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Memorial Tournament Preview: Field, Course, History, Tee Times, How to Watch

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament, one of the most prestigious events on Tour. Here's everything you need to know.
Max Schreiber|
Scottie Scheffler is looking to three-peat at the Memorial.
Scottie Scheffler is looking to three-peat at the Memorial. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Heading to Jack’s Place. 

Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament will be played at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, marking the 50th anniversary of the event. A 72-player field will duel for the $20 million purse, with a 36-hole cut (low 50 players and ties plus any player within 10 strokes of the lead). The winner will pocket $4 million, plus a coveted handshake from Nicklaus. 

From its field, course, history, tee times and how to watch, here’s everything you need to know for the 2026 Memorial Tournament. 

The field: A bevy of stars 

Being the eighth of nine signature events this season and one of the most storied tournaments on Tour, nearly everyone eligible is teeing it up at Jack’s Place. 

The field includes nine of the top 10 players in the world, with the omission being No. 7 Collin Morikawa. 

Players who earned spots in the field via the Aon Next 10 (top FedEx Cup points earners through the Charles Schwab Challenge) are Alex Smalley, Min Woo Lee, Kristoffer Reitan, Nicolai Højgaard, Adam Scott, Jake Knapp, Gary Woodland, Aaron Rai, Alex Fitzpatrick and Nico Echavarria. 

Those in the field via the Aon Swing 5 (top FedEx Cup points earners from the Myrtle Beach Classic, CJ Cup Byron Nelson and Charles Schwab Challenge) are: Wyndham Clark, Eric Cole, Brandt Snedeker, Mac Meissner, and Mark Hubbard. 

There are also six past champions in the field: Justin Rose (2010), Matt Kuchar (2013), Hideki Matsuyama (2014), Patrick Cantlay (2021, 2019), Billy Horschel (2022) and Scottie Scheffler (2024, 2025). The 2023 champion, Viktor Hovland, withdrew last week. 

One qualifying spot for the British Open is available to the highest finisher that isn’t already exempt. 

View the full field below: 

Course: Muirfield Village

Muirfield Village is no layup. 

“It’s just a ball-striking golf course,” Davis Riley said in 2024. “You’ve got to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. Similar to Colonial, you got to drive it in the fairway, and fairways and greens are going to be the premium, just because when you get in this rough, it's so thick and it can be very tricky around and just off the fairway. So definitely a ball-striking premium.”

Players still love competing here, though. 

“I’ll play this tournament no matter when it is, to be honest,” Collin Morikawa said. “I think it’s one of my favorite events.”

Muirfield Village Golf Club has hosted the Memorial since 1976.
Muirfield Village Golf Club has hosted the Memorial since 1976. | Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The 7,569-yard par-72 was the fourth hardest course on Tour last year, yielding a scoring average of 73.38. 

Its toughest hole is the 472-yard par-4 10th, which played 0.323 strokes over par last year, making it the 22nd hardest hole on Tour. 

Its easiest hole, meanwhile, is the 561-yard par-5 15th, which played to a scoring average of 4.661 a year ago. It was the Tour’s 106th easiest hole.

In 2020, the course underwent a restoration with length added and many of the greens recontoured. 

The course will be the fifth-longest played on Tour so far this season, and its 5,000-square-foot greens are tied for the third smallest on Tour. The course also boasts 68 bunkers and water is in play on 13 holes. 

History: Tiger’s flop

It might be Nicklaus’s tournament, but Tiger Woods has a spot in the Golden Bear’s cove. 

Woods has won the Memorial five times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012). And the last of those triumphs boasts one of the Woods’s greatest shots. 

Trailing by two strokes on the par-3 16th hole, Woods had a gnarly lie in the rough after hitting a 7-iron over the green. Fifty feet from the hole, he then hit a perfect flop shot, which landed softly on the green and trickled into the cup. 

An indelible fist pump ensued. 

“That was one of the most incredible golf shots I think you’ll ever see played,” Nicklaus said afterward.

Added Woods: “It’s one of the hardest ones I’ve pulled off. The shot was really difficult, but it wouldn't have been so bad if I had a good lie. The lie was just a little bit marginal where it brought water into play. I went for it. I pulled it off, and for it to land as soft as it did was kind of a surprise because it was baked out and it was also downhill running away from me. It just fell in. I didn't think it was going to get there at one point. Kind of like 16 at Augusta (in 2005), I thought I was going to leave it short somehow, and then it fell in.”

Woods went on to notch his 73rd win on Tour, matching Nicklaus for the second-most all-time. 

How to watch (all times EST)

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

ESPN+ will also have coverage during each round. 

First- and second-round tee times

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Max Schreiber
MAX SCHREIBER

Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.

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