming back out,” Thomas said after shooting a 6-under-par 66 to take a two-shot lead after 54 holes in the Workday. “I think he was starting to get a little sassy. I was telling him he’s scared to come out and play against all of us when he’s sitting at home, just trying to give him a hard time.”

Woods announced Thursday he will play in next week’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. He’s won the event a record five times.

Updates | Photos | Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times

Woods hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club north of Los Angeles. He shot a final-round 77 on Feb. 16 to finish in last place among those who made the cut.

In his only other start on the PGA Tour this year, Woods, who is seeking his record 83rd PGA Tour titles, finished in a tie for ninth in the Farmers Insurance Open in January.

Woods last played in competition – and played well – in The Match: Champions for Charity on May 24, where he and Peyton Manning defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady on the final hole.

Thomas, who was an on-course commentator – and was superb – for The Match. He played with Woods two days before The Match.

“I haven’t played with him in a while. Just because I’ve been busy. I’ve been playing, and he’s been home,” Thomas said. “But we’re excited to have him out. He looked great. I mean, it was a couple months ago and everybody saw how well he played in The Match. That was the last time, I guess, we’ve actually played a round of golf.”

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Workday Charity Open: Final round tee times, TV info

Here are tee times for the final round of the Workday Charity Open.

The PGA Tour has begun its run of two straight events at Muirfield Village Golf Club this week with the Workday Charity Open, a new event created to replace the John Deere Classic.

Justin Thomas is bogey free through 54 holes and claimed the lead Saturday after carding a second-straight 66. Thomas leads at 16 under, two shots ahead of Viktor Hovland and three shots ahead of 36-hole leader Collin Morikawa.

Among others still in contention are Ian Poulter, T-6 at 10 under, and Rickie Fowler, T-8 at 9 under. Kevin Streelman and Sam Burns are T-4 at 11 under.

In anticipation of inclement weather throughout the day Sunday, final round tee times were pushed up to begin at 7 a.m. ET off the first and 10th tees. Golfers will tee off in threesomes with the leaders beginning their rounds at 9:01 a.m.

Updates | By the rankings| Photos | Leaderboard

Final round tee times as well as television and streaming information for the Workday Charity Open can be found below.

Tee times

All times are listed in ET.

1st tee

Tee time (ET) Players
7 a.m. Pat Perez, Tim Wilkinson, Patrick Cantlay
7:11 a.m. Billy Horschel, Bronson Burgoon, Jason Dufner
7:22 a.m. Jerry Kelly, Graeme McDowell, Roger Sloan
7:33 a.m. Talor Gooch, Henrik Norlander, Mackenzie Hughes
7:44 a.m. Jason Day, Brendan Steele, Brian Gay
7:55 a.m. Zach Johnson, Charley Hoffman, Russell Henley
8:06 a.m. Xander Schauffele, Sam Ryder, Stewart Cink
8:17 a.m. Matt Jones, Troy Merritt, Sepp Straka
8:28 a.m. Chase Seiffret, Hideki Matsuyama, MJ Daffue
8:39 a.m. Rory Sabbatini, Gary Woodland, Rickie Fowler
8:50 a.m. Sam Burns, Kevin Streelman, Ian Poulter
9:01 a.m. Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa

10th tee

Tee time (ET) Players
7 a.m. Steve Stricker, Richy Werenski, Matt Kuchar
7:11 a.m. Chez Reavie, Adam Long, Chris Stroud
7:22 a.m. Scott Stallings, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Sungjae Im
7:33 a.m. Adam Schenk, Chesson Hadley, Joaquin Niemann
7:44 a.m. Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley, Nick Taylor
7:55 a.m. Patrick Reed, Si Woo Kim, Shane Lowry
8:06 a.m. Austin Cook, C.T. Pan, Adam Hadwin
8:17 a.m. J.J. Spaun, Carlos Ortiz, Phil Mickelson
8:28 a.m. Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Cameron Champ, Matt Wallace
8:39 a.m. Louis Oosthuizen, Jon Rahm
8:50 a.m. Andrew Putnam, Peter Malnati

TV, streaming, radio information

All times are listed in ET.

Sunday, July 12

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 1-3 p.m.
SiriusXM Audio: 1-6 p.m.
CBS: 3-6 p.m.
PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ (featured holes): 3-6 p.m.

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Rickie Fowler moving in the right direction at Workday

Rickie Fowler has been working on changing his swing over the past few months and is just now starting to see some improvement.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Rickie Fowler got going in the right direction on Moving Day.

Fowler, who has struggled of late as he works through swing changes with coach John Tillery, shot a 6-under-par 66 in Saturday’s windy third round of the Workday Charity Open to give himself an outside chance of victory come Sunday.

After starting the day 10 shots behind leader Collin Morikawa, Fowler finished his round within five shots of the leaders.

“I would say probably around six or seven may be too far back,” Fowler said when asked how far back would be too far back to win. “But it’s been done. It’s just a lot more work.”

Either way, Fowler will put in some work. He’s still fully committed to the changes he and Tillery are working on. In a nutshell, they want Fowler to use his body more to put the club in the proper positions instead of Fowler consciously trying to put the club in the right positions. Let the body make the swing better.

Updates | By the rankings | Photos | Leaderboard

But changing your swing when playing against the best players in the world is a big ask and Fowler has yet to see results that would put a smile on his face. He’s fallen to No. 31 in the world – his lowest ranking since 2013 – and missed three of his last five cuts. The most recent of his five PGA Tour titles, which include the 2015 Players Championship, came in the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open.

“Yes, I’m fully committed to the changes heading forward,” Fowler said. “It’s been a work in progress since it kind of started things back in September last year with Tillery, and for me early on there was stuff that was tough because I feel like my sequencing was a bit off, and it was almost some old tendencies I needed to get back from how my lower body used to work better earlier in my career, and so almost like reprogramming. But we’re heading the right direction, starting to see things pay off, but still got a ways to go.”

He got a nice boost of confidence in the third round.

“Overall, I’m happy,” he said. “I drove the ball well, hit some good iron shots, and made some putts. I hit good putts all day, so definitely happy with Saturday’s 66 and getting myself potentially a chance to give it a run tomorrow.

“I knew it was going to take a really good round of golf today because I wasn’t necessarily expecting guys to move back, and it’s playing tough out there. All I could do was go shoot what I could shoot today.”

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Ian Poulter contends in return to Muirfield, Patrick Reed rallies and Jordan Spieth struggles

We recap Ian Poulter and Patrick Reed’s finishes Saturday at Muirfield Village during the Workday Charity Open.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Ian Poulter hadn’t played Muirfield Village Golf Club since an undistinguished run of attempts that ended in 2009.

The English golfer lives most of the year in the United States, but his family – he and his wife have four children – have spent recent summers back home.

“It’s been 11 years since I’ve played here, which is quite crazy when I think about it,” Poulter said after shooting a 3-under 69 on Friday to finish 36 holes at 7 under in the Workday Charity Open. Poulter, 44, trails leader Collin Morikawa by six.

“I played here for a number of years and pretty much liked the place but never had a finish,” he said.

In five years of playing the Memorial, he didn’t finish better than tied for 30th. He has played the Wentworth tournament in England instead of at Muirfield Village.

Updates | By the rankings | Tee times, TV | Photos | Leaderboard

“Tournaments are tournaments and some have to be sacrificed with a global schedule that a number of us are playing,” Poulter said. “It’s a shame it happened that way. To be able to come here and play two weeks in a row is really nice.”

He described his round Friday as “hot and moist.”

Poulter birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th holes to get to 8-under par. He flirted with disaster on 17 before making a 12-foot putt for bogey.

Poulter said he feels refreshed after not touching a club for much of the COVID-forced golf shutdown.

“Even though I didn’t hit balls for seven or eight weeks, I hit enough,” he said. “Then when it was practice time, I felt good because I felt a bit stronger, felt a bit fresher, and my swing was more on line than what it normally is when I take a long layoff. I feel good about my game. I feel fresh, and I’m holing a few putts, and it’s nice to see a few putts go in.”

Reed rallies

Patrick Reed struggled to gauge the speed of the Muirfield Village greens early, but he figured it out late. The 2018 Masters champion birdied four of the last six holes to finish with a 2-under 70 and stands at 6 under through 36 holes.

“I felt like I dialed down the speed pretty well on the putting green this morning,” Reed said.

But he hit what he thought was a good putt on No. 10 – his first hole – and it went more than 8 feet past the cup and he bogeyed the hole.

“From there I just kind of seemed a little timid on speed,” Reed said.

Eventually he told himself he needed to make some putts.

“So I was able to be a little more aggressive and more fluid with my stroke, which is kind of the biggest thing for me,” he said. “Don’t rush your stroke and just kind of be fluid with it.”

Armour, Spieth struggle

Ohio State product Ryan Armour didn’t expect to make the cut after his second consecutive even-par 72. The projected cut when he finished was 1-under par.

Armour said he struggled off the tee, which is normally a reliable part of his game.

Something else was missing – a sizeable Buckeye rooting section for the 1999 grad because of the ban on spectators.

“It’s eerily silent at all these events,” he said. “Especially coming here, being an Ohio State alum, I miss it. I definitely enjoy the interaction with the crowds and the ‘Go Bucks’ and the ‘O-H’s. I just hope in the near future we can get back to normal.”

Jordan Spieth is another prominent name in danger of missing the cut. He seemed safe to survive for the weekend with a birdie No. 5 – his 14th hole – but then double-bogeyed No. 8 to bring him back to even par.

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Muirfield Village is no pushover for Workday Charity Open

Muirfield Village may not be a heavyweight fighter this week, but the golf course showed it can take a punch and remain standing.

Muirfield Village may not be a heavyweight fighter this week, but the golf course showed it can take a punch and remain standing.

All the talk coming into Thursday’s first round of the Workday Charity Open was how PGA Tour players would make mincemeat of Muirfield Village, which was set up under softer conditions to ease the wear and tear of hosting back-to-back events.

The Memorial Tournament begins Thursday, and Tour officials did not want the Jack Nicklaus-designed course worked over like an out-of-shape boxer just days before another 120 players pound the manicured grass for the 45th Memorial.

To safeguard the course, greens were heavily watered to make sure not to brown out from the stress of a 156-player Workday field.

Tee times, TV info | Field by the rankings | Photos | Leaderboard

The softer and slower greens were running about 11½ on the Stimpmeter when players teed off. Rough had been cut to about 3 inches. The Memorial usually has greens running 13 to 13½ and rough begins at 3½ inches and grows to 4 inches or higher by the end.

In other words, the Course That Jack Built supposedly was ripe for the pickin’. For sure, there was plenty of red on the scoreboard — 63 players broke par, including 35 who shot in the 60s — but nobody went crazy low on a steamy day that saw temperatures reach 94 and air quality reach dangerous levels for sensitive groups.

None of the latter category gathered at Muirfield Village. Workday is the fifth straight Tour event to be held without fans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The lack of crowd support did not bother Collin Morikawa. The 23-year-old Californian shot a 7-under-par 65 to grab a one-shot lead over Canadian Adam Hadwin in his first visit to Muirfield Village.

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“It’s a very tough course obviously, but you just have to map your way around it,” Morikawa said. “You’ve got to be really smart.”

And good. Morikawa was both, sandwiching an eagle at No. 5 and a lone bogey at No. 18 around six birdies.

“I mean, it happens,” he said of the hiccup at 18. “I think it was just slight fatigue.”

If a 23-year-old tires while playing golf, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Muirfield Village gladly will give up the occasional 65 as long as it can protect itself against the low 60s. That protection supposedly was not going to be in place for the Workday version of Muirfield, but while the course did not offer up anything close to U.S. Open conditions — reportedly those are coming next week — it also did not get KO’d. Morikawa’s 65 matched the same leading score after the opening round of last year’s Memorial.

And anyone who wants to insist that the Workday setup would be a pushover should avoid telling Phil Mickelson, who shot 41 on his second nine, or Brooks Koepka, who shot 41 on his first nine, or Bubba Watson, who shot 43 on his first nine.

For one round, anyway, Muirfield and its so-called easier setup need not apologize. It might, however, need to towel off, because the round ranked among the hottest days of golf ever at the place.

First-round scoring was aided as much by the humid, still air that typifies July conditions in central Ohio — as opposed to the occasionally breezy and often wet weather fans are used to seeing in late May and early June for the Memorial — as by the receptive greens. Plus, just because Muirfield Village is set up easier does not make it easy.

“It’s still a golf course, no matter how soft it’s playing, it can sneak up on you,” said Hadwin, whose 66 included seven birdies and a bogey. “You get too aggressive, you miss a couple balls, you’re scrambling for pars and you can sort of kind of just get off-kilter.”

Even softened, Muirfield Village’s greens are no palooka.

“It’s sort of a tamer Muirfield Village than we may be used to (but there’s) still a lot of slope on those greens,” Hadwin said.

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Workday Charity Open: Muirfield Village feels erie without fans

The PGA Tour’s Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village feels erie without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic.

If a crow’s caw-caw-caw counts as spectator cheering, then Muirfield Village Golf Club was roaring on Thursday.

But get past the noisy corvids, the chew-chew-chew of the singing cardinals and the obnoxious chatter of house sparrows and the course that Jack built felt less like a raucous celebration and more like an empty-nester’s quiet night at home.

No fans applauding great shots and groaning over missed 3-footers? No wobbly frat boys spilling beer onto their flip-flops? No summer-centric scent of suntan lotion?

It’s weird here, man.

Granted, golf is a game of whisper and shhh, but without fan energy the PGA Tour’s Workday Charity Open feels more like an ordinary event than a spectacle. That’s no knock on Muirfield Village, just another example of how the coronavirus pandemic throws a wet blanket over anything it touches.

Workday — the first live professional sporting event held in central Ohio in four months — was supposed to be a warm-up act for the Memorial Tournament, which begins next Thursday.

A one-off filler on the PGA Tour schedule after the John Deere Classic was canceled, the Workday event never was going to include fans. But the Memorial was set to welcome up to 8,000 spectators a day — until pulling the plug on that plan Monday due to a spike in COVID-19 cases locally and nationwide. Now for the next two weeks it will be all quiet on the western front of Dublin Road.

That includes at the first tee.

“All right, gentlemen, the 7:45 a.m. starting time, on the tee — Justin Thomas,” the starter announced, apparently for the benefit of Golf Channel camera operators who were the only witnesses.

Other observations:

  • Finding balls becomes more of a challenge with no gallery tracking stray shots. Brooks Koepka hooked his drive onto the hillside left of the creek at the par-5 11th hole and looked for it about 20 yards short of its actual resting place until a TV reporter waved him to the proper location. (Aside: Koepka shanked his second shot about 10 yards into rough, hit his third about 60 yards onto the fairway and somehow still had a chance to save par. He missed the putt, but to manage bogey after hacking it for three straight shots shows why these guys are so good. It’s just unfair to rest of us.)
  • There are benefits to not having fans, like walking from point A to point B without having to traverse through points E, F and G because galleries get in the way. Also, it is amazing how clearly you can pick up conversations between players when there is no crowd noise to drown them out. And there is something of the dirty little secret that many players don’t mind the peace and quiet of golf without galleries. “It’s relaxing, to be honest,” said Nick Taylor, whose opening round 5-under par 67 puts him near the lead after the first round.

Tee times, TV info | Field by the rankings | Photos | Leaderboard

Taylor, making his first start since the Players Championship in mid-March — just before COVID-19 put the sports world on lockdown — said the quiet reminds him of his amateur days.

Still, the tranquility felt peculiar. My mind wandered — more than normal, anyway — following the trio of Thomas-Koepka-Day go about their business in relative silence. I watched an ant scale an ash tree and noticed the moon waning in a blue sky.

At No. 14, normally among the loudest spots on the course, Jon Rahm chipped in for birdie from deep rough just off the green and was greeted with the sound of one hand clapping.

At least Rahm had a sense of humor about it. Looking around after his hole-out, he cracked, “Just like Tiger did it.”

Most fans get their golf fix by watching TV, not standing along the gallery ropes. (According to CBS, the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday was up 56% from last year’s event. Since the return of golf in June, the combined ratings are up 26% over the same events last year.)

What, then, is the big deal about not having fans at tournaments? Just this: The product suffers when the birdies in the trees create more noise than those on the leaderboard.

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