It’s always a fun week at Jack’s Place, one of the few annual stops on the PGA Tour that still truly tests the players and can make anyone who’s not fully committed look silly.
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I’m starting something new for each tournament: my Weekly 5 Talking Points.
Below are the five storylines I’m either monitoring this week or feel are topics worth mentioning
Scottie Scheffler’s Inevitable at Muirfield Village
Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament recently has turned into a Scottie Scheffler guarantee. In four starts, his lowest finish is a solo third, and obviously he comes into this year as the back-to-back champion.
Earlier on Twitter, I saw a tweet from @JustinRayGolf that showed the top three best cumulative scores to par at the Memorial over the last three playings:
- Scottie Scheffler at -24 under
- Collin Morikawa at -9 under
- Sepp Straka at -7 under
That’s a ridiculous gap by Scottie compared to the rest, and it just indicates how he basically owns this place.
It’s hard to defend a tournament, let alone go for the three-peat, but it feels inevitable that Scheffler wins this week. Especially because of the fact he hasn’t won since early in the season at The American Express and, in the meantime, has accumulated three solo runner-up finishes and three other T4-or-better finishes.
It just feels like win No. 21 has to be coming sooner rather than later.
Signature Events Stink but at least we have a “cut”
By all accounts, it appears as if the limited-field, no-cut events will be going away in 2028 when the Tour adopts its new model, which is great because these limited-field, no-cut events stink!!!
Unfortunately, we have another one this week, but a very small positive is that at least there’s a cut. Top 50 and ties.
Still, I’m so sick and tired of these. We need a full field at Jack’s place.
Ludvig Aberg Week… Finally?
Probably setting myself up for more disappointment by having any belief that the Swede, Aberg, can win this week, but I’m sitting here convincing myself right now and I’m all in.
In two starts at the Memorial, he has a T5 and a T16, and he continues to play really solid golf.
Notably, he had a new putter in the bag last week at the Charles Schwab. Another fallen member of the slim blade putter faithful, with Ludvig now making the switch to a mallet putter. He gained strokes putting for the week after losing strokes in three of his previous four starts before the switch, so I would anticipate the mallet remains in the bag.
The Sunday struggles have been well documented this year at THE PLAYERS, the Valero, the RBC Heritage, and the PGA Championship, but maybe, just maybe, he’s finally done with all the Sunday learning experiences and will be calm and steady under late Sunday pressure.
I’m just slightly insane.
Can Sponsors start using Sponsors Exemptions on fun intriguing players. Please
This isn’t just a Memorial issue, it’s an issue at most stops on Tour, and there will be varying views on this, but can we stop using sponsor exemptions on old, underperforming veterans?
Example A: Matt Kuchar being a sponsor exemption this week is ridiculous to me. I get why he got it, he’s a past champion and has a relationship with Workday, the tournament sponsor, but as fans we don’t need Kuchar in this event.
There are so many fun young and new players who might not deserve the spot on merit, but the Tour should want to highlight the next wave of potential stars and guys with personalities. Players such as Thorbjornsen, Clanton, Blades Brown, or even fun personalities and talents coming over from the DP World Tour such as Dan Brown or Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.
Just a personal frustration of mine. Obviously, you can make the argument about the guys I listed and say, “Play better,” and that’s totally fair. But if we’re already handing out free starts to underperforming or largely irrelevant players, why not give those opportunities to up-and-comers who are still finding their footing in professional golf?
Can Rory finally breakthrough at Jack’s Place
After skipping the tournament last year, the back-to-back Masters champion is back and will try again to break through at Jack Nicklaus’s coveted tournament.
At this point in his career, major championships are all Rory really cares about winning, but the Memorial is probably one non-major he’d feel especially honored to win.
He’s documented his desire to walk off the 18th green and receive the winner’s handshake from Jack Nicklaus himself.
It would be an excellent storyline come Sunday.
