BlogMemorial Tournament Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

It’s down to just two events before the U.S. Open, with many thinking that Muirfield Village most resembling a U.S. Open course.  It will be interesting to see how players approach this week, will Tiger start preparing by hitting more irons off the tee this week.  Also will be interesting if Tiger can keep his win streak going.

This week will also be the last of the Sergio Garcia squabble with Tiger.  Of course Woods will be better in putting an end to it by simply doing what he did last week in a press conference for the AT&T National but simply saying there is bad blood between him and Sergio and thats, that.  Writers won’t be able to goat Tiger into saying something stupid, so things will probably calm down until Tiger and Sergio play together.

Finally this is an important week for Tiger, or is it?  Tiger has proven that he can win, he has done it now seven times in the last 14 months.  What he has to prove is that he can win a major. In Woods mind the four major championship are the heart and soul of his year.  He could win a dozen events but if none of them are majors, the season will be deemed unsuccessful in his mind.  In the next 12 weeks, three of the four majors will be played as Woods tries to win his first major since 2008.  After a T4th in the Masters, Woods would like to change the tide at the U.S. Open.  But over the course of the last couple of months, Woods has made it be know that his game is in great shape and he fully expects to win a major, very, very soon.

Things you need to know about this week at the Memorial

This is one of those courses that will get you ready for a U.S. Open. As a matter of fact it would be a perfect Open venue. It has the length, tight fairways with three-inch plus rough, tree line and fast undulating greens. Just about everything that you would see at a U.S. Open is at Muirfield Village.  It always ranks as one of the toughest courses on Tour.  Last year it was played in perfect weather conditions and was 6th toughest course with a 73.677 average.  This week is going to see a combination of mild tempertures but with no rain.  It doesn’t seem to be enough to cause any major problems, but one thing that I see is winds in the neighborhood of 15 mph on Thursday, Friday and Saturday which could cause scores to go higher.  Sunday is suppose to be picture perfect with no rain, temperatures in the high 60s with no wind to speak of.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Memorial:

Key stat for the winner:

• Those that do well in majors, do well at Muirfield Village.  Of the 26 different champions of the Memorial they have accounted for 454 wins on the PGA Tour while 16 have won a total of 66 major championships. What’s more, 13 of the last 19 Memorial champions have been a winner of a major championship.
• Tournaments that can claim having the most major winners (Since 1976)
• 27 – Hyundai Tournament of Champions
• 25 – Players Championship
• 24 – Memorial Tournament
• 22 – Verizon Heritage
• 22 – Farmers Insurance

•  In the history of the Memorial only one leader after the first round has won (Ernie Els in 2004).  In 2010 Justin Rose won while he was a co-leader after the first round. 13 second-round leaders have won and 16 third-round leader have won.  Since 1994, only six 54-hole leaders have failed to win (2001, 2002, 2007,  2008, 2009 & 2010).  Last year Tiger Woods was T11th after the first round then was T2nd after the second round and 4th after the third round.
• Nine of the last 15 winners were in the top four in greens hit. In 2009 Tiger Woods was T3rd in greens hit while Justin Rose was T13th in 2010, Steve Stricker was T30th in 2011 and Tiger Woods was T1st last year.
•  Overpowering the par fives is crucial. The last 12 winners have played the par 5s in a average of 9-under, in 2011 Justin Rose was 8 under while Stricker was 6 under in 2011 and Tiger Woods was 8 under in 2012.
• Accuracy is key to winning at Memorial, eight of the last ten winners have been in the top-10 in driving accuracy, which proves the point that you have to drive the ball well at Muirfield Village.  In 2009 Tiger Woods was 2nd while in 2010 Justin Rose was T10th.  In 2011 Steve Stricker kept the tradition up as he was T3rd but in 2012 Tiger Woods broke the tradition when he was T14th in driving making him the first player out of the top-ten in driving since Ernie Els won in 2004.
• In its 37-year history there have only been three playoffs, the last coming in 1992.  The next year (1993) was the last one that had a dramatic finish when Paul Azinger holed out of the bunker on the final hole to win by one.  Since then every Memorial except for three (2005, ’07 and ’11) has been won by at least two shots or more.
• Active tournaments that has the least amount of playoffs since 1976:
• 3 – Memorial
• 4 – Players championship
• 6 – Justin Tiberlake
• 6 – Honda Classic
• 6 – Arnold Palmer Invitational
• 7 – John Deere Classic
• Only nine times in the history of the Memorial has a player shot four rounds in the 60s with seven of them winning. Steve Stricker did it in 2011 but the the last time that happened before that was in 2005 when Bart Bryant prevailed.