Tiger Woods is back at the Memorial Tournament: Rusty or ready to win No. 83?
What should fans expect from Tiger Woods at the Memorial this weekend?
Tiger Woods announced that he’s playing Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, the first time he will be competing in five months. The 15 major- winner—including the reigning Masters Tournament—skipped out on several events this year (WGC-Mexico, Honda Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players) due to back issues. What can we expect from the 44-year-old Tiger Woods?
I’m looking forward to playing in the @MemorialGolf next week. I’ve missed going out and competing with the guys and can’t wait to get back out there.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) July 9, 2020
Despite struggling at his last tournament, coming in at 68th at the Genesis Invitational in February, Tiger finished in a tie for ninth at Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance Open) the month prior. He also won The Match charity event, with teammate Peyton Manning, as recently as May. Sure, it was a charity match, but it still gave us a confident and relaxed Woods, where he seemed anything but rusty.
Tiger is familiar with Muirfield Village, where he’s won five times (1999-2001, 2009, and 2012) and finished in the T10 four times. Even though he hasn’t won there since 2012, Tiger’s never missed a cut at Muirfield. Confidence for the 82-PGA titlist will not be a problem.
But Muirfield Village—the house that Jack Nicklaus built—is also where young talents Viktor Hovland and Workday Charity winner Collin Morikawa just put on a thrilling display of fearless golf last week. Both are new to the Tour as of last year and will also be heading into Memorial full of bravado.
Morikawa’s spectacular win last week even propelled him just above Tiger in the official world golf rankings to No. 13. Not only that, but they’ve got months of stellar golf playing behind them, alongside Justin Thomas—who just barely lost to Morikawa—Bryson DeChambeau, and 21-year-old Matt Wolff. The kids will be nipping at Tiger’s heels.
Of course the same was said about Tiger before he began the Zozo Championship last October, after months off from play (recuperating from knee surgery), where he tied Sam Snead for the most PGA titles won, 82. Tiger followed up that historic achievement by finishing tied for fourth at the Hero World Challenge and leading his team to victory at the President’s Cup. This golf veteran has only shown that there’s plenty of fire still left in the tank and it would be a mistake to ever count him out.
How much of a factor will the lack of an adoring crowd be for the golfing legend? Memorial will be Tiger’s first post-COVID-19 tour interruption appearance and everyone remembers the thrilling crowds following his every play.
How much of a factor will the quieter, more muffled competition atmosphere have on Tiger Woods? If The Match was any indication, a fun and loose Tiger can be a factor anywhere.
We’ll see what kind of answer Tiger has for the youthful upstarts this week at Memorial, which starts July 16, 2020, viewable on the Golf Channel, and CBS for the final two days.