Muirfield Village To Host Deere Classic Replacement In Addition To The Memorial
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The Memorial Presented by Nationwide is curiously opting to water down one of the premier events in golf with a John Deere Classic-replacement tournament at Muirfield Village this July. But these are strange times and playing opportunities clearly take priority over optics, reason or the lack of entertainment value in watching the same course for two weeks (perhaps they will flip the nines to help differentiate the viewing experience?).
More vitally in a time of strife, suffering and pandemic, hopefully there will be a grand charitable component for local organizations that Nationwide already supports, particularly the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
From Doug Ferguson’s AP exclusive:
In a memo sent Tuesday afternoon to players, the tour said the new event would be July 9-12 and held without spectators. The following week is the Memorial at Muirfield Village, with spectators still a possibility.
The name of the tournament was not mentioned, along with other details such as the size of the purse.
But it said the field for the first event would be 156 players, allowing the Memorial to return to its elite status as an invitational with a 120-man field.
The fill-in tournament sponsor will be Workday, which has had a topsy-turvy relationship in trying to start a Bay Area Tour stop and in serving as a temporary sponsor of the Desert Classic.
From The Forecaddie last year:
The Forecaddie hears the last-minute demise of the 2019 edition came after Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri piled on one too many last-minute requests and complained about how the event was rolled out. With the PGA Tour having another potential event and sponsor as an option and no time to find another sponsor for the Curry event, The Man Out Front hears host management company Octagon pulled the plug after not being able to meet Bhusri’s demands.
Agronomically, everything should be fine since Muirfield Village intends to rebuild their greens following the 2020 tournament(s).
