The Memorial Tournament, one of the prestigious events on the U.S. Professional Golf (PGA) Tour, will kick off next month at Muirfield Village Golf Club (Par 72, 7,571 yards) in Dublin, Ohio, USA.
Hosted by “legend” Jack Nicklaus (USA), the Memorial Tournament has been held since 1976 and has seen its prize pool jump from $12 million last year to $20 million this year (approximately KRW 26.44 billion).
In an effort to stem the exodus of players to the Saudi Arabian-funded LIV League, the PGA Tour has increased the size of its prize pool this season, adding more events with a total prize pool of $20 million or more, including the Memorial Tournament.
All of the current “top five” players in the world will be competing for the title.
Currently ranked 1-5 are Scottie Shaffler (USA), Yon Ram (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Patrick Cantlay (USA), and Xander Schauffele (USA).
Of these, Cantlay was the 2019 and 2021 Memorial Tournament champion, while Ram was the 2020 winner.
In 2021, Rahm held a six-shot lead over second place after three rounds, but his title defense was derailed when he was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and quarantined after the third round, with Cantlay emerging victorious in the final round.
In the PGA Tour website’s “Power Rankings” ahead of this year’s event, Rahm, who remains atop the FedExCup standings with four wins this season, was ranked No. 1, followed by Cantlay, Schauffler, Shoepley and McIlroy, in that order.
Billy Horschel (USA), who won this event last year by four strokes over Aaron Wise (USA) to take his PGA Tour career win total to seven, will be looking to defend his title.
Emiliano Grillo (ARG), who won last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge in a playoff, will also be looking to build on his momentum and win for the second week in a row.
South Korea will be represented by Lim Sung-jae, Kim Si-woo, Kim Joo-hyung, Lee Kyung-hoon, Kim Sung-hyun, Ahn Byung-hoon, and Choi Kyung-joo.
Lim, the highest-ranked South Korean player in the world at No. 19, has struggled since returning to the PGA Tour after rallying from a five-stroke deficit to win the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour’s Woori Financial Championship in the middle of the month, missing the cut in two straight events.
He tied for 10th at the Memorial Tournament last year and will be looking to turn the tide with a second straight top-10 finish.메이저놀이터
It will also be interesting to see how Kim performs at this event, as he has finished in the top 20 in each of the last three years, tied for 18th in 2020, tied for 9th in 2021 and tied for 13th in 2022. With four top-10 finishes this season, Kim is coming off a tie for 29th at the Charles Schwab Challenge last week.
In the power rankings for this tournament, Kim is ranked 12th and Lim is ranked 15th.
The ‘eldest’ Choi, who plays on the senior tour, the PGA Tour Champions, and occasionally competes in regular tour events, will be looking to make his first cut of the season in a regular tour event. He missed the cut at the Sony Open in January and the Puerto Rico Open in March.