The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin is just a few weeks away, and a few more top golfers have committed to play.
Mike Foley reports.
The Memorial Tournament always attracts the world’s top golfers, and director Dan Sullivan says the 43rd edition of the event will continue that standard.
“So far we have great players like Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson, the number one ranked player in the world,” Sullivan said. “Today, we announced Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar, a fan favorite, and a young guy named Xander Schauffele. The good news is we have more to talk about in the coming weeks on some of the even bigger names that will become part of this tournament.”
One of those big names golf fans are waiting for, Tiger Woods, who’s won the Memorial five times. Players have until Friday May 25th to commit to the Memorial. Rory McIlroy, Masters champion Patrick Reed, Zach Johnson, and Westerville resident Jason Day have already joined the field. While the opening round of the tournament begins Thursday May 31st, the day before really captures the spirit of the Memorial. Sullivan runs down the events.
“So we recognize a player who has done something significant in his or her career, and this year it’s Hale Irwin, who is a three-time major winner. We also take time to recognize the military with our appreciation day. It’s our youth day, so we also try to get as many kids out as possible. We have a Pro-Am, where the top players are playing with some amateurs. In that Pro-Am we’ll have some guests of Nationwide, our sponsor. These are NFL players who’ve given back to community.”
Peyton Manning will play in the Wednesday event for the third straight year. Anthony Munoz, Greg Olsen, and LaDainian Tomlinson make their debut. Olsen will also take part in a clinic with Jack Nicklaus later in the day. Nationwide’s associate vice president of sports marketing Jim McCoy says the NFL stars and golfers will also meet with patients and families from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“Generating additional awareness and fund raising for Nationwide Children’s, that’s a cause that’s very important to us,” McCoy said. “It’s about doing things to enhance the event, but also have a cause behind it. We’ve generated $27 million from our team in sports marketing the last 8 years, $11 million just from this tournament. All of those dollars have meaningful impact on kids and families who’ve gone through a lot of bad things in the hospital.”
The Memorial Tournament is also partnering with Dublin’s new Bridge Park district, including the creation of a street and music festival. A full rundown of events can be found at thememorialtournament.com
About a week after this story aired, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas committed to play as well.
