Rory McIlroy is skipping The Memorial this season but looking back at what Jack Nicklaus said about the course just last year, it appears McIlroy might well be justified.
A lot has been made of McIlroy’s decision not to play and McIlroy has been criticised by fans for doing so.
However, Smylie Kaufman has defended McIlroy, suggesting the PGA Tour schedule is to blame, while also revealing that last year, McIlroy insinuated that he just didn’t like the golf course anymore at Muirfield Village.
For someone like McIlroy to suggest a course is too tough is worrying in itself.
But when looking back at what Jack Nicklaus said about the course after Scottie Scheffler won in 2024, it appears the tournament host himself wasn’t even fully satisfied.
Jack Nicklaus’ comments on Muirfield Village back up Rory McIlroy’s stance
With the winning score last year at -8 and McIlroy struggling to a +2 finish, it’s little wonder he complained.
However, it appears Jack Nicklaus wasn’t fully happy either.
Asked if he’d managed to get the golf course to a point where it was both fair and tough, Nicklaus admitted that it wasn’t quite there and that the weather had played a big part in that.
“Well, we’ve had two years in a row with no rain, we’ve never had that, it’s just never happened. I think the golf course was probably a little more difficult than I would have liked it, but I don’t control that,” Nicklaus said.
“You know, I mean, you’ve seen the British Open, you’ve seen the U.S. Open, you’ve seen Augusta where the conditions get really hard and fast, and there’s not much you can do about it. You prepared the golf course to the best of your abilities. Chad has done, did, prepare the golf course to the best of his ability. The TOUR was on board with what he prepared. The TOUR set the pins. The TOUR set the tee markers. That’s, that was what, that was what was out there.
“Now when you get a difficult day the scores go up. We had some difficult days this week. The first day wasn’t particularly difficult. Then the second day it got a little bit more, but then Saturday and Sunday were tough days. But you know, they expected that. They understood that. They knew that. But they were prepared for it. That’s not the course, I mean, I don’t think the greens were all that fast, were they? About 13?”
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The last five winning scores at The Memorial
The Memorial at Muirfield Village has always been a tough test and historically, it’s been set up to make the players really work for the win.
However, it does appear the last couple of years have been increasingly tough and if players like McIlroy are backing away, then something isn’t right.
Last year saw Scottie Scheffler win at eight under, while 2023 had Viktor Hovland win at seven under – albeit via a playoff.
The year prior was a touch easier, with Billy Horschel winning at -13, while in 2021, -13 was again the winning number.
Finally, in 2020, Jon Rahm won out at minus nine but that was after a plus three final round, as Muirfield showed its teeth.
This year, if the weather has stayed dry, then we can expect another tricky test and a winning score of closer to par than we’ve ever seen.
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