The First Look: the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

The PGA TOUR returns to Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club for the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, the seventh Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule this season, where Viktor Hovland defends.

The field is chock-full of the TOUR’s best, with all of the FedExCup’s top 10 in the field including Xander Schauffele, fresh off his first major championship title.

With just a single-digit under-par winning score in 2023, Muirfield Village is up to the task again as a challenging host venue – with 700 FedExCup points on the line for the winner.

Here’s everything else you need to know from Ohio.

FIELD NOTES: Viktor Hovland looks to become the first golfer since Tiger Woods to repeat at the Memorial. Last year’s FedExCup champion returns to action after his third-place finish at the PGA Championship – his best result of 2024… Recent PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele (and world No. 2) will return to action since his first major victory at Valhalla… World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler returns to action. Scheffler, who finished second at the Memorial last season, has continued his run of dominance through 2024 over the last few weeks. Scheffler has finished outside the top 10 just once this season and has gone 1-1-T2-1-1-T8-T2 in his last seven starts… Rory McIlroy continues his busy stretch of golf after a tie for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open. McIlroy has five top-10s in 12 starts at Muirfield Village… World No. 8 Patrick Cantlay returns to a place he’s awfully comfortable with. Cantlay won this tournament in both 2019 and 2021… All of the top 10 players in the FedExCup standings are in the field… Seventy-two players, including six past champs, are teeing it up.

SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS: Auburn’s Jackson Koivun added one final award to his collection this season, capturing the 2024 Division I Jack Nicklaus Award presented by Workday and in the process became the first player in golf to ever sweep the three national player of the year awards – the Haskins, the Hogan, and the Nicklaus – and the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman award in the same season. He finished runner-up at the NCAA Championship and will make his first PGA TOUR start at the Memorial… Billy Horschel, who returned to the PGA TOUR winner circle earlier this year at the Corales Puntacana Championship, returns to the Memorial – an event he won in 2022… Matt Kuchar, the event’s winner in 2013, also received a sponsor invite… past FedExCup champ Brandt Snedeker and Alex Noren – who has two top-10s this season – round out the sponsor invites.

SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: This marks the seventh Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule in 2024. Next up is the Travelers Championship… There was plenty of movement in the Aon Swing 5 to qualify for the Memorial. Robert MacIntyre moved into the top spot while Ben Griffin, who finished runner-up, scooted up 29 spots in the standings to earn his way into the Memorial. MacIntyre withdrew on Monday from the Memorial and Davis Thompson, who finished sixth in the Aon Swing 5, will fill MacIntyre's spot in the Aon Swing 5. Victor Perez made the biggest jump, however, with his third-place finish in Canada moving him all the way up 54 spots in the standings to grab the fifth and final spot in the Aon Swing 5… Taylor Pendrith, after finishing T21 in his home country, jumped to the 10th and final spot in the Aon Next 10, bumping Jake Knapp from No. 10 to No. 12.

COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: Rory McIlroy moved up one spot in the standings from No. 4 to No. 3 after his T4 at the RBC Canadian Open… The rest of the TOUR TOP 10 remained the same… After his win in Canada, Robert MacIntyre moved all the way from No. 75 to No. 32 in the standings… Byeong Hun An remains the only golfer to be ranked inside the TOUR TOP 10 all season long.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 700 FedExCup points

COURSE: Muirfield Village Golf Club, par 72, 7,569 yards. The Jack Nicklaus/Desmond Muirhead design has held a spot on the PGA TOUR calendar since 1976, two years after the course opened in 1974. Nicklaus re-designed the tricky par-3 16th for 2024 after only 21 birdies were made all week on the hole in 2023. Now Nicklaus moved the tee box 30 yards to the players’ right – taking the pond more out of play. The bunker from the front right of the green has been removed and has been replaced with a slope.

The venue’s name is inspired by Muirfield, Scotland, where Nicklaus won his first of three Open Championship titles in 1966. This marks the event’s fourth playing since its second renovation.

72-HOLE RECORD: 268, Tom Lehman (1994)

18-HOLE RECORD: 61, John Huston (Round 2, 1996)

LAST TIME: Viktor Hovland won the Memorial in a playoff over Denny McCarthy on a tough, baked-out Muirfield Village. He closed with a 2-under 70, forcing a playoff with a 30-foot birdie on the penultimate hole – the only birdie all day on No. 17 in the final round – and getting up and down on No. 18. Hovland two-putted for par on the first playoff hole for the win – his fourth career title on the PGA TOUR. McCarthy bogeyed 18 in regulation and again in the playoff to fall just short, again, on TOUR. Hovland was the only player to break par in all four rounds and would, of course, go on to win the FedExCup. Scottie Scheffler finished one shot back of the playoff, at 6 under, while Si Woo Kim finished fourth at 5 under.

HOW TO FOLLOW (all times ET):

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday-Sunday: 12:30-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30-6 p.m. (CBS)

PGA TOUR LIVE:

PGA TOUR LIVE is available exclusively on ESPN+

• Main feed: Primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course
• Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group
• Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups
• Featured holes: A combination of par 3s and iconic or pivotal holes

PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and free on PGATOUR.COM/liveaudio:

• Thursday-Friday: noon-6 p.m.
• Saturday-Sunday: 1-6 p.m.