The Memorial Tournament We had decent luck and members requested last week at this time so we are going with the 10am PST slot for now.
The Memorial Tournament known as Jack's event is held at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Columbus, OH. The par 72 layout measures 7,265 yards, has wide fairways, large greens and super fast putting surfaces. Unfortunately, there is T-Storms in the forecast 3 of the 4 days and that will make the track longer.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are in the field and we would have bet on Phil against Tiger here if he had shown some sort of form, effort and practice to play 3 tournaments in 4 weeks and prep for the U.S. Open. But, his game and swing were so off last week at Colonial that we cannot back him.
[B]Ernie Els -105 [/B]vs. Tiger Woods
Tiger hasn't played since the Players Championship where he WD'd in the 4th round with a neck injury. While forced to rest and not practice, this week sets up much like Quail Hollow as a prep week for the U.S. Open. After the Masters, Tiger took for granted that a T4 at Augusta would propel him back to stardom, but his game did not improve it worsened. Yes, Tiger is the defending champion this week, however with what has gone on in his life, the neck injury and most notably the lack of playing/competition time, I would be shocked to see him contend this week.
Els has won this event as well in 2004 and his putting is so good right now that with these slick pre-U.S. Open lightning fast greens, he should be in the hunt come Sunday. Tiger would be happy to make the cut and get the extra two days of prep in.
[B]Mike Weir -140 [/B]vs. Vijay Singh
Both players finished T33 last week at the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial. However, if you watched the telecast coverage on Friday on the Golf Channel, Vijay really has never looked this bad. His swing is out of rhythm, his putting is atrocious and for the first time ever we saw him throw clubs in anger after pulling wedge after wedge.
There is another pressing issue with Vijay this week. "While playing through back problems and not competing on the weekend in six consecutive starts this spring, three-time major winner Vijay Singh fell out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 1992. That means his streak of playing in 63 consecutive major championships, the longest current run, is in jeopardy."
Vijay has asked the USGA for a U.S. Open exemption, the same exemption they just gave to Tom Watson for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It was denied and now he is contemplating not trying to qualifying after the Memorial Tournament.
Bottom-line, this week, I think Vijay will struggle with the greens in particular.
Weir hasn't had a good year by his/any standards, but he can putt with the best of them on Tour. He ranks 9th in Putting Average per GIR, while Vijay ranks 108th. He was T10 last year and 2nd in '08. Vijay missed the cut last year and DNP in '08.
