Memorial tourney stacked despite LIV-less field

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COVER PHOTOS: (From upper-left to lower-right) Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will be just some of the golfers not playing in this year's Memorial Tournament due to their allegiance to the Saudi Arabian-based LIV golf league. Pictures: Columbus Wired stock.

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On Thursday, the Memorial Tournament will commence for the 49th time and once again, host Jack Nicklaus has brought in one of the best fields that grace the greens on a weekly basis.

Even though the 18-time Major winner - and two-time winner of his own tournament - has attracted most of the biggest names in golf to swing away at his Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio for another weekend in June, this is the third year in a row where some of the biggest names in the entire sport will not be walking the fairways.

That’s because some of those prolific and well-known golfers are members of the LIV Tour and this is an event strictly for those on the PGA Tour.

And most probably know Nicklaus’ feelings towards those who defected to the Saudi Arabian-based golf league.

“I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore,” he said before last year’s tournament. “I don’t mean that in a nasty way. This is a PGA Tour event, and we have the best field we can possibly have for a PGA Tour event for those who are eligible to be here. The other guys made a choice of what they did and where they’ve gone, and we don’t even talk about it.”

However, those notable names still partaking in LIV are few and far between and really aren’t taking away from the star power that golf-hungry fans will be clamoring to see at MVGC.

Nine of the top 10 golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings will be in central Ohio, including Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in Scottie Scheffler, new PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele and crowd favorite Rory McIlroy. World No. 5 and the defending Memorial Tournament champ, Viktor Hovland, will be in town, too.

Also coming back to Dublin will be No. 8 and two-time Memorial winner, Patrick Cantlay; last year’s British Open champ and No. 10, Brian Harman; and 2014 Memorial and 2021 Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama.

Absent, though, will be the OWGR's No. 7 player and 2020 Memorial victor, Jon Rahm, who began his LIV career this year. Also not present, yet again, will be 2018 Memorial champ Bryson DeChambeau, five-time Major winner Brooks Koepka, 12-time Memorial tourney participant Dustin Johnson and 20-time Memorial player Phil Mickelson. All of them have been in LIV since June of 2022 and the latter three haven’t adorned Jack’s course since 2020. DeChambeau last appeared in 2022, which was his final official PGA Tour event.

Also not on the list is two-time Major winner Bubba Watson, who played in Jack’s tournament 14 times but withdrew after the first round in 2021, which was his last appearance.

Those names are pretty big not to have around that usually draw a pretty good crowd. 

Other than that, though, the big names come to a stop.

Oh sure, there are some others who will not be appearing due to their LIV allegiance like has-beens who have had sporadic Memorial appearances including Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen; several wannabes with a few PGA wins including Kevin Na, Pat Perez and Jason Kokrak; and some never was’s like Harold Varner III and Anirban Lahiri.

A few younger golfers that were beginning to make a slight (or pretty big) name for themselves but jumped towards the Saudis’ oil-greased checkbook like Joaquin Niemann, Matthew Wolff and 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith will also be absent.

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OTHER NOTABLES

‍No. 4 Wyndham Clark: The defending U.S. Open champ is playing in his fifth-straight Memorial and had his best tournament last year with a tied-for 12th finish.

‍No. 6 Ludvig Åberg: The 24-year-old Swedish up-and-comer, who just turned pro last year, is making his first Memorial appearance and will be looking for his second PGA Tour win after last year’s RSM Classic victory.

‍No. 9 Collin Morikawa: Like Clark, this U.S. Open champion (2021) is making his fifth-straight appearance. However, the six-time PGA winner - whose best Memorial finish was second place in 2021 after losing in a playoff to Patrick Cantlay - is looking to stay in the hunt for all four rounds this year unlike last year when he withdrew before Sunday’s round with back spasms. At the time, he was only two strokes off the lead.

‍No. 10 Brian Harman: This will be the tenth tee-off and third year in a row for the defending Open champ, who will be hoping to make his fourth cut after missing last year’s. His best finish was tied-for 18th two years ago.

‍Jordan Spieth: The 30-year-old, three-time Major winner will be looking for win No. 1 on Jack’s course after 11 previous tries. He tied-for fifth last year with his best finish coming in 2015 tied-for third.

‍Justin Thomas: The two-time Major winner and current 11th-best golfer in the FedEX Cup standings is looking to rebound in his ninth Memorial tourney appearance after missing last year’s cut. His best finish was tied-for fourth in 2017.

‍Rickie Fowler: With 13 previous tourneys on Jack’s course under his belt, the 15-year pro will also be looking for his first Memorial win after four top-10 finishes including second in his inaugural debut in 2010 and tying for second seven years ago.

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YOUNG STARS:

Along with Åberg, some other up-and-comers who have committed are Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala, Sam Burns, Will Zalatoris and Tom Kim.

2022 U.S. Open champ “Fitzy” is making his sixth straight Memorial with two top-10 finishes tying for 9th last year and coming in 3rd four years ago.

Theegala will be in his fourth straight with his best finish coming in 5th two years ago but is looking to rebound after finishing tied-for 58th last year.

Five-time PGA Tour winner Burns is playing in his fifth Memorial with his best finish tying for 16th last year.

Six-year pros Kim (previously known as Joo-Hyung Kim) and Zalatoris will be looking for their first wins on MVGC. Zalatoris is making his 3rd appearance and looking for another top-5 finish after tying for 5th in 2022. Kim is making his second straight appearance and will look to make his first cut after missing last year’s.

Official pairings and tee times have yet to be announced.