Tag: Murifield Village

Heading to the Memorial? No autographs yet, but fans will be back in a big way.

Crowds are in but fan-to-player fist bumps are out during next week’s Memorial Tournament.

Crowds are in but fan-to-player fist bumps are out during next week’s Memorial Tournament. Also out are autographs, cash payments and — on June 2 — face coverings previously required for the unvaccinated.

Attendance will be limited to between 50% and 100% of capacity, but potentially as many as 20,000 spectators a day could socially distance (or not) at Muirfield Village Golf Club for the June 3-6 PGA Tour event in Dublin. Quite a change from last July, when COVID-19 safety protocols led to a fan-free tournament that was pushed back from its normal May-June date.

“We’re thrilled to have patrons again,” Memorial tournament director Dan Sullivan said, adding that while things will feel more normal, the event will not return to full normal until 2022.

Still, business as usual is expected to increase on Wednesday when mandated mask-wearing for unvaccinated Ohioans ends. Unlike vaccinated spectators, unvaccinated fans are required to wear face coverings during Monday and Tuesday practice rounds, but Sullivan confirmed that tournament officials will not enforce the requirement. Masks will be available at the gates for those who want/need them.

“We’ll be on the honor system,” Sullivan said.

Muirfield Village Golf Club
The Rolex clock outside of the clubhouse at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Only fans already in possession of a weekly badge will be allowed onto the grounds — the ticket waiting list is expected to have been exhausted by Friday and no public walk-up sales are available — which means it is TV time for everyone else. But even attending fans will feel more distanced than usual. Out of concern for safety, players are off-limits to up-close-and-personal fan interaction. In other words, spectators should give high-fiving, fan-friendly Rickie Fowler more breathing room than normal.

Autographs are prohibited, as are Segways (that’s right, the list of banned items includes the two-wheeled people movers), still cameras (but only Thursday through Sunday) and backpacks. Up to two ounces of hand sanitizer is permissible, though spectators will find plenty of sanitizing stations located around the course. Check out www.thememorialtournament.com for a full list of prohibited items.

The junior clinic will not be held for the second consecutive year, but the Wednesday pro-am returns, featuring Peyton and Eli Manning. Memorial honoree Nick Price, denied a full-scale ceremony last July due to the pandemic, will be honored at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday on the 18th green.

PGA Tour could add second event in Columbus this year

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.

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